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High content bio imager - BD Pathway TM855

Description

This high throughput high-content cell analyser with high performance combines superior image quality, flexible image capture, and live-cell analysis. It provides fluorescence intensity measurements, kinetic imaging, and morphological analysis, including subcellular imaging.

High Throughput High Content Imaging is a sophisticated combination of microscopy, robotics, staining technics and software-based automated analysis of cellular and tissue related structures. This approach allows the screening of cellular behaviour of a large numbers of compounds such as chemical libraries or gene silencing libraries. Becton Dickinson's (BD) Pathway 855 High-Content Bioimager is one of the most capable imaging solutions available for live or fixed cell samples. It combines superior image quality, flexible image capture, and live-cell analysis to address a wide range of applications.

The term 'high content' can be translated as the extraction of rich information from generated images which can include not only the intensity of a staining per cell but also the area of organelles, shapes, number of structures or combination of these parameters. The power of high content image analysis is that small biological effects are identified far more precise than with traditional techniques.

Technical Details

The dual mercury metal halide long-life lamp system and alignment-free illumination deliver imaging across the full spectrum from 340 nm to 750 nm. Researchers can select among 16 different excitation filters suited for a broad range of applications. Equipped with environmental control and liquid handling, the system can perform a real wide range of fluorescence-based kinetic and endpoint biological assays. An Hamamatsu Orca R2 high-quality CCD camera delivers high quality image detection.

Images can be captured in either confocal or widefield mode to deliver high-resolution images for subsequent analysis. A unique optical spinning disk reduces significantly the phototoxicity within your samples and allows operators to easily switch between confocal or widefield modes, minimizing background fluorescence and maximizing image quality. Laser autofocus allows rapid image acquisition (less than five minutes per 96- well plate when using one colour), from 4x to 40x magnification as well as 60x (oil immersion).

High-precision x,y,z linear-motor positioning allows fast and precise image montage. This capability helps achieving increased cell counts by acquiring multiple adjacent image fields per sample. An innovative motionless stage with movable optics also enhances image stability for loosely adherent and live cells. The system comes with powerful, flexible imaging processing and analysis software to perform a broad range of fluorescence-based kinetic and endpoint biological assays.

Applications

A broad range of samples such as animal and plant cell cultures, biofilms, zebra fish embryos and small water animals like hydra can be analysed and visualized by the BD Pathway. Examples of applications:

Fluorescence intensity change (e.g. phosphorylation, biomarker activation, protein degradation, and imaging cytometry)
Fluorescence intensity distribution or translocation (e.g. cytoplasm to plasma membrane (PKCα), plasma membrane to organelle, cytoplasm to nucleus (NFkβ) and protein co-localization)
Cell morphology (e.g. cell differentiation, apoptosis)
Cell movement (e.g. chemotaxis)
Broad range of fluorescence-based kinetic and endpoint biological assays

A HTS scratcher available for high high-throughput wound-repair (wound-healing / wounding) assay on 96 wells plates.

Complementary Techniques

Cell culture facilities

The Host-Microbe Interactomics group at Wageningen UR, where the BD Pathway is located, has cell culture facilities available for guest researchers who wish to work with live material.