Possibly the most difficult aspect of manual histopathological staining is maintaining consistency. BioGenex of San Ramon, Calif., has overcome this problem with the introduction of the i6000 Automated Tissue and Cell Staining System, the successor to the OptiMax Plus.1 Philipp Novales-Li, director of scientific affairs at BioGenex, states that the i6000 "allows for industrial-scale and high-throughput walkaway automation, while bringing about standardized, accurate, and reliable results." At 30

The presence of individual tumor cells (micrometastasis) in bone marrow and peripheral blood is gaining importance as a prognostic marker for various carcinomas. Until recently, detection required manual identification and analysis that was laborious, time-consuming, and error-prone. In September the Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of MDS, a new, automated slide-scanning microscopy platform and cell-ular imaging system developed by Applied Imaging Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif.