Company Announcements

Tecan and Miltenyi Biotech are developing a range of automated solutions for cell biology based on their respective Freedom EVO liquid handling platform and MACS magnetic bead technology.

Accuri Cytometers in August named BioTech as its exclusive distributor for the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Hungary.

In October, Accuri Cytometers named GrupoBios as its exclusive distributor for Chile.

In September, Cellectis acquired the assets of Cyto Pulse Sciences, a developer of electroporation technology and equipment, for $2.2 million.

Silicon Biosystems named the following as exclusive distributors for the life science research market: RAMCON in the Nordic countries, Excilone in France, Dync in Benelux and Germany, and Cultek in Spain and Portugal.

ACEA Biosciences and Vivo Biosciences entered into a collaboration for the further development of label-free and real-time cell-based assays for the xCELLigence System.

Gene transfection device firm NanoTherics closed a £1.1 million ($1.8 million) funding round in October.

Product Introductions

Attana AB introduced the Attana Cell 200, a label-free system for real-time kinetic analysis of molecular interactions directly on cell surfaces.

The Automation Partnership and MAIA Scientific integrated their respective Cello automated cell culture system and microscopy reader technology.

EMD Millipore introduced the guava easyCyte family of compact, single-sampler benchtop flow cytometers, offering up to eight-parameter detection. Four models are available: two single-laser units and two dual-laser units.

Roche released the E-Plate VIEW 96, a single-use, disposable device for performing cell analysis on the Real-Time Cell Analyzer (RTCA) Single Plate and Multiple Plate Instruments. It enables downstream or intermediate visual inspection of cells using microscopes and automated cell-imaging systems.

Roche launched the RTCA Cardio Instrument, part of its xCELLigence product family. It is a medium-throughput cell analyzer that utilizes impedance readings to monitor cardiac beating and cellular events in real time.

In September, Celeromics introduced the Simple Counter for microscope-based automated cell counting and the Culture Counter for cell counting in the culture medium.

Turner Designs introduced the PhytoCyt Flow Cytometer, which is specially designed for marine applications and was developed with Accuri Cytometers.

PerkinElmer launched Columbus Scope cellular-imaging software, which is designed specifically for microscopy labs. It features the new PhenoLOGIC machine-learning technology for creating tailored image analysis algorithms.