Slingshot Bio launches ViaComp Ultra XT to accelerate flow cytometry workflows

Slingshot Bio has launched ViaComp^® Ultra™ XT, the first cell mimic to combine compensation and spectral unmixing with viability assessment in a single product.

Spectral flow cytometry is rapidly becoming the new standard in cell analysis, with technology advancements regularly achieving panel sizes beyond 40 colors. This new technology has dramatically demonstrated the limitations of antiquated products based on polystyrene chemistry.

Polystyrene and other plastic-like derivatives significantly diverge from biologic cell behaviors under spectral analysis and cannot bind viability dyes, virtually eliminating any potential to determine cell health. The fragility and inconsistency of biological controls has long been one of the major causes of the reproducibility crises.

As instrument technology continues to advance, the gap between instruments’ capabilities and the inconsistent results produced by biologics and plastics will widen significantly.

ViaComp Ultra XT replaces polystyrene beads and biologic controls with hydrogel cell mimics that behave like cells in the cytometer but deliver the stability and consistency of synthetic reagents. The product binds fixable amine-reactive or DNA-intercalating viability dyes. It captures the true emission signatures of fluorophore-conjugated antibodies, including species-specific antibodies from mouse, rat, hamster, rabbit, and human.

Slingshot has consolidated widely used assay controls into one product vial, manufactured to ISO17025 reference material standards that ensure industry-leading quality in parallel with exceptional performance across all flow cytometer instruments.

Key features include:

• A convenient vial with a dropper contains a pre‑mixed suspension of positive and negative control particles that generate clear, well‑separated peaks for all the fluorophores in your panel.
• Antibody capture for most common species, for true and accurate fluorophore signatures in spectral analysis, including complex tandem and polymer dyes
• Amine-reactive and DNA-intercalating versions to match viability dye chemistry
• No titration, no prep, no viability cultures; stable, non-hazardous, stored at 4°C.

"For over 70 years, labs have been managing three fragile and limited controls to set up an assay panel, only to achieve highly variable and compromised results. Those days are finally behind us," said Glenn Bilawsky, Chief Executive Officer of Slingshot Bio.

"ViaComp Ultra XT is the first cell mimic to bring compensation, unmixing, and viability into a single vial. Multifunctionality, quality, performance, and efficiency at a dramatically reduced overall cost are finally available to the global research community.”

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