Akadeum Life Sciences announced the preview of their Alerion cell separation system. The instrument will provide a closed system for separating T cells from a leukopak using Akadeum’s Buoyancy Activated Cell Sorting (BACS) microbubble technology. The instrument promises to speed up the cell separation process, increase cell recovery, automate several manual steps, improve sample processing robustness, decrease user error incidence, and reduce cell exhaustion.
Akadeum’s instrument utilizes a two-chamber consumable. In the bottom chamber, the leukopak material is mixed with an antibody cocktail and microbubble solution. Using cell-specific binding properties, the microbubbles adhere to a predetermined cell population. Next, a channel between the two chambers is opened, allowing the naturally buoyant microbubbles to float the T cells to the top chamber, leaving the unwanted cells behind in the lower chamber. This automated process can be applied to Akadeum’s negative or positive selection kits and takes less than 60 minutes to complete.