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The CKChip |
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The CKChip is a cell carrier platform that enables fluorescence-based imaging and analysis of thousands of individual living cells, each held at a given position. At the heart of the CKChip lies a 4 sq mm cell carrier containing 2,500 or 10,000 conical micro-wells, each designed to accommodate a single cell. Cells loaded onto the chip are distributed across the micro-wells. Once trapped in the micro-wells, cells are held in place for monitoring, treatment, or rinsing with multiple reagents. The location or “address” of each micro-well is detected by "landmark wells" that serve as grid coordinates, enabling accurate identification of specific cells for further treatment, investigation, and analysis.
Advantages of cell-based assays performed with the CKChip
o Easy non-adherent cell analysis can be easily analyzed for dynamic cell response
On the CKChip, cells are held in defined, coded positions, thus facilitating imaging and analysis of non-adherent live cells .
o Deep and versatile analytical capacity
The CKChip enables gathering, continuous monitoring, and analyzing cell dynamics at the single cell level, providing valuable information not easily attainable by flow cytometry or fluorometry.
The CKChip offers:
- Detection of responding cells even when they comprise a small minority of the population
- Increased probability of detecting rare cells or rare cell events
- Identification of cell sub-populations defined by the dynamics of cell response
- Revealation of transient and subtle changes of cell response
- Reliable statistics from analysis of thousands of individual cells
o Multiplexing cell-based kinetic assays
- Reagents can be exchanged in the course of imaging to expose cells sequentially to different stimulants
- Cells analyzed for a specific parameter can be further analyzed for other parameters (apoptosis, cell surface markers, intracellular protein expression, and the like)
o User friendly
- Easy to learn - even for microscopy novices
- Easy to use - requiring only common lab skills
- Easy to analyze - included software is intuitive and automatic
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