The Cell picking and imaging system. CELL HANDLER™

What's New

November 14, 2024

New product information

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. will introduce the CELL HANDLER™2 in March 2025!

What’s the CELL HANDLER™?

The CELL HANDLER™ is an automated system for selecting and isolating spheroids/organoids or single cells individually.
The integration of sophisticated picking and imaging technology enables precise cell isolation that is unattainable by conventional methods.
The CELL HANDLER™ can enhance the efficiency of drug discovery and biomedical research through the expansion of options in cell-based screening, cell quality management and cell line development.

Benefits

Ignites your R&D.

Enabling new possibilities

CELL HANDLER™ can lead to new discoveries by enabling cell isolation of individual cells, which is not feasible using conventional methods.

Saving time and effort

Through automation of the process from identification to isolation of target cells, the efficiency and reproducibility of research are improved.

Damage-free handling

Selected cells are carefully picked, transferred and dispensed by gentle pipetting.

Easy to use

The system consists of pipetting and microscopic technology, and is easy to set up.

Automatic data saving

All data (images, cell features, well positions, picking conditions, etc.,) are stored and are traceable for downstream analysis.

Features

Incredibly reliable cell isolation

Multiple imaging mode

Equipped with x4 and x10 magnification lenses and three fluorescence colors that enables evaluation of cells by morphological & phenotypic traits.

Wide range of cell picking

Reliable cell isolation in a wide range of cell type, size and culture conditions including medium, culture plate, etc.,. The Precise control of 8 pipet heads affords isolation of randomly distributed cells in semi-solid or hydrogel media.

User-friendly software

With intuitive software it allows easy designation of the number of transferring cells and target wells and offers customized designing of the assay plate. Detects the target cells at high speed automatically by utilizing an advanced image processing algorithm.

Clean working environment

The enclosed workspace contains an automatically controlled door and equips HEPA filters and UV lamps.

Applications

Supports various applications

Phenotypic screening

Allows the use of limited amounts of valuable samples in cell-based assays, such as drug sensitivity testing.

Stem cell research

Capable of isolating various types of cells, such as iPSC, ES and adult stem cell in a damage-free manner.

3D-cell research

Supports research using spheroids, organoids and ex vivo tissues.

Toxicology / Oncology Research

Supports accurate placement of cells on specialized plates such as Organ-on-a-Chip.

Single cell research

Enables single cell isolation for gene expression and transcriptome analysis.

Cell line establishment /
Antibody-producing cell screening

Identifies high antibody producing cells and isolates clonal cell lines.

Workflow

Simple and flexible 4-step process supports new discoveries

STEP1: Detection Recognizes a wide range of cell types and sizes and measures distinct morphological & phenotypic features. Is compatible with various source plates.

1) Advanced image processing technology

Morphological & phenotypic features of cells in the source plate are obtained by high-throughput image analysis.

Detection of 3D-cell aggregates

Detection of single cells

2) Various source plates

A wide range of 3D culture plates are supported in addition to SBS format microplates and petri dishes.

Example of 3D culture plates (microcavity, nanowell plate, etc.,)

Precision Chamber™

Elplasia^® *2

AggreWell™ *3

Cell-able^® *4

*1 “CellTracker” is a trade mark of Thermo Fischer Scientific Inc..
*2 “Elplasia” is a registered trademark of Corning Inc..
*3 “AggreWell” is a trademark of STEMCELL Technologies Inc..
*4 “Cell-able” is a registered trademark of TOYO GOSEI CO., LTD . in Japan and in the US.

STEP2: Selection Select target cells using acquired cellular parameters. There are two modes for cell selection, automatic and manual.

1) Automatic selection (Histogram selection)

Cellular features (20 distinct parameters) are instantly visualized in a histogram. By combining multiple features and threshold limits as selection criteria, a target group of cells can be automatically selected.

Histogram selection

2) Manual selection (Machine learning)

Users can manually select the desired cells. When manual selection is used, the machine learning function can be activated to learn the researcher preferences and to instruct automatic selection of the optimal cell group after iteration.

Manual selection

STEP3: Handling Selected cells are picked and dispensed in a damage-free manner using gentle pipetting action. They can be isolated from liquid medium as well as hydrogels or solid matrices.

1) Flexible size compatibility

Compatible with single cell size up to 180 μm spheroids and organoids.
(Please contact us for support for larger cells (<2 mm).)

Precision Tip™
Inner dia. Φ180 µm
Disposable
Positive displacement

2) High-speed isolation with 8 heads

Precisely controlled 8 pipet heads aspirate and dispense cells in a gentle, but high-throughput manner.

Transfer to a 384-well plate: 30 minutes to transfer 384 cells/spheroids and to obtain images of all the wells.

3) Various destination plates

In addition to the SBS format plates, it is also possible to transfer cells to other designation sources such as PCR tubes and an Organ-on-a-Chip plate.

From 6 to 384-well plates
(SBS format)

OrganoPlate^® Graft *5
(Organ-on-a-Chip)

*5 “OrganoPlate” is a registered trademark of Mimetas BV.

STEP4: Verification Successful cell isolation is confirmed by imaging the destination plate. Verification of process completion is possible by imaging the source plate before and after picking.

Image of a whole 384-well plate

1) Confirmation of cell isolation by imaging

Accurate cell isolation can be confirmed by comparing images from the source plate before and after picking and the destination plate after dispensing. This is an effective way to confirm monoclonality with traceability.

Example of isolation from hydrogel dome

Source plate (6-well)

Before picking

After picking

Destination plate (384-well)

After dispensing

2) Data output traceability

All acquired data (i.e. images, cell features, well positions) and settings are automatically tracked throughout the process.

News & Events Applications

*For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
*The specifications are subject to change without notice.
*The above are the results of experiments in our laboratory. The results may vary depending on the work environment, cell type and so on.

Contact us

*Please note that we will not be able to respond to inquiries about anything other than CELL HANDLER™.
*Please note that it may take some time to response to certain inquiries.