ibidi launches new chemotaxis assay

Munich, Germany, June 25th, 2005 –ibidi GmbH, a supplier of solutions for BioMicroscopy, launches a new chemotaxis assay. The setup is based on ibidi´s microscopy carriers, the µ-Slides. The assay allows the real time imaging of fast moving cells during the incubation with a chemoattractant.

Chemotaxis is the phenomenon where single cells direct their movements according to certain chemicals in their environment. So far, the analysis of the process under real time conditions was almost impossible. Now, the ibidi scientists generated gradients in micro-structured channels in µ-Slides that allow real time imaging of the cell migration.

“The ibidi assay is easy to perform and allows to follow chemotactical assays on inverted microscopes. The assay is appropriate to cell systems that move with a speed of
5-10 µm per minute, like macrophages, neutrophils or Dictyostelium discoideum”, says Elias Horn, the responsible project manager at ibidi.

The development was carried out in close cooperation with the group of Dr. Gerisch at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. First results with ibidi´s chemotaxis assay were published in the May issue of American Biotechnology Laboratory. The company now plans to develop parallel assays, where the geometrical structures allow to trace as well much slower cell types, such as cancer cells and primary cells.

About ibidi GmbH – www.ibidi.com
ibidi® GmbH, Munich, Germany, develops, produces and distributes micro-Slides (µ-Slides), a “Lab-on-a-Slide®” technology for the analysis of cells and biomolecules. The µ-Slides represent a new family of flow through devices for the functional analysis of living cells. Currently, the µ-Slide product family comprises 8 different slide types for cell-culture and optical microscopy (high resolution, fluorescence, DIC) and protein- binding.