GelCount™ 2 Organoid, spheroid and colony counter

The benchmark imager for colony, spheroid and organoid detection and analysis

The colony formation assay and colony counting is universally recognized as the gold standard method for measuring the effects of radiation, chemotherapeutic drugs and other agents on cancer cell viability.

Meanwhile, the growth of multi-cellular 3-dimensional organoids, derived from primary cell types and that mimic the structure and function of human tissues and organs, has revolutionized the study of disease and therapeutic responses in vitro.

However, manual detection and analysis of the resulting colonies, spheroids or organoids, typically under a microscope, is a thankless, laborious and rate-limiting task in which consistency and objectivity are difficult to achieve.

GelCount™ is an intuitive, PC software-operated imager that automates the detection, counting and analysis of mammalian cell colonies, organoids or spheroids in multi-well plates and Petri dishes.

With over 500 scientific citations to its name GelCount™ has become a go-to analysis solution for biologists working with organoid models or employing the colony formation assay.

In its second generation implementation, GelCount™ 2 introduces a revised design, faster processing, and a more intuitive software user experience, building on the legacy of the original.

An all-in-one imaging and analysis platform

GelCount™ 2 is an integrated solution for the imaging, detection and characterization of adherent or 3-dimensional colonies, spheroids or organoids on a single integrated hardware and accompanying PC software platform. Culture plates are imaged, images transferred to a PC, images processed and characterized, and the data collated/exported from within a single, integrated user interface.

The industry benchmark

With a track record of over 500 peer-reviewed citations and counting, and a worldwide user-base, the GelCount has become the solution of choice for biologists employing various guises of the colony, spheroid, or organoid formation assay.

Objective, unbiased output

With GelCount the user goes from colony sample to colony counts, colony size distribution and a host of additional statistical data at the click of a button.

GelCount thereby not only dramatically enhances throughput but its inherent 'machine' objectivity and consistency eliminates human error due to subjective interpretation, bias or plain fatigue – a particularly acute problem when manually processing spheroids and organoids under a microscope.

High-resolution on-screen view

Entire wells or Petri dishes can be conveniently viewed on-screen at high resolution. Three dimensional spheroid or organoid cultures are imaged across a media depth of up to approximately 5 mm (subject to contrast conditions) without the use of z-stacking.

Performance

Using single pass, high depth-of-field line imaging, combined with a single-axis motorized sample-carrier mechanism, GelCount provides unsurpassed object detection performance including resolution of overlapping objects and differentiation of real colonies from debris or other artefacts.

A typical experiment consisting of four 6-well plates containing spheroids or organoids in 3D culture can be imaged and processed in less than 10 minutes, including user-definable data and image exportation.

The diameter advantage

Processing with the GelCount not only generates a numerical count or colonies, spheroids or organoids but crucially also yields object diameter information in the form of a mean per well/dish, a histogram distribution, or even on a per-object basis if required.

The ability to quantitatively measure the effects of a therapeutic regime not only on absolute cell aggregate numbers but also on their size provides hitherto unavailable insight relating to cellular growth dynamics.

Versatility

GelCount is suitable for imaging and processing both adherent (typically stained) cell colonies, and non-adherent (typically unstained) cell aggregates in 3D suspension or semi-solid media, such as spheroids and organoids. Up to 4 multi-well plates or up to 24 Petri dishes can be imaged simultaneously.

Workflow and throughput optimisation

Not only does GelCount represent a single integrated hardware and software platform for imaging and processing of cell growth assays, but the software can also be installed on unlimited other workstations. Images generated by GelCount can therefore be stored, transferred to and processed ‘offline’ at the user’s convenience on any other workstation, without tying up the imager for other users.

Flexible data output options

Colony / spheroid counts, diameter statistics and other numerical data are automatically exported to Excel®, while colony images can be saved in a raw format for subsequent offline processing or in a generic image format for printing, presentations, etc.

2-year product warranty

Our confidence in the reliability of the GelCount is reflected in our comprehensive manufacturer's warranty, covering defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 2 years from the date of delivery. Extended warranty packages, with preventative maintenance built-in are also available.

Our technical support commitment

Technical support is both comprehensive and free throughout the lifetime of our products. It is provided by highly experienced support staff who pride themselves in the personal touch and a willingness 'to go the extra mile' to help our users extract the very best value and opportunity from our products.

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GelCount™ has been cited in hundreds of scientific publications.

"..[we] continue to use the GelCount extensively, particularly for counting iPSC spheroids. The device has been functioning reliably and has been a significant asset to our ongoing research work."
Dr. Yanuar Limasale, Prof. Werner Lab, Institute of Biofunctional Polymer Materials Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research Dresden e.V., Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Dresden, Germany

“I have used the GelCount for over 6 months. The machine reduces the analysis time considerably when compared to manual counting, and the results are similar between them. It has also the added bonus of reducing the subjectivity that could arise by manual counting, making the clonogenics more reliable. In addition, Oxford Optronix provides very good technical support. Overall, I would recommend this product as it reduces the time and increases the confidence in your results.”
Dr. Natividad Gomez-Roman, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, UK

“The [Oxford] Optronix GelCount has been a fantastic addition to our laboratory setup, allowing rapid and efficient counting of clonogenic assays which would otherwise be a very time consuming and onerous process. The easy to use software reliably identifies colonies and greatly improves consistency in analysing these experiments. I would be happy to recommend the [Oxford] Optronix GelCount to other researchers.”
Dr. Ross Carruthers, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, UK

