PerkinElmer enhances Operetta imaging system to perform live cell assays with higher throughput

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader focused on the health and safety of people and the environment, has announced enhancements for its Operetta^® High Content Imaging System, designed to significantly improve the ability of scientists to perform live cell assays with higher throughput, to help foster a better understanding of normal and aberrant cellular behavior.

“We are seeing a trend towards researchers using biological assays that are better models of the physiological environment in vivo earlier in the drug discovery process in order to improve the likelihood of a drug succeeding at clinical trial.”

Scientists conducting research in the areas of cancer, stem cells or infectious diseases will benefit from the Operetta system's new capabilities to analyze the dynamic behavior of cells using advanced live cell, high content imaging. With the new capabilities, users will be able to accurately observe individual cell behavior over time to better understand dynamic processes in order to generate more accurate prediction models, for example how cancer cells migrate during metastasis or how viruses invade cells.

"We are seeing a trend towards researchers using biological assays that are better models of the physiological environment in vivo earlier in the drug discovery process in order to improve the likelihood of a drug succeeding at clinical trial." said Jim Corbett, President, Diagnostics and Life Sciences, PerkinElmer. "With these new live cell imaging capabilities, our customers will have easy access to a wider range of applications than ever before and will be able to generate more biologically relevant data on how cells respond to compounds, helping to reduce false positives later in the drug discovery process."

The Operetta system's new capabilities include brightfield imaging and environmental chamber options, and a new transmitted light digital phase-contrast mode that enables users to image and segment live cells without using fluorescent dyes. This feature reduces toxic effects of nuclear stains that may negatively impact the viability of cells, enabling longer and more predictive live cell studies. Furthermore, it can help to reduce assay costs.

In addition to the live cell imaging capabilities, the upgraded Operetta system is integrated with advanced informatics solutions, such as PerkinElmer's Columbus™ Image Data Storage and Analysis System for high content imaging data, and the TIBCO^® Spotfire^® software for data analysis and visualization which enables users to easily combine findings across experiments.

Source: PerkinElmer, Inc.