Cell Metric®
Cell Metric® is a single plate at a time system.
This is the ideal system for customers needing assurance of clonality and who are transitioning from manual microscope analysis of cloning plates to an automated system with photo-documentation.
Cell Metric is a fully-automated benchtop system that uses non-invasive bright field imaging for analysis of settled suspension or adherent cells. Cells are imaged in standard lidded, flat-bottomed microplates (typically 96 or 384 well format) in their normal liquid growth media. Plates are loaded manually into the instrument and software set-up takes seconds.
Scanning of the entire plate is rapid (approx. 4-5 minutes) with whole-well images captured automatically at single-cell resolution - see below for typical Day 0 and Day 1 images. Focus of all wells in the plate is 100% guaranteed which largely eliminates user misclassification of wells and subsequent ghost wells. A built-in barcode reader ensures accurate tracking of plates.
Results are reviewed at the instrument computer or alternatively at your desktop using the optional remote viewer software. Image data can be shared between different groups or geographical sites using the remote viewer software. Colonies are tracked back in the image library for an individual well to confirm a single cell starting point (see images below).
For clonal wells a hit picking file can be generated (as .CSV file) and exported to third-party liquid handling robots. Such automated picking is particularly useful where using 384 well plates.
Cell Metric comes provided with the Clonality Report software which is a documentation package for the clones of interest. This report includes all the specific requirements from the FDA guidance (whole well image, location of single cell feature, identification of debris etc) for Day 0 and subsequent time points along with full audit trail of those clones. Once wells and time points have been selected, a report is automatically generated as a PDF or Powerpoint. This report can be included as part of an IND submission, given to the cell banking group or provided to a CRO client as part of the project handover.
The Cell Metric can also be purchased with an option to Verify Clonality via Fluorescence. This is two-colour (red/green) fluorescence detection which can enable the user to validate a new a cloning method or quality check their existing method.
Cell Metric is ideal for:
- groups screening for clonality assurance in single labs or small groups (only a few cell lines per annum)
- groups that need to sub clone after picking colonies from ClonePix FL
For higher-throughput project requirements:
- see Cell Metric CLD
- Cell Metric has been integrated at several customer sites with third party robot arms. An API can be provided upon request.
Please note that Cell Metric cannot be retrofitted or upgraded later with a plate loader to the Cell Metric CLD
Key metrics measured by Cell Metric
| Metric measured | Description | Graphic representation |
|---|---|---|
| Assurance of clonality | Single cell resolution image of whole well on Day 0, and image library of subsequent days | Clonality Report |
| Cell number | A direct count of the number of cells per well | Cell numbers per well |
| Confluence | Measures percentage coverage or carpeting of the well base | Confluence % for each well |
| Growth rates and Doublings | Uses the cell count to generate and automatically update (using plate and well ID) growth curves for each clone | Growth curves |
| Cloning Method Efficiency | Requires option for Verify Clonality via Fluorescence | Plate overview map of wells with the fluorescent object count (for generating statistics) |
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