BUZZ-Akoya Biosciences gains on merger deal with Quanterix

** Shares of life sciences tech co Akoya Biosciences AKYA.O rise 52.63% to $4.06 premarket

** Quanterix Corp QTRX.O to acquire AKYA in an all-stock transaction

** QTRX shares up 11.59% at $13.09 before the bell

** Akoya shareholders will receive 0.318 shares of Quanterix common stock for each share of Akoya common stock owned

** Following the close of the transaction, Quanterix shareholders will own about 70% of the combined company and Akoya shareholders will own about 30%

** Last year, AKYA stock fell ~53% while QTRX declined ~61%

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru)

((Sriparna.Roy@thomsonreuters.com;))