Cello is designed to solve the problem of clonal selection, a labour intensive task that can involve manually screening thousands of cell lines for desirable characteristics
The Automation Partnership (TAP) is introduce Cello, its new concept in automated microplate cell culture.
The system, which promises to save months of valuable time with the optimal selection of clones and cell lines is being presented for the first time in Europe on Stand B29 at MipTec 2004.
Cello is designed to solve the problem of clonal selection, a labour intensive task that can involve manually screening thousands of cell lines for desirable characteristics.
By integrating automated liquid handling, robotic arm, pumps, incubation units and a microscope, as well as unique, proprietary software features, Cello is capable of long periods of unattended operation and means it can reduce the time for selecting and developing specific cell lines or clones from months to weeks. Developed for versatility, Cello can be used for culturing adherent and non-adherent cell lines in standard 384, 96, 24 and 6 well microplate formats, and since the system is modular, it may be configured and upgraded to suit different throughput and capacity requirements.
These capabilities will benefit biotechs or large pharma companies that need a rapid method of inexpensively producing cell lines of reproducible quality. Cello, currently being implemented in three leading pharma and biotech companies, can be used for generating stable cell lines to manufacture proteins and antibodies; or for culturing stem cells.
Additionally, the system could be used to maintain cell cultures for use in ADME or cell transport and permeability studies.
Natalie Carrick, Cell Culture Product Manager at TAP states: "Selecting and manufacturing high quality cell lines is a difficult, time consuming task, which Cello overcomes with ease.
The companies that have embraced our visionary technology will realise massive increases in cell culture productivity indicating that Cello could have a positive future impact in areas such as protein production and drug discovery".
