New Cancer Research Tool: Roche's CIM-Plate 16

Roche Applied Science announces the availability of the new CIM-Plate 16 for their xCELLigence System for cell analysis, for use in cancer research. The 16-well culture plate features electronic sensors for the direct study of cell migration and invasion on the xCELLigence RTCA DP Instrument.

The system delivers unbiased data without disturbing cells due to labeling and allows researchers to monitor cell invasion and migration continuously in real-time throughout the entire duration of the experiment. The user can combine E-Plate 16 to measure cell proliferation and CIM-Plate 16 to quantify cell migration and invasion, thus making full use of the flexibility that the RTCA DP Instrument has to offer.

The xCELLigence System allows scientists to monitor cellular events in real time without having to incorporate labels. The system measures electrical impedance across interdigitated micro-electrodes integrated on the bottom of tissue culture E-Plates. The impedance measurement provides quantitative information about the biological status of the cells, including cell number, viability, and morphology.

The CIM-Plate 16 is a single-use, disposable device for performing cell invasion and cell migration assays on the RTCA DP Instrument. The CIM-Plate 16 is comprised of a plate cover (lid), an upper chamber and a lower chamber. The upper chamber has 16 wells that are sealed at the bottom with a microporous polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane; microfabricated gold electrode arrays are located on the bottom side of the membrane. The median pore size of this membrane is 8 µm. The lower chamber has 16 wells, each of which serves as a reservoir for media and any chemoattractant for the cells in corresponding upper chamber wells. The CIM-Plate 16 Assembly Tool can be used to assemble the lower and upper chambers once the media has been added.