Company Announcements

In September, as part of an NIH-funded project, NanoCellect Biomedical began a collaboration with the University of California, San Diego, to develop single-cell applications based on its microchip-enabled WOLF Cell Sorter.

Venneos raised €1 million ($1 million) in seed financing in September to develop a semiconductor chip–based imaging system for cell analysis.

MaxCyte named Chayon as a South Korean distributor of its STX Scalable Transfection System and VLX Large Scale Transfection System.

Akadeum Life Sciences, a developer of microbubble technology for removal of target cells from biological samples, closed $1 million in financing in October.

Phase Holographic Imaging announced a collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco, for skin cancer research using its HoloMonitor M4 label-free holographic imaging cytometry technology.

ACEA Bioscience completed a new $30 million round of venture funding in November.

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and China-based IncellDx signed a distribution agreement for clinical researchers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan involving their respective CytoFLEX flow cytometer and molecular assays for quantifying HPV E6/E7 mRNA in single cells.

Product Introductions

In September, Molecular Devices, a Danaher company, launched the new ImageXpress Micro Confocal High-Content Imaging System for cell-based imaging applications. Multiple confocal geometries are available, including pinhole and slide confocal imaging.

Olympus introduced the portable Cell Counter model R1, featuring liquid lens autofocus technology and disposable slides with two chambers.

GE Healthcare Life Science released the DeltaVision OMX SR system multimode imaging platform for live-cell structured illumination microscopy. It also offers TIRF (total internal reflection fluorescence), wide field and localization microscopy capabilities.

In October, Yokogawa released CellActivision software for the analysis and evaluation of images of label-free cells taken using cell imaging systems or conventional microscopes. It is based on the technology acquired from Chip-Man Technologies (see IBO 8/31/15).

WaferGen Bio-systems released the ICELL 8 Single-Cell system for the isolation and imaging of up to 1,800 single cells on a single chip. Up to eight samples can be run on one chip. It accommodates cell sizes of 5–100 µm in a single sample.

ViroCyt launched the Virotag technology, which utilizes a fluorescently labeled, high-affinity antibody targeted to the virus of interest. It is for use with the Virus Counter 3100.