Merck announces BioTek collaboration and culture media accreditation

Pharmaceutical company Merck is collaborating with BioTek Instruments on an integrated solution for long-term live cell experiments and dynamic time-lapse analyses, including automated cell perfusion and imaging. The solution consists of BioTek’s Lionheart FX Automated Live Cell Imager and Merck’s CellASIC ONIX2 Microfluidic System.

The Lionheart FX Automated Live Cell Imager is optimised for live cell microscopy, with up to 100x magnification and brightfield, colour brightfield, phase contrast and fluorescence channels. Gen5 3.0 Software powers the product and allows quick and effortless cell image capture, analysis, annotation and time-lapse video production.

The CellASIC ONIX2 Microfluidic System automates dynamic environmental control over live cells, with high-precision controls, expansive functionality and user-friendly operation. Its microfluidics technology provides hands-free control over drug addition, gas, temperature, media and more, along with customisable media flow rates.

The news comes one day after Merck’s life science business received accreditation for the quality control of dehydrated culture media tested at its Microbiology Quality Control Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany. The accreditation means customers in the food, beverage and municipal water industries can be assured that the facility adheres to the most stringent international standards for quality in preparation and performance.

The ISO/IEC-17025:2005 is the international standard in testing and calibration for laboratory quality systems. ISO/IEC-17025:2005-certified culture media help lab professionals remain consistently compliant and accurate in their microbial testing of food and water samples.

Having an ISO/IEC-17025:2005 accreditation from Germany’s national accreditation body, DAkkS, ensures the full compliance of the lab’s GranuCult culture media to the new mandatory standard ISO 11133:2014 concerning the preparation, production, storage and performance testing of culture media. The accreditation provides a benchmark for lab competence for specific types of testing, measurement and calibration, informing customers that test data supplied by the lab are accurate and reliable.