The new Olympus CKX-CCSW confluency check software automatically counts the number of cells and measures cell confluency in a culture vessel, simplifying cell culture workflow and ensuring reliable quality with quantitative cell growth data.
In applications such as stem cell research and regenerative medicine, checking the density of cells growing in a culture vessel is important to monitor the health of cultures. This quantification also allows users to time the transfer of cells to new vessels to prevent overgrowth.
Traditionally, cells are manually counted under a microscope and the results are used to estimate confluency in a process that is both time-intensive and imprecise. Now, CKX-CCSW software automates and simplifies this process, providing fast and accurate cell counts and consistent confluency measurements.
Used with a camera-equipped life science microscope, the software utilises an exclusive Olympus cell-counting algorithm to count cells in a culture vessel accurately, saving time and creating a record of quantifiable cell-growth data that can be used to predict when cells will outgrow the vessel so that they can be subcultured.
CKX-CCSW software counts cells using images obtained with a microscope, so researchers do not have to open the culture vessel or pipette the sample. This reduces the risk of contamination, which can ruin experiments. In addition, as the software works so quickly, cell cultures only need to be removed from the incubator for a short time, minimising culture temperature fluctuations.
Quantitative data are important both for documentation and accurate prediction of when a cell culture needs to be subcultured; the new software has an intuitive interface so that users can acquire highly accurate, reproducible cell-count data with minimal training. The data can be saved and exported as a CSV file for archiving or further analysis. The count data are easily paired with associated cell culture images for comprehensive recording, simplifying lab processes and analysis.
