Olympus VS110™ Virtual Microscopy System Wins Two Awards at European Scanner Competition

 CENTER VALLEY, PA., August, 2010 – Olympus recently earned two awards at the first European Scanner Contest, which took place in late May in Berlin in conjunction with the 94th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Pathology and the 10th Pathology Federal Meeting. The Olympus VS110 virtual microscopy system competed among a field of five slide scanner systems and earned two of the three top honors in the quality category – scanning slides of a wide variety of specimens at 20x and 40x (0.16 µm). To earn each of the awards, the system had to accurately image three diagnostically relevant regions of interest (ROI) on ten different slides.

The instruments in the competition were used to evaluate the slides, each prepared by an independent institution, and each of different tissue types (skin, breast, kidney, etc.) and staining methods (H&E, PAS, toluidine blue, for example). Each system was used to scan the entire area of all ten slides, and the resulting virtual images were evaluated to identify three pre-determined diagnostically relevant ROIs. The results then were ranked in order of image quality by the pathologists who attended the meeting. Olympus took more quality honors than any other scanner manufacturer.

The awards were announced by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a joint institution of the Freie Universität Berlin and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The Olympus VS110 virtual microscopy slide scanning system can scan from one to 100 slides at very high fidelity, allowing users anywhere on the globe to view and fully navigate high-resolution images of entire slides or areas of slides. With more than 200 Olympus virtual slide scanning systems installed worldwide, the VS110 is the latest in the series of Olympus automated solutions for digital and whole slide imaging. In the United States, the VS110 is intended for research and educational purposes only.

The VS110 system offers enormous flexibility, allowing multiple-magnification scanning as well as an option for high-resolution oil immersion scans. The Virtual-Z™ feature allows the capture and display of multiple Z focal planes. Above all, the system is easy to use, with simple three-click operation. Three system models are available.

For more information on the Olympus VS110 system, visit www.olympusamerica.com/vs110 or contact Lorne Davies at Olympus America Inc., 3500 Corporate Parkway, Center Valley, PA 18034 USA, phone 1-484-896-5104; email lorne.davies@olympus.com. For information in Europe only, contact Dr Friederike Lehmann, phone +49 40 23773– 5406 or email: microscopy@olympus-europa.com.

About Olympus
Olympus is a precision technology leader, creating innovative opto-digital solutions in healthcare, life science and consumer electronics products. Olympus works collaboratively with its customers and its affiliates worldwide to leverage R&D investment in precision technology and manufacturing processes across diverse business lines. These include:

• Gastrointestinal endoscopes, accessories, and minimally invasive surgical products;
• Advanced clinical and research microscopes;
• Lab automation systems, chemistry-immuno and blood bank analyzers and reagents;
• Digital cameras and voice recorders.

Olympus serves healthcare and commercial laboratory markets with integrated product solutions and financial, educational and consulting services that help customers to efficiently, reliably and more easily achieve exceptional results. Olympus develops breakthrough technologies with revolutionary product design and functionality for the consumer and professional photography markets, and also is the leader in gastrointestinal endoscopy and clinical and educational microscopes. For more information, visit  www.olympusamerica.com

Olympus, VS and Virtual-Z are trademarks or registered trademarks of Olympus Corporation, Olympus America Inc., and/or their affiliates.
In the United States, the VS110 is intended for research and educational use only.