Benchtop-Sized Image Cytometry System Brings Advanced Cell Analysis into the Lab

The first months in a year bring with it the opportunity for biotech research and other life science laboratories to acquire a new, state-of-the-art benchtop-sized image cytometer for rapid cell characterization.

Image cytometry generates microscopic cellular images and uses image-processing techniques to quantify cell data. The technique can be used to acquire fluorescent intensity data from labeled cell samples, as well as for gathering morphological information. These basic principles can be applied to systems designed for a wide range of applications, up to and including high throughput screening of cell samples.

In order to meet the increasing need for convenient assays that deliver detailed multiparameter cell data quickly at laboratory scale, GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, United Kingdom) has introduced the Cytell Image Cytometer.

This benchtop-sized image cytometer is able to measure more than 32 parameters in a single run. Red and blue lasers (640- and 488-nm excitation) and four detectors enable a wide range of dyes to be used, including acridine orange, GFP, FITC, Alexa FluorTM 488, Phycoerythrin (PE), Propidium iodide (PI), Cy3, Cy5, Alexa Fluor 647, Allophycocyanin (APC), Dy649, DRAQ7TM, Dy679, and Alexa Fluor 700 with simultaneous measurement of four fluorescent channels. This array enables the researcher to perform a multitude of analyses including cell count, cell viability, and apoptosis; cell surface marker assays; antibody detection assays; cell phenotype analysis; and cell subpopulation analysis. In addition, Cytell was designed as an open platform allowing the investigator to use in-house reagents, antibodies, and protocols through an intuitive and simple interface.

Data can be acquired for up to eight samples at a time, and results are delivered through an intuitive graphical interface in less than two-and-a-half minutes.

Dr. Amr Abid, general manager of cell technologies at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said, “We believe that understanding life’s basic building block, the cell, is an essential first step in the development of new and more effective treatments for disease. The Cytell Image Cytometer complements our existing advanced cell imaging systems, the IN Cell Analyzer and the DeltaVision OMX, by providing a quick and simple option for cell analysis. It is often the small changes that make the difference, and we believe that the Cytell will help researchers save both time and money in an increasingly constrained funding environment.”

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