| November 4, 2003 |
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Olympus And Onecell Announce Development Of
World's First Automated Multi-Specimen Cell
Culturing System With Built-In Seeding Function |
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| Automated Multi-Specimen Cell Culturing System Prototype |
| Summary |
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| Olympus Corporation (President: Tsuyoshi Kikukawa) and OneCell Inc. (Representative Director: Hisashi Fukushima) are pleased to announce the successful joint development of a prototype multi-specimen cell culturing system. The system is capable of automatically processing up to 20 donor cells, and has a wide range of potential applications in regenerative medicine and cell culturing research. It is the first system in the world capable of culturing, seeding on a scaffold*1, and differentiating large quantities of mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow. Olympus and OneCell will begin full-scale performance testing in November 2003 with a view to developing a system capable of simultaneously processing 100 specimens by 2006. The expanded version of the system will subsequently be offered to companies and institutions working in the fields of regenerative medicine and cell culturing research. |
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A scaffold is a material to support the culture of cells. |
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| Demand for an Automated Multi-Specimen Cell Culturing System |
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Regenerative medicine aimed at the regeneration or functional restoration of diseased and damaged human tissues has drawn attention for its ability to reduce the burdens placed on patients by conventional surgical intervention or organ implantation. Prerequisite to regenerative medicine, however, is the ability to culture human cells consistently, safely, and in large quantity.
It is to meet these demands that the current automated multi-specimen cell culturing system was developed. In addition, the system's ability to culture and differentiate mesenchymal stem cells, embryonic stem cells and so on promises to be of great benefit in the field of cell culturing research. |
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Process Flow for Bone Tissue Engineering
Using the Automated Multi-Specimen Cell Culturing System Prototype |
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| Main Features of the Automated Multi-Specimen Cell Culturing System |
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| Simultaneously Automated Processing of Multiple Cell Specimens |
| The prototype system can process up to 20 cell specimens simultaneously, with fully automatic centrifuging, culturing, seeding to a scaffold, and differentiation. It can be applied to bone tissue engineering, in culturing large quantities of mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, seeding the cultured cells to a scaffold, and differentiating them. It can also be used to culture a variety of other mesenchymal cell types, and has a significant potential in a wide range of other regenerative medical applications. |
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| Protection Against Bio-Contamination |
| A special high-performance filter protects cell specimens from bio-contamination by maintaining a class 100 clean environment even when culturing vessel covers are opened for automatic culturing and seeding to a scaffold. |
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| Protection Against Specimen Handling Errors |
| A unique specimen identification code system helps to protect against handling errors that can result in specimen mix-ups. |
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| Consistent Quality and Reduced Cost |
| Fully automatic simultaneous multi-specimen processing ensures a consistently high standard of specimen quality, and significantly reduces processing costs. |
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*Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. was changed to OLYMPUS CORPORATION as of October 1, 2003.
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