PerkinElmer Announces New Configuration of its Advanced Opera™ High Content Screening System

PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, a global leader in life science research, drug discovery and cellular science, today announced a new introductory configuration for its leading Opera™ High Content Screening (HCS) system. The new Opera LX is specifically designed for researchers who need the power of high throughput confocal imaging for their drug discovery and academic research, but in a scalable configuration that can expand as their screening needs increase.

PerkinElmer’s full-scale Opera QEHS system is the premier confocal microplate imaging reader on the market, delivering fully automated, high speed and high resolution imaging for primary and secondary cellular screening in the drug discovery, systems biology, and safety pharmacology markets. These systems are proving essential to important research efforts in oncology, neuroscience, in vitro toxicology, immunology, and cardiovascular medicine, among other areas.

“Researchers in both the academic and pharmaceutical markets are increasingly adopting a cell-based approach to their drug discovery research, shifting their focus away from biochemical analysis of discrete cellular components to evaluate cellular function, including tissue and organ activity, through live cell imaging,” said Robert Friel, President and Chief Operating Officer for PerkinElmer, Inc. “The Opera system is the gold standard HCS reader providing unrivaled resolution and speed as well as powerful, intuitive Acapella™ software to provide better insight into the data collected. With the Opera LX, researchers can access the power of HCS at an introductory system price-range with the option to upgrade to full-scale capability.”

The Opera LX can be custom configured with a laser combination of choice and can be equipped with a number of options, such as an environmental control unit, lenses, UV light source including second camera for parallel image acquisition, liquid handling, plate handling / storage and incubation. All accessory units can be field upgraded thus enabling a user to start with a basic configuration for assay development and small-to-medium throughput campaigns for a variety of applications that can be gradually upgraded to the Opera QEHS that includes all options and full high throughput live cell screening capacity.

The accompanying Acapella image analysis software with Cellular Assay Library is a powerful, intuitive system that allows for quick training of new users, but also offers full flexibility in algorithm development for the power user.

The Opera LX expands PerkinElmer’s comprehensive drug discovery instrumentation and reagents portfolio, further demonstrating the company’s commitment to providing high-performance live cell imaging technologies to meet the needs and budgets of researchers throughout the life sciences.