Provision of Live Cell Imaging System

Following extensive market research, Public Health England (PHE) awarded a contract for the provision of Fluorescent Live Cell Analysis System (IncuCyte S3) to Essen BioScience Ltd.

The system meets the following mandatory requirements:

• Compatible with standard cell culture incubator to assure precise CO2, temperature and humidity control.
• Able to accommodate multiple users running experiments in parallel.
• Accommodate standard plates, 75 cm2 flasks, 25 cm2 flasks, 35mm dishes, 60 mm dishes, 100mm dishes, chambered slides and microslides.
• Capable of imaging in parallel any mixture of at least 2 assay plates. These include 384-well microplates, 96-well microplates, 48-well plates, 24-well plates, 12-well plates, and 6-well plates.
• Possess high definition phase contrast optics and at least two fluorescent wavelengths (red: ex565-605nm, em625-705nm; green: ex440-480nm, em504-544nm).
• Offer possibility of imaging cells for at least 7 days without decline in cell viability.
• Offer capability of high throughput scratch wound assay and be able to produce quantifiable results.
• Able to kinetically measure vascular tube formation (angiogenesis) over at least 7 days.
• Able to analyse neurite dynamics with or without labels in living cells.

The contract also covers software, any service maintenance for this or other such instruments own by PHE and any equipment specific consumables. The contract may be extended twice by 12 months.