Cell Enrichment

Isolating populations of cells can be a tedious job. But St. Paul, Minn.-based BioErgonomics Inc. (BioE) has put an end to the hard work of cell separation with its PrepaCyte™ reagent--a two-step media that agglutinates unwanted cells via surface antigen recognition. Traditional methods of cell separation rely on differences in the cells' density, size, or affinity for antibody-coated beads, as the cells are passed over a density gradient or through columns that selectively retain populations of cells. Although these approaches are effective, they are time consuming and can be difficult to set up. They also lose 40 to 70 percent of stem cells and T cells, says Dan Collins, founder and chief scientific officer of BioE. PrepaCyte takes an entirely different approach. The buffered media contains antibodies that can bind unwanted cell types or activate cells to adhere to each other. The unwanted cells--red cells and mature myeloid components--agglutinate...