Fisher Biosciences unit, Cellomics, Launches VTI Live - Expanding functionality of ArrayScan VTI HCS Readers

Cellomics, a unit of Fisher Biosciences, today announced the launch of its new VTI Live option for the ArrayScan® VTI High-Content Screening (HCS) Reader, offering customers the ability to run automated live-cell kinetic assays.

The VTI Live module offers an incubation chamber to maintain a controlled environment for cells under study as well as kinteics software that automatically extracts and analyzes images and data from experiments over a course of time. The incubation chamber features configurable temperature and carbon dioxide controls, along with added humidity to allow for optimal viability of cells. It can be installed on site by Cellomics field engineers, and is fully compatible with all ArrayScan VTI HCS Readers. The VTI Live software works with the full suite of Cellomics® BioApplications and HCi™ Informatics software products. The high value kinetic software can track cell identity over time, as well as calculate cell motility and kinetic measurements on any cell or well feature.

"The VTI Live module greatly expands a customer's capabilities on the ArrayScan® VTI HCS Reader, the world's most productive HCS reader," said David Eansor, President of the Life Science Research Division of Fisher Biosciences. "It maintains a stable environment for living cells, while tracking cells over a set time span and provides real-time data. This automated process significantly accelerates research producing immediate results at the conclusion of an experiment."

Cellomics, Inc. is the creator of and recognized world leader in high-content cellular screening, an important tool in drug discovery as well as basic biological research. Cellomics provides optical instrumentation, image-analysis and information-management software as well as reagents for the functional analysis of protein interactions in both fixed and living cells.

This technology accelerates the drug-discovery process by enabling researchers to identify potential drug targets and screen drug candidates more efficiently within the context of a cell. This eliminates the need to perform biochemical assays in vitro, one protein at a time. "Other tools, such as a microscope, may perform some of the tasks involved in cellular analysis, but they cannot perform all of these tasks in the simultaneous, automated fashion achieved with HCS." The VTI Live module can be purchased separately or as an entire system that includes the ArrayScan VTI HCS Reader and VTI Live.