DECEMBER 12, 2008--Accuri Cytometers Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI), developer of bench-top cell analysis systems, has announced the first recipient of its Accuri Flow Cytometer Creativity Awards program. Heather Newkirk, Ph.D. will receive a free Accuri C6 flow cytometry unit.
Newkirk, Executive Director of Business Development and Quality Assurance/Regulatory Affairs at Clinical Reference Laboratory, Inc. and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, plans to use bead-based assays to detect direct genomic translocations, an approach that could be applied to a myriad of genomic rearrangements, including detecting specific translocations in certain cancers.
Accuri's twice-yearly Creativity Awards program was created to foster innovative research that taps the unrealized potential of flow cytometry and expands its use to novel applications that are newly possible as a result of the capabilities of the Accuri C6 system. Designed for routine use by biomedical researchers in their own labs, Accuri's C6 Flow Cytometer is a full-featured bench-top cell analysis system that promises capabilities similar to industry leaders in a more user-friendly format and at a fraction of the cost of other flow cytometers.
"A key driver behind the development of the C6 system was our belief that the research power of flow cytometry has been hampered by its lack of wide accessibility," said Grant Howes, an industry veteran who recently joined Accuri as Director of Marketing. "The diverse and imaginative responses to the first round of our awards program provide concrete evidence that our accessible, affordable flow cytometer system can help unleash the full potential of flow cytometry."
Dr. Newkirk, the recipient of the first C6 Flow Cytometer System awarded by Accuri's Creativity Awards program, plans to use bead-based assays to detect direct genomic translocations, an approach that could be applied to a myriad of genomic rearrangements, including detecting specific translocations in certain cancers. She noted, "Flow cytometry offers researchers the chance to innovate in the design of a variety of assays, and I am excited by the opportunity to develop new assays to be performed on the C6 flow cytometer. It is encouraging to see that flow cytometry has been translated into a user-friendly, lower-cost system with the invention of the C6."
Accuri says it designed the C6 system from the ground up with input from hundreds of researchers who use flow cytometry, and it specially commissioned the easy-to-use cell analysis software that is a critical component of the approach. The C6 runs less than one-third the cost of the current market leader.
Jennifer Baird, CEO of Accuri, commented, "Dr. Newkirk's genomics research proposal is a fitting illustration of why we believe that the versatility and accessibility of our flow cytometer system will generate innovative research and a host of creative applications. We congratulate her and her team and look forward to seeing the fruits of their research, as well as many more proposals from researchers around the globe."
The Accuri C6 Flow Cytometer System will be on display at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco from December 13–17, 2008.
More information:
Accuri Cytometers Inc.
Posted by Barbara G. Goode, [email protected].