Hamilton Thorne launches new Stiletto laser for regenerative medicine and stem cell research markets

Hamilton Thorne Ltd.Dec 9 2010

Reduces Manual Laboratory Research Processes from Hours to Seconds; Saving Significant Time and Money

Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (TSX-V: HTL), a leading provider of advanced laser systems for the regenerative medicine and stem cell research markets, today announced the launch of its new Stiletto™ laser system.  The Stiletto™ laser system has broad applications for research with a variety of cells, allowing the Company to enter new and exciting research markets, including developmental and advanced cell biology.  The Stiletto™ laser is a novel technology that can automate the manual and tedious process of separating and removing unwanted cells from hours of work down to seconds, dramatically saving both time and money, and revolutionizing how researchers approach cell selection and therapeutic research applications.

"The new Stiletto™ laser addresses a significant challenge in the regenerative medicine, developmental biology and advanced cell biology markets where manual manipulation and study of stem cells can take up hours of a researcher's day. With the Stiletto™, a researcher can achieve a desired result in seconds, and instead spend their time advancing therapeutic value for important diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's," said Meg Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of Hamilton Thorne Ltd. "Importantly, the Stiletto™ affords Hamilton Thorne the opportunity to expand into new and larger research markets beyond our foothold in regenerative medicine, stem cell research and fertility clinic markets."

The Stiletto™ is an elegant laser system that has the ability to gently sweep aside cells from the beam of the laser without burning or cauterizing, but also has the capacity to obliterate unwanted cells colonies within seconds.  The Stiletto™ laser utilizes a novel approach to cell manipulation, for which Hamilton Thorne has applied for patent protection. The Stiletto™ laser system combines a proprietary laser and objective, controller software, and an automated stage, allowing researchers to easily perform high speed scoring and separation of stem cell colonies.

Feature Highlights for the Stiletto™ Laser System

• Obliterates unwanted cells in seconds without harming valuable colonies and reduces typical, manual methods from hours to seconds.
• Cleanly cuts colonies with minimal or no damage, and without burning or cauterizing.
• High speed separation of cells in colonies with an automated stage creates a uniform pattern or user-defined sections of size and shape for transplanting cells more easily into additional dishes or plates in the expansion phase of stem cell growth.
• Cells are handled in a non-contact manner thus eliminating any contamination.

Hamilton Thorne's comprehensive line of laser products, including the new Stiletto™, operate as robotic micro-surgeons that speed up key processes in regenerative cell production and development. The Company's innovative devices are the first lasers ever mounted directly inside a microscope objective, which provides advantages in speed, accuracy, ease of use and safety for the cells. Each member of the laser family serves a different research application. Simply turning the microscope turret gives the researcher a new world of capabilities such as cellular identification and manipulation, eradication of unwanted cells, and removal of cell nuclei without harm to the cell.