Technology
Acumen eX3 is a unique laser scanning cytometer available in single, dual, or triple laser configurations with a choice of three laser formats; 405nm, 488nm and 633nm ensuring compatibility with a wide variety of fluorescent probes.
The instrument operates by scanning a laser through a wide field of view lens across the bottom of a microplate or slide. The speed of data acquisition using Acumen eX3 is not affected by plate density, thus microplate types ranging from 24-well up to 3456-well (or 4 microscope slides) can all analysed in an average of 10 minutes per plate. Scan times include on the fly data analysis plus data normalisation. Scanning resolutions may be set to as low as 0.5 micron where very detailed, or small object analysis is required.
The lasers fire sequentially to reduce crosstalk and give simultaneous detection in four photomultiplier tube (PMT) detectors, providing a maximum of 12 channels of content-rich data for true multiplexing at high throughputs. Acumen's maximum scanning resolution is equivalent to that achieved using a 20x microscope objective.
Whole well scanning
Acumen eX3 is equipped with a specialised scan wide field of view lens. Covering an area of 400mm2 (equivalent to 4 wells of a 96-well plate), this lens can scan entire wells and report data for all cells in order to:
- generate statistically robust data from representative cell populations
- normalise biological responses to a total cell number
- permit the scanning of large objects such as C. elegans, or cell colonies without the need for image stitching
Cytometric analysis
Acumen eX3’s patented approach to data analysis employs cytometric principles, rather than image analysis. The lasers scan the entire field of view collecting intensity readings at regular intervals using the 4 PMTs. Thresholding algorithms identify all fluorescent intensities above the solution background for automatic object identification. Laser scanning data collection combined with cytometric data analysis represents an industry proven method for generating extremely fast and robust results - averaging around 10 minutes per plate for any plate type.
Data storage
Data from the Acumen eX3 can be collected in 3 levels of detail to suit the assay development, assay validation and screening scientist. In high throughput screening mode, the software reports only population statistics, reducing file sizes down to a manageable 50 KB, eliminating the need for data storage servers.
