MatriCal recently shipped its first Maccs automated cell culture system to GlaxoSmithKline's oncology biology department located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA
Ronald Wegrzyn, assistant director MMPD oncology biology of GSK, noted: "current as well as future needs for cell culture continue to expand across the entire oncology department.
"Manual cell culture maintenance and assay plate production are currently limiting our throughput for cell based compound screening.
"The Maccs system has the capability to meet our needs of producing continuous cell cultures and assay plates.
"The Maccs also has the unique capability to process cell lines, which are stored as frozen stock.
According to MatriCal's president, Kevin Oldenburg, Maccs was developed in collaboration with several leading scientists in cell biology in the pharmaceutical industry.
It addresses some of the major issues commonly observed with other automated cell culture systems.
This is the first system ever developed that can hold cryovials at -80C and then bring those cells up in any plasticware currently available.
It is also the first fully automated system ever developed that has full shaker capability thus allowing automated hybridoma production.
Oldenburg states: "It has been a real pleasure working with our colleagues at GSK, NovoNordisk, and several other leading companies on the development of this new generation of automated cell culture equipment".
The Maccs system offers a reliable and cost effective solution for a variety of applications.
This includes the uniform supply of cells and proteins for drug discovery research efforts.
The system offers a modular, expandable design combined with the ability to work with labware including with Roboflasks, T-flasks, shaker and spinner flasks, microtiter plates and roller bottles.
When used with the MatriMix Spinner Flask, a disposable one-liter flask molded from virgin polycarbonate, the Maccs is able reach its full potential.
