Cell Counter CASY
Cell counting & quality control with no limits

CASY measures the conductivity between 2 electrodes separated by a defined pore. Cells are suspended in CASYton, a defined buffer solution. During measurement, cells passing through the pore generate an electrical pulse. The intensity of the signal directly correlates with the volume of the cell. Hence CASY detects the volume of each cell passing through the pore.

For hundreds of our GMP/GLP customers we regularly recertify a consistent precision allowing a maximum variation below ±2%.

CASY’s golden rule: If you haven’t changed anything, but the size distribution looks different – Pay attention: There may be something you don’t know about your cells.

CASY’s volume based cell size distribution provides much more information than merely size. It can:

• Show level of homogeneity of cells
• Identify and quantify aggregation
• Provide indication of multiple cell types in a culture
• Provide insight in the status of your cells
• Warn you in case of contaminations

The shape of the peak shows the homogeneity of cells.

Sharp peaks represent extremely homogeneous cells like unstimulated CD4 T Cell or stem cells from cord blood.

Medium size peaks are a more common type of distribution found with many cell types including fibroblasts or lager yeast.

Finally, broad peaks are common size distributions for extremely heterogeneous cells, like mesenchymal stem cells (MSC).

CASY, the Legend – Generations of scientist have successfully trusted CASY globally for decades and CASY is continuously improving performance. As a result, CASY has been used in several thousands of publications and the list is increasing each year. A list by far too long to be presented here. Feel free to challenge us! Tell us what you are doing in cell counting and we will come up with a better solution, supported by the right publications.

In 2018 the new CASY was launched combining the existing superior measurement principle with a new state-of-the-art control and analytical software.

Keyboard or Mouse, physical or virtual Keyboard, whatever you choose, one thing remains – the easy and intuitive use of CASY!

The new CASY Software comes in 2 versions. The Control-Version includes all functions to control the instrument and also allows analysis of the generated data. The Analysis-Version equals the other version but without the instrument control module. Hence it allows to analyze your data while others can measure new samples.

Some highlights of the new software include

• User Management (3 different user levels)
• Analysis of single measurements, Overlays or even Mean results
• Unlimited number of templates
• Results are organized in a database
• Data safety
• Great reporting tools (customizable)
• Easy access and export of Meta and Primary Data
• User Support by wizards, like start up or shut down guide
• Active Directory user management (module is available as option)
• 21 CFR Part 11 ready (module is available as option)

Counting cell lines is one of the easiest tasks for CASY Cell Counter and Analyzer. Data for many cell lines are available for download and the number is increasing steadily. Normally, only use 20µl to 50µl of your cells and see cell concentration, viability, size, biomass and many other parameters within very short time.

Within 30 seconds CASY determined total count of 10.777. Out of these, 9461 were viable cells, which allows a great precision in determination of viable cell number as well as viability. Even the level of aggregation factor (1.9x) was calculated and included in result. This is just one of the many examples of results measured using CASY.

CASY is one of the most flexible counters available.

There is no need to spend much time thinking about which counter may be best for your application.

CASY – can do it all.

No compromises or tradeoffs, whether you work with cell lines or primary cells, PBMCs or stem cells, yeast or bacteria. The easily exchangeable capillaries get you ready for the future.

There are probably millions of PBMCs globally prepared from donor blood every day. The quality is however not only influenced by the selected separation media. It is very well known, that the composition also depends largely on the donor of the blood. The ratio between lymphocytes and monocytes can vary significantly between donors. Understanding these differences has a significant impact on the succes of the next steps performed with the PMBCs.

The overlay shows how dramatically the amount of lymphocytes and monocytes may vary from donor to donor. While the amount is balanced (red) in some cases, it may show a significant higher amount of monocytes (blue) or lymphocytes (yellow).

During T cell activation, cell proliferation and increase in volume are two critical parameters that CASY tracks very precisely at the same time. In the example below, human CD4 T Cells were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 Dynabeads.

“Normal” cluster formation and cell size distribution during CD4 T cell stimulation. (Top) Cluster formation in the initial phase of activation of human CD4 T cells. (Bottom) CD4 T cells increased their cell size from 8 μm in freshly isolated quiescent T cells (green line) to 10 μm after 24 h (blue line) and finally to 12 μm after 48 h of stimulation (red line).

CASY will change the way you work with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Like for other types of samples, no special sample preparation is required. In case of iPSCs, this is truer than ever before. Choose Trypsin, Accutase, EDTA or maybe another method – CASY will count your cells independent of the level of aggregation. Moreover, Mean Size and Mean Volume make the level of aggregation measurable.

So, stop torturing your cells while preparing them for other counting methods – start using CASY.

