Andor Launches Komet^® 6.0 Software and System Bundles to Provide Highest Quality Data for Comet Assay

Andor Technology plc (Andor), a world leader in scientific imaging and spectroscopy solutions, announced today the release of Komet^® 6.0, the leading software for imaging and analysis of comet assay specimens. The comet assay reveals DNA damage at the single cell level with extreme sensitivity.

Andor’s Komet^® software has been the recognized leader in this field for more than 15 years and has consistently provided innovation through enhanced usability, analysis and data management. Andor’s Database Viewer, included with Komet as a stand alone review tool, provides specimen decoding, visualization and data preparation for subsequent statistical analyses.

Andor’s CCD and EMCCD cameras are well-suited to imaging fluorescent comet samples and for the first time Komet^® systems will be bundled with these cameras to guarantee performance and offer outstanding value. Cameras can be selected from Andor’s Luca EMCCD range, such as Luca-S, a VGA format camera with 10 um pixels, and Luca R, a 1kx1k camera with 8 um pixels. Both cameras are interfaced via USB 2.0. The bundle is completed with a high performance Windows^® workstation, which is fully integrated and QC-tested before shipping. Bundles guarantee compatibility and provide performance and the high quality data necessary for research and safety testing.

Dr. Mark Browne, Market Development Manager within Andor, said “The announcement of our Komet^® and camera bundled systems is timely as the international community gears up to use the comet assay more widely in safety testing of pharmaceuticals. Earlier in 2008 the ICH Steering Committee released to regulatory authorities a draft revision of the S2(R1) document “Guidance on the Genotoxicity Testing and Data Interpretation for Pharmaceuticals Intended for Human Use. Dr. Browne added further “This revision includes the comet assay as a follow-up test for assessing results from in vitro or in vivo assays. Our products are intended to provide researchers around the world a platform to produce high quality data from the comet assay.”