Cytometry system to precisely control cell movement using sound waves

Dec 7 2009

Applied Biosystems, part of Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:LIFE) today announced its entry into the flow cytometry instrumentation market with the debut of the Attune™ Acoustic Focusing Cytometer, a first of its kind cytometry system designed to use sound waves to precisely control the movement of cells. The company has built upon its expertise in instrumentation, as well as its position as a long-time leading provider of flow cytometry reagents, to create a technology that will offer customers enhanced sample throughput, sensitivity and accuracy for a range of cell biology applications.

Flow cytometry allows scientists to count and examine cells by passing them through a laser-based detection device. Thousands of cells per second may be counted, allowing rapid characterization of entire populations of cells. Cellular biologists engage in flow cytometry for a rapidly growing range of applications, including the study of proteins expressed by cells (immunophenotyping), quantifying the amount of DNA in cells, cell counting, among others.

Attune enables scientists to gather statistical data on a large number of heterogeneous cells to study parameters within a cell population, including size, complexity, phenotype and health. Attune’s proprietary technology allows scientists to achieve enhanced sensitivity, saves time by increasing throughput, and can be used with small sample sizes. In addition, it offers these enhanced capabilities with a reduced footprint due to the compact acoustic technology and the far smaller volume of consumables required to perform an experiment. These unique capabilities will enable scientific applications not previously possible on traditional cytometry systems, ranging from sample preparation to bead-based analyses.

“The Attune technology will accelerate research workflows by reducing the time of some experiments by an order of magnitude with greatly increased sensitivity,” said Nicolas Barthelemy, President of Cell Systems at Life Technologies. “The introduction of this unique instrument is another example of how Life Technologies is using its expertise in both world-class instrumentation and cell biology to create an innovative solution for life science researchers. This instrument is ideally suited for cell signaling and rare event applications where sensitivity is critical and is a great addition to any cellular analysis laboratory.”

“In flow cytometry, acoustic focusing enables both longer transit times and higher throughput, which simultaneously permits better interrogation of every cell in a sample as well as the analysis of much larger numbers of cells,” said Mike Olszowy, Head of Flow Cytometry at Life Technologies. “The introduction of Attune brings Life Technologies one step closer to its vision of ‘Digital Biology’ whereby scientists can move beyond ensemble measurements of heterogeneous mixtures to a more precise quantitation of molecular phenotypes at the single cell level.”