Suited for automated culturing and processing of cell lines in shake flasks, The Automation Partnership’s Sonata can count cells, add and decant media, centrifuge, harvest cells, and keep cells refrigerated until they are required. Automating these tasks allows scientists to maintain cultures of stock cells continually and automate infection for the production of baculovirus and protein reagents. Because users are not limited to carrying out optimization processes, they can increase the number of process runs performed, as well as the quality and quantity of the proteins. The system can also be used to culture mammalian cells, where it can quickly determine the most suited culture conditions and cell lines for production of protein therapeutics.
Michelle LongoAsst. Managing Editor
Striving Toward Secondary GoalsLate last month, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stunned most everyone when he declared his promise that "by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon." While I don’t fault Gingrich for dreaming and trying to set high standards and goals, I can’t help but think of the enormous amount of known and unknown variables that significantly deter this accomplishment...continue