“We have now taken this best practice of industrialized colony counting and purchased the [GelCount] for our drug discovery activities at the Institute for Applied Cancer Science, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center.” “..the GelCount instrument has by far the most intuitive software and you don’t have to be a daily user to remember the workflow and settings etc.”
Dr. Jannik N. Andersen, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, United States

“With the GelCount from Oxford-Optronix I can finally forget about those many hours spent at the microscope trying to get a number of the amount of colonies in my soft agar experiments. Now I can easily image all the wells, and after choosing my desired settings, in a short time I can have the number of my colonies and their size. The GelCount allows me to follow the growing of the colonies in time by simply acquiring different images during the weeks, so that I can see the effects of the different sample treatments. Definitely, the use of the GelCount saves a lot of my time and now I can perform more experiments in a shorter time, with the additional advantage of acquiring a complete and clear image of the entire well for presentation purposes.”
Dr. Tiziana Scanu, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AVL), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

*Specifications subject to change without notice

What is GelCount 2?

GelCount is an integrated hardware and software platform that images multi-well plates or Petri dishes containing cultured mammalian cell colonies, spheroids or organoids and processes the images obtained to yield a per well or per dish count of objects detected and object diameter statistics, all of which can be exported directly into Excel.

What’s unique about GelCount 2?

GelCount is conceived specifically for objective and reproducible detection and analysis of non-adherent mammalian cell colonies, spheroids or organoids in semi-solid media, an otherwise painstaking procedure carried out under a microscope.

How does GelCount 2 work?

GelCount combines high-resolution / high depth-of-field CCD scanning hardware with a software-controlled sample loading mechanism that automatically sends images to a PC via a USB bus. Image processing occurs via proprietary software residing on the PC incorporating a powerful, purpose-written image processing algorithm.

What are the applications for GelCount 2?

GelCount will be of interest to cancer biologists utilizing the colony or spheroid formation assay to assess the effectiveness of drug candidates and other treatment regimes on cancer cells in vitro, and to biologists utilizing primary cell 3D organoid models in the study of disease and therapeutic responses. Secondary applications for GelCount may include the cell proliferation assay, the invasion assay or bacterial and yeast colony counting.

Is GelCount 2 suited to counting adherent, stained colonies?

Yes! The GelCount is also perfectly suited to imaging and accurately detecting stained, adherent cell colonies in multi-well plates and Petri dishes.

Do colonies, spheroids or organoids in 3D media need to be stained?

Generally no. In most circumstances GelCount will reliably detect colonies, spheroids or organoids cultured in 3D assays (soft agar, Matrigel, etc.) without the need for cell staining. In some instances (e.g. high background, or very small spheroids/organoids) performance can be enhanced with the use of MTT-based metabolic stains. These do not stain the medium, just live cells and cell aggregates (recommended protocols available on request).

Can GelCount 2 be used to count bacterial and/or yeast cell colonies?

Yes! While not a primary application, GelCount can be used very successfully to image and count bacterial or yeast colonies on standard, non-opaque agar types (example images available on request).

Is GelCount 2 a cell counter?

Strictly speaking no. GelCount does not use magnifying optics and was conceived to detect cell aggregates (colonies, spheroids, etc.) of approximately 30 cells or more, rather than individual cells. However, at its maximum resolution GelCount is capable of distinguishing individual adherent cells, provided they are well stained and discrete. Under ideal conditions therefore, GelCount may be useful for quantifying the output of cell proliferation assays (example images available on request).

Does GelCount 2 allow inclusion/exclusion of colonies, spheroids or organoids based on size or shape?

The software and object detection algorithm offers extensive user-optimization of object detection parameters. Primarily this involves setting min and max diameter thresholds, but also overall sensitivity and shape-related parameters. User-generated detection settings can be stored as templates for future analysis sessions.

What is the minimum object size GelCount 2 can detect?

Depending on the morphology or ‘compactness’ of the cell aggregate objects being imaged, the spacing between them, and background contrast conditions, GelCount can readily detect objects as small as 50 µm in diameter at the maximum resolution setting.

What plasticware types are supported?

GelCount 2 is compatible with multi-well plates from 6- to 96-well plates, as well as with 35 mm, 50 mm, and 100 mm Petri dishes.

How fast is GelCount 2 and what throughput rates can be achieved?

Throughput is primarily a function of image acquisition time, which in turn is a function of the chosen imaging resolution and plate/dish type.

Typical processing time (image acquisition plus software processing) for four 6-well plates containing adherent colonies is less than 5 minutes (imaged at 600 dpi, medium resolution).

Typical imaging and processing time for four 96-well plates containing 3D colonies, spheroids or organoids, at the maximum 2,400 dpi resolution is less than 30 minutes.

Can GelCount 2 analyse multiple samples simultaneously?

Yes! Up to four multi-well plates, up to four 100 mm Petri dishes, up to twelve 50 mm Petri dishes, or up to twenty-four 35 mm Petri dishes may be loaded, imaged and processed simultaneously.

Is GelCount 2 compatible with a plate stacker or robotic loading system?

At the present time GelCount does not support ‘off-the-shelf’ stacker or robotic sample loading solutions.

Is GelCount 2 compatible with macOS?

GelCount software is currently only available for PC platforms running the Windows® operating system.

What are the recommended PC specifications for GelCount 2?

Multi-core processor, 16 GB system memory or above, solid state storage, USB 2.0 or 3.0, Windows 11, Microsoft Excel pre-installed.

Can I test the GelCount 2?

Yes, depending on geographical location we may be able to offer on-site demonstration or a short term product loan for longer evaluation. We also offer live screen-share based product and software introductions via all popular video call platforms, which can be arranged at short notice. Please contact our sales team to explore these options.