260101 - Contract for Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning and Maintenance of a High Throughput Live-Cell Imaging System

The Future Medicines Institute (FMI) requires a high throughput live-cell imaging system to enable FMI scientists and collaborators to monitor live cell imaging in real time under optimal conditions of cell growth in a properly maintained carbon dioxide and humidity environment to enable the efficient capture of cellular changes as they happen in the incubator.

The objective of procuring a live cell imaging system is to enhance FMI’s capacity to monitor cells in real time, in an optimally controlled environment, to support and strengthen its drug discovery capabilities.

The proposed system must:

• Be capable of multiplate/vessel imaging, up to a capacity of 6 plates/vessels and including capacity to image 6 384 well plates, to meet the volume of analysis that the centre is undertaking and support high throughput drug screening projects.
• Enable high resolution fluorescence and bright field images to be captured and recorded in real time over hours, days, or weeks.
• Offer flexibility to enable users to observe and quantify complex biological changes over time in cells and 3d structures such as spheroids and organoid models.
• Include a fully integrated image acquisition system to capture real-time insight into morphological and phenotypic changes and allow multiple users the opportunity to perform complex cellular assays.
• Offer versatile assay configurations, supporting various experimental formats such as 2d cell systems and 3d spheroid, and organoid models.

The procurement of this live cell imaging system directly supports FMI’s broader goals of:

• Accelerating drug discovery through rapid identification and characterisation of therapeutic candidates
• Providing screening capabilities in high-throughput format
• Facilitating translational research by bridging fundamental cellular studies with therapeutic applications.

The procurement of a live cell imaging system will provide direct benefit to research scientists within FMI, and wider stakeholders such as partner organisations and the wider academic community in Queens University Belfast (QUB) by:

• Significantly enhance its cellular screening capabilities.
• Enhancing live cell imaging capabilities and data acquisition throughput in optimised cellular conditions.
• Reducing time in setting up multiple vessels for multiple time point experiments.
• Reducing plasticware consumables and expensive reagents currently used in setting up multiple time point experiments.

If funding becomes available to address future expansion needs the University reserves the right to purchase additional Live-Cell Imaging Systems during the life of the contract.

Subject to the availability of funding, the University may optionally purchase additional Live Cell Imaging Systems during the term of the contract. Any such additional purchases shall be non guaranteed, limited to the optional items and maximum quantities and/or values set out in the Pricing Schedule, and shall have been included in the estimated contract value for the purposes of this procurement.