AgenoLAB Becomes First German Lab to Purchase Roche’s RTCA Cardio Instrument

AgenoLAB has purchased Roche´s RTCA Cardio Instrument, becoming the first German laboratory to acquire the medium-throughput cell analyzer. Roche says that AgenoLAB will use the RTCA Cardio Instrument to complement its analytical service portfolio for drug development.

Launched in September 2010, the 96-well RTCA Cardio Instrument is a cardiotoxicity screening system that uses impedance-based technology to monitor cardiac beating and cellular events in real time. The system is the latest member of Roche’s xCELLigence product family, which offers noninvasive, label-free, and continuous monitoring of cellular parameters.

Andreas Greither, CEO of AgenoLAB, says that the cardiotoxicity screening carried out by the RTCA Cardio Instrument complements the lab’s service portfolio for the measurement of in vitro toxicity, dermatotoxicity, and chemical-cosmetic screening of active ingredients. “For AgenoLAB, the improved qualification and GMP-like validation of planned processes were the decisive factors to use the xCELLigence Cardio System.”

Unlike techniques such as the patch clamp, the RTCA Cardio Instrument can be used for continuous short-term and long-term experiments, which, according to Roche, improves the applicable experimental time as well as the reproducibility and data quality.