Human iPSC have been prepared with Trypsin (orange), Accutase (yellow) and EDTA (red). The level of aggregation is visible easily. Volume based aggregation correction allows counting them with the same easy to use template and to provide robust accurate and reproducible results.

Overlay of human endothelial cells fresh isolated (orange) and after 1st passage (yellow)

Sample of primary cells often contain much debris, dead cells or even other cell types. CASY Cell Counter and Analyzer will help you to overcome issues, making counting easy. In the example shown, the measurement of freshly isolated human endothelial cells was compared with a measurement after the first passage. Even when the fresh material was containing much debris, dead cells and viable cells were much more heterogeneous, counting is not a problem and results are reliable and reproducible.

During baculovirus infection the cell volume of SF9 cells changes significantly. Before infection (red) cells are about 15µm in diameter. During infection, cells (green) grow to sizes of 19µm or more.

CASY Counter and Analyzer is not only able to measure the change in volume. CASY also allows to standardize the process so that infection can be stopped before cells burst.

Erythrocytes are the most dominant cell type in fresh blood (orange) and show a peak at about 5.1µm in the case presented. Still CASY can detect populations of active and inactive platelets in fresh blood. After centrifugation Platelets remain (blue) and can be detected separately.

One of the most common commercial uses of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is brewing beer. Knowing the exact number of cells and their viability are two very critical parameters in the process, but not easy to obtain. Many breweries rely on CASY throughout the process.

• CASY works with bottom fermenting and free-floating yeast
• CASY reliable determines cell concentration and viability
• CASY detection is not impacted by trub
• CASY can warn you like in case of contamination with wild yeast or petite mutations

CASY will detect and the overlay can make visible smallest changes. In this case normal lager yeast (green) is compared to a sample which was obtained after a wild yeast infection (red).

If you are working with Candida albicans or Candida glabrata or something related, contact us to learn more or ask for a demo.

Raphidocelis subcapitata is a sweet water algae that is used in environmental testing. Growth and budding can be synchronized by light. CASY allows to follow the budding process very precisely.

R. subcapitata has a cell size of 6µm and each mother cell buds into 4 daughter cells. As budding begins, increasing numbers of single daughter cells appear. The budding continues over a time period of 4 to 5 hours increasing the number of single buds. In parallel the mother cells at 6µm almost completely disappear. Download the application notes down below.

Bacteria are growing rapidly and the cell number doubles often in 20 min or less. Counting them can be a real challenge and results are normally not precise or accurate.

Commonly used plating needs a long time until a result is at hand and the accuracy is very limited. One of the problems is that the number of bacteria counted often does not reflect a representative sample due to the high concentration of cells in culture. Alternative methods like measuring optical density (OD) only provide a rough idea of the concentration range.

If you are looking for a fast and precise way to count your bacteria, try CASY. Normally, within 45 seconds CASY will count up to 50,000 cells and provide a precise cell number.

Besides E. coli (top) and B. subtillis a huge number of other different bacteria have already been successfully counted using CASY:

Acinetobacter baylyi, Aeromonas salmonicida, Alcaligenes faecalis, Bacillus atrophaeus, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacteroides ovatus, Bordetella petrii, Comamonas acidovorans, Comamonas testosteronii, Edwarsiella hoshinae, Enterobacter cloacae, Erwinia aphidicola, Escherichia Coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera georgiana, Lactobacillus , Leptospira interrogans, Malikia spinosa, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Neisseria canis, Pasteurella aerogenes, Pasteurella multocida, Providencia heimbachae, Prteus myxofaciens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas chloraphis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas monteilii, Pseudomonas mosselii, Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas stutzerii, Rahnella aquatilis, Salmonella sp., Salmonella thyphimurium, Serratia marcescens, Shimwellia blattae, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus capitis, Staphylococcus carnosus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus gallinarium, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus simulans, Staphylococcus xylosus, Streptomyces spectabilis, Synechococcus elongatus, Vibrio anguillarum, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Yersina bercovieri, Yersinia ruckeri and increasing.

Ever wondered whether you have haploid and diploid spores?

Volume based size measurement is very precise and allows to discriminate between haploid (yellow) and diploid (orange) spores from Aspergillus niger. CASY measures many other spores too, just try it!

The answer is simple – use CASY.

A complete workflow was recently published by Kakui et al. and is available for download. CASY provides precise counts for pollen. Even more, CASY can distinguish between pollen of different size or between fully- and undeveloped pollen.

How to measure something with a flagellum, like Leishmania?

CASY can do!

CASY’s unique Pulse Field Area technology, detecting cells with 1MHZ while passing the pore, is the basis for the precise detection and exact volume-based size determination of elongated cells even if they carry a flagellum. Leishmania in promastigote stage is a good example and not a challenge for CASY.