Commercially Available April 2, 2007 in Bright Field and Fluoresence Solutions

Nanopoint’s cellTRAY Imaging System CT-1000 is an entry-level imaging platform for researchers running cell-based assays and performing live cell imaging. Nanopoint’s CT-1000 product is an add-on component to an upright or inverted microscope platform and requires an XYZ mechanized stage to achieve optimal results.

Nanopoint’s cellTRAY component is a micro-scale live cell containment device that creates new standards of precision and levels of efficiency for the study of individual isolated live cells, and creates new approaches for multiple cell analysis and simultaneous processing. Unlike standard wells plates, the cellTRAY provides for the isolation of cells into individual sites allowing researchers to observe individual cells throughout the experiment and automatically navigate the ordered array.

The cellTRAY is made from optically clear glass that can be used with either an upright or inverted microscope. The glass substrate has the dimensions of a standard microscope slide (1” x 3”). Each cellTRAY contains etched sitess in four different sizes: 50µm, 100µm, 200µm and 300µm. Each site is connected to a microfluidic “capillary” channel which in turn is connected to a much larger “feeder” channel. This allows for fluids such as cell media and reagents to be loaded onto the cellTRAY and administered to the site via capillary action. Each cellTRAY is packaged in a custom autoclavable Petri dish that enables easy loading, incubation, and culturing of cells.

Also included as part of the CT-1000 is a scientific grade color camera for documentation and archiving of life science images where higher resolution is routinely required. With 2048x1536 resolution and on-board processing, the camera delivers outstanding image quality for a wide variety of scientific applications.

Nanopoint’s cellTRAY Manager software allows the life sciences researcher to easily and quickly navigate to any of the 7,614 sites on the cellTRAY. This includes the ability to move the stage to any x, y, and z point in user-defined step sizes, plus automated stage scanning along a predefined grid. The user can automatically acquire images and save those images for presentation and analysis by third party software products such as MetaMorph and ImageJ. Nanopoint’s Windows-based software is modular allowing easy addition of new applications at anytime.

The CT-1000 system makes a broad range of cell analysis applications easily accessible to life science researchers everywhere. Current customers are applying Nanopoint’s cellTRAY systems to research involving cellular signaling pathway mapping, hybridoma characterization, protein expression, cell culture and process development, apoptosis, g-protein-coupled receptors, stem cells, insulin-producing beta cells and dendritic cells in the immune system.

Other supported applications include:

• Counting live/dead cells in cultures
• Measuring different aspects of cellular self-destruct processes (apoptosis)
• Evaluating cell growth cycles
• Assessing cell protein markers
• Screening individual cells for genetically tagged fluorescent proteins (e.g. GFP)
• Performing multiple RNAi (siRNA) experiments and optically monitoring the effects of gene silencing in live cells in real-time.