Corporate Overview

INCUCYTE™

Our most recent invention is the live-cell imaging system known as IncuCyte^TM. Our years of experience in developing functional cell-based assays uncovered a need to standardize and document cellular growth rates and morphology. The result was IncuCyte^TM, the first automated imaging system designed to fit inside a standard cell culture incubator. This methodology enables around-the-clock kinetic imaging without removing the cells from the controlled environment. We currently have four versions of the IncuCyte^TM platform transforming live-cell kinetic imaging into standard laboratory practice.

PIPELINE

The Pipeline^TM dispenser and the Peripette^TM consumable provide a fast, accurate and efficient approach to the transfer of sterile fluids. By combining the advantages of a peristaltic pump with the convenience of a sterile consumable, the Pipeline^TM offers an ideal solution for high-throughput research applications. Use of an optional footswitch frees up your hands and eliminates strenuous repetitive motion common with using traditional pipettes. Also, since the fluid delivery combines aspiration and dispense it is easily twice as fast as doing manual pipetting.

FLIPR

Our first invention, FLIPR (Fluorescent Imaging Plate Reader) was the first high-throughput cell-based screening instrument in the life science industry. The FLIPR was invented, manufactured and the first 20 systems were delivered by our former company in the time period between 1993 and 1996. In 1996 the FLIPR platform was acquired by Molecular Devices Corporation and has since gone on to be a flagship product line. Initially developed for an optical membrane potential assay, the key application has been the real-time optical measurement of intracellular calcium in live cells. The FLIPR platform has undergone several generations over the last 16 years and we are very proud of the impact FLIPR has achieved in the field of drug discovery.

IONWORKS

Between 1999 and 2002 we developed the first commercially available high-throughput electrophysiology platform, IonWorks HT. This technology extended whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology from a labor-intensive, highly-skilled, one cell-at-a-time measurement to an automated 384 well format. The IonWorks HT technology and associated PatchPlate^TM consumable were invented and developed by Essen, and the first five commercial systems were delivered by us before licensing the technology for distribution to Molecular Devices Corporation in 2002. We’ve been doing high-throughput electrophysiology in Ann Arbor since 2001, and currently offer a range of contract services around the IonWorks technology via our Discovery Services business unit.