Company will focus on expanding the use of Accuri’s C6 Flow Cytometer.

BD signed an agreement to acquire Accuri Cytometers, broadening its presence in the flow cytometer space. BD says that it will expand the use of flow technology by researchers in developing regions as well as by researchers in scientific disciplines that have not traditionally used flow cytometry, such as environmental studies.

“Making flow cytometry more accessible to a wider audience of scientists and clinicians is one aspect of our cell analysis growth strategy,” says William Rhodes, president, BD Biosciences. “With its small footprint, ease-of-use, and affordable price, the Accuri flow cytometer enables the adoption of flow cytometry by a broad range of researchers whom BD does not currently serve.”

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter of fiscal year 2011. BD’s last takeover came in October 2009 when it bought HandyLab for its molecular diagnostic assays and automation platforms.

Accuri is based in Ann Arbor, MI, and markets the C6 Flow Cytometer®. The system can quickly and reproducibly provide single-platform cell counts on fluorescently labeled subsets in mixed-cell populations, according to the firm.

The C6 is equipped with a blue and a red laser, two scatter detectors, and four fluorescence detectors with interference filters optimized for the detection of FITC, PE, PerCP-Cy5.5, and APC. An industry-standard, sheath-focused core facilitates high performance while enabling rates of up to 10,000 events/second and sample concentrations over 5 x 106 cells/mL. The C6 also measures the volume pulled from samples so that cell concentration can be measured without the need for adding beads to samples or performing time-consuming hemocytometer counts, Accuri explains.

Since the specifications and performance of the C6 are similar to that of the market-leading flow cytometers, Accuri says that researchers can use their current reagents and protocols. The C6 has a fully digital data-collection system and can be used in a number of applications ranging from bacteria analysis to gene expression to immunophenotyping.

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