Researchers at the University of Birmingham will explore how Guava's benchtop micro-volume cell analysis systems can accelerate the department's monitoring of cell cultures for apoptosis
Guava Technologies, a biotechnology company focused on providing comprehensive cell analysis at the benchtop, and the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK, have announced a strategic research alliance to study apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham, under the direction of Professor Mohamed Al-Rubeai, will explore how Guava's benchtop micro-volume cell analysis systems can accelerate the department's monitoring of cell cultures for apoptosis.
Guava's cell analysis systems, the Guava PCA and Guava PCA-96, significantly streamline cell analysis research and the R and D process by enabling scientists to perform a variety of whole cell assays at their benchtops, with less than a day of training.
Furthermore, the Guava PCA systems require only small numbers of cells in microlitre sample volumes to produce highly accurate and easy-to-read results. "The Guava PCA system will enable us to perform experiments that we could not easily accomplish with either manual microscopy or centralised flow cytometry systems," said Professor Mohamed Al-Rubeai.
"The ability to perform cellular assays and specifically apoptotic measurements in our cellular physiology research, using micro-volume levels of precious cells and reagents is an enormous advantage.
"Moreover, instead of using traditional technologies that are slower and more tedious, or require coordination and scheduling with core testing facilities, we can now conduct cell-based testing easily in our own labs.
"Our alliance with Guava Technologies will significantly increase both the speed and productivity for some of our key research programs in the field of apoptosis". "The University of Birmingham is one of the world's premier bioprocessing research institutions, actively promoting the use of novel and exciting technologies to solve critical problems and ultimately improve cell culture production," said Paul Kinnon, Guava Technologies' vice president of marketing and sales.
"We are excited to be working with the team at the University of Birmingham to accelerate their research and to explore further and more advanced apoptosis applications for the Guava PCA systems".
Guava has released an application note on at line cell culture monitoring describing some of its work with Dr Al-Rubeai.
The PDF is available as a free download from Guava's website.
