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Colorwatcher

Compact colorimetric microarray imager with brightfield and darkfield illumination

For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

  • Colorwatcher colorimetric microarray imager — hero product view
  • Colorwatcher — 96-well plate on automated tray
  • Colorwatcher — front view on white background
  • Colorwatcher imager with analysis software on laptop
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Colorwatcher takes colorimetric images of microarrays and measures the spot intensities with the QuantoPic software. The user interprets the results.

It has two illumination modes: brightfield (bottom illumination) and darkfield (top illumination). It reads 96-well plates, 12×8 well strips and microscope slides (with an adapter).

A high-sensitivity CMOS camera gives fast, high-contrast images at 6 µm per pixel. An automated mechanism ejects the plate.

Colorwatcher is compact and fits into an airline carry-on bag.

Colorwatcher is designed and manufactured under a quality management system based on ISO 13485.

  • Brightfield and darkfield illumination
  • LED light source, lifetime over 10 000 hours
  • 3 MP CMOS camera, 6 µm per pixel, field of view 7.7 × 7.7 mm
  • Diffuse reflectance 2 to 99 %DR, calibrated at production with Spectralon standards
  • 96-well plates, 12×8 well strips, up to 4 microscope slides
  • Automated plate ejection
  • Manual or automatic focus (software-controlled); programmable exposure up to about 30 s
  • End-user mode: choose an assay, load the samples, get the results
  • Password-protected Assay Developer mode with access to all parameters

  • QuantoPic is included. It controls the instrument and analyses the images.
  • AI Array Finder: automatic microarray grid detection and alignment
  • Grid layout and region mapping
  • Automated image acquisition and positioning
  • Spot intensity (total, mean, median) with background correction
  • Qualitative and quantitative assays, including 4PL and 5PL calibration curves
  • Point-and-shoot imaging at specified locations
  • Export of results to PDF, CSV and Excel

Technical Specifications

Imaging mode Colorimetric: brightfield (bottom illumination) and darkfield (top illumination)
Light source LED
Light source lifetime Over 10 000 hours
Measurement range 0 to 65 535 (arbitrary units)
Optical density (brightfield) Indicative values, up to 2.0 OD. Calibration with certified OD standards on request.
Diffuse reflectance (darkfield) 2 to 99 %DR. Calibrated at production with Spectralon diffuse reflectance standards.
Vessels 96-well plate, 12×8 well strip, 4 microscope slides (with an adapter)
Camera 3 MP, CMOS
Standard image size 1280 × 1280 pixels
Resolution 6 µm per pixel
Field of view (standard image) 7.7 × 7.7 mm
Focus Manual or automatic (software-controlled)
Exposure Up to about 30 s (programmable)
Image formats PNG or TIFF, 16-bit
Data interfaces USB 2.0 (instrument control), USB 3.0 (camera)
Software QuantoPic, included
Size (W × D × H) 330 × 345 × 150 mm
Weight (without power supply) Up to 6 kg
Power supply External power supply XP Power AKM90PS24 (CE marked): input 100–240 V AC, 50/60 Hz; output 24 V DC, 3.75 A, 90 W. Instrument input: 20–24 V DC.

PC Requirements

CPU Intel Core i7 with AVX2 support
RAM 8 GB
Graphics card Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB or better (Nvidia GeForce 10, 16, 20 or 30 series only)
Storage SSD, 256 GB
Operating system Windows 11, 64-bit

Compliance

  • Research use only (RUO). Not a medical device and not an in vitro diagnostic medical device.
  • CE marking: EMC Directive 2014/30/EU, Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU.
  • Designed and manufactured in Riga, Latvia, by SIA Bioscience Media.