Benchtop Instrument Automates Cell Counting

A benchtop instrument offers a new method of automated cell counting to replace manual cell counting using a glass hemocytometer.

Called the Countess automated cell counter, the instrument uses only 10 µl of sample, counts live and dead cells, calculates percent viability, measures average cell size, and calculates dilutions for downstream applications.

Currently, scientists use a glass slide with a grid pattern, count cells one by one, add the number of cells in each box and multiply that number by a dilution factor to calculate the final concentration of cells. The Countess automates this process, completing all counts and calculations in approximately 30 seconds.

The Countess cell counter was launched by Invitrogen Corp. (Carlsbad, CA, USA), a provider of essential life science technologies for diagnostics, production, and research. "This instrument was designed with the scientists' workflows in mind, and adds to Invitrogen's already productive line of benchtop instruments, as well as the full line of reagents to support those instruments,” said August Sick, general manager and vice president of Invitrogen's Cellular Analysis Business Unit. "The Countess automates a very tedious and subjective manual process and gives accurate, repeatable results, freeing scientists to concentrate their efforts on the outcomes rather than the process.”

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