iCyt is awarded the 2008 United States Frost & Sullivan Award for Emerging Technology
February, 2008
Frost & Sullivan is proud to recognize iCyt Mission Technology, Inc. with