Product Showcase: CellSurgeon – The Nanodissection System by Rowiak

June 9, 2010 (Microscopy-News) – The CellSurgeon is a laser based nanodissection system, designed for gentle and contact-free manipulation of cells and cell structures. It can be used to change cell dynamics, to deactivate cell organelles or to enable cell transfection.

Advantages at a glance

• contact-free nanodissection of cells and cell structures
• gentle manipulation of living cells, without loss of vitality
• high precision and reproducibility
• adaptable to different microscopes and imaging procedures
• customised configuration
• software features for analysis, image processing and automated procedures

Details

The CellSurgeon enables precise, contact-free nanodissection of cells and cellular structures. It can be used to manipulate cell dynamics, to deactivate cell organelles for example mitochondria or to influence cellular processes, such as metabolism and apoptosis. Possible applications are optical perforation of cell membranes to enable DNA transfection and cutting of cell structures such as cytoskeleton.

Main component of the CellSurgeon is a NIR femtosecond laser. The laser beam is coupled into a microscope and tight focussed by high numerical aperture objectives. Inside the laser focus very high intensities occur, inducing nonlinear optical processes and finally leading to ablation. Cuts generated in that way are limited to nanometer dimensions and thus very precise. Adjacent structures stay unharmed. Especially for the manipulation of living cells and cell structures this is of great benefit because the risk of cell damage is very low. However, manipulation processes are not only precise but also reproducible.

Another advantage of the CellSurgeon is its adaptability to different microscopes and imaging procedures. Rowiak offers customized solutions for specific applications. Software includes features for analysis, image processing and automated procedures.

For more information please contact:
Lothar Grannemann
Tel.: +49(0)171 5511225
E-Mail: lg@rowiak.de

About Rowiak

Rowiak GmbH designs and manufactures innovative opto-electronical products based on femtosecond laser technology. The product range includes devices for non-contact cutting of biological tissue and various materials as well as instruments for precise non-invasive manipulation of cells and cell structures.

Rowiak is a spin-off of the well-known Laser Center Hannover, one of Germany’s largest laser institutes. The company has a long standing experience in the application of ultra short pulsed lasers. Rowiak is highly committed to the development of novel applications for ultra short pulsed lasers in life sciences as well as in material sciences. Combining different optical methods like optical coherence tomography (OCT) or microscopy with laser based instruments novel approaches for product development arise.

Our laser systems are mainly applied in medicine and pharma, in biotechnology and genetics as well as in cell and molecular biology. Beyond, material sciences and the industrial processing of a variety of materials offer a field for versatile applications.

http://www.rowiak.de/