GelCount

Worldwide ‘Gold Standard’ in mammalian cell Colony and Spheroid Counting and Analysis.

The Colony Forming Assay and colony counting is universally recognized as the gold standard method for measuring the effects of radiation, chemotherapeutic drugs and other agents on mammalian cell viability.

However, manually counting the resulting cell colonies is a thankless and laborious task in which consistent objectivity is difficult to achieve. 

GelCount™ is an easy-to-use, PC software-operated colony counter that automates the detection, counting and analysis of mammalian cell colonies in multi-well plates, Petri dishes and T25 flasks. Colonies can be adherent or non-adherent (in semi-solid 3D matrices such as soft agar or methylcellulose, or free-floating). 

GelCount thereby provides a powerful and cost-effective alternative to the subjective and labour-intensive task of manual colony counting in the gold standard colony forming cell assay, also referred to as the clonogenic assay, the cell survival assay or the tumor cloning assay. 

Summary applications include: 

• Colony formation assay
• Clonogenic assay
• The cell survival assay
• Tumor cloning assay

Key Benefits

An integrated colony counting platform

GelCount™ is an all-in-one solution for imaging, counting and characterizing adherent or non-adherent colonies on a single integrated hardware and accompanying proprietary PC software platform. Colonies are imaged, images transferred to a PC, images processed and characterized and the data collated/exported from within a single, integrated platform. Gone is the unsatisfactory alternative of imaging samples on one device, then transferring these to and processing them on a separate image analysis package. 

High throughput ‘machine’ counting

GelCount permits the user to go from colony samples to colony counts and additional statistics such as colony size information at the click of a button via an intuitive and simple user interface. A second-generation ‘CHARM’ algorithm objectively applies user-definable colony detection rules, including inclusion or exclusion of colonies based on colony diameter, while distinguishing overlapping colonies and suppressing false positives due to contamination or artefacts. GelCount thereby not only dramatically enhances throughput but its inherent objectivity and consistency eliminates human error due to subjective interpretation, bias or plain fatigue – a particularly acute problem when manually counting under a microscope. 

High-resolution on-screen view

Entire wells or Petri dishes can be conveniently viewed on-screen at high resolution.

Performance

Using single pass, high depth-of-field scanning technology, combined with a convenient sample-loading mechanism, GelCount provides unsurpassed colony detection performance including resolution of overlapping colonies and differentiation of real colonies from debris or other artefacts. Less than 15 minutes for imaging and processing of four 6-well plates*. Detection of colonies as small as 30 µm in diameter in medium layers of up to 5 mm in depth. 

Colony size information

Processing colony samples with the GelCount not only generates a count but also yields detailed colony diameter information in the form of a mean per well/dish, or a histogram distribution, or even on an individual colony basis if required. The ability to quantitatively measure the effects of anti-cancer therapeutic regimes not only on absolute colony numbers but also on colony size significantly extends the sensitivity of the colony forming assay by providing the user with hitherto unavailable information relating to colony growth dynamics.

Versatility

GelCount is suitable for the counting and analysis of classic adherent colonies and of non-adherent colonies in suspension (spheroids) or semi-solid media such as soft agar and methylcellulose. Furthermore, non-adherent colonies or spheroids in suspension do not generally require staining.

Flexibility / Off-line processing

GelCount is compatible with multi-well plates (6-, 12-, 24-, 48- and 96-well), with Petri dishes (35 mm, 50/60 mm and 100 mm) and with T25 flasks**. Furthermore, it fully supports the archiving to disk of raw colony images, in support of full-functionality ‘off-line’ processing/re-processing even where the original samples are no longer available

Excel® and image output

Colony counts and statistics are automatically exported to Microsoft® Excel®, while sample images can be saved in a raw image format for a permanent archive of colony samples and/or ‘off-line’ processing/re-processing on other workstations. Colony images can also be stored in a generic bitmap format for printing, presentations, etc. 

Unlimited software licenses/installations

GelCount software may be installed on any number of workstations, allowing users to save colony images and to process them at their own convenience.

Unlimited software updates

Our customer-focused service includes free and unlimited availability of software updates, fixes and enhancements for the lifetime of the product.

2-year product warranty

The GelCount is supplied with a full 2-year manufacturer’s warranty, covering defects in material or in workmanship. An optional extended warranty package, providing up to 6 years of ‘peace of mind’ cover, including preventative maintenance servicing is available at the time of purchase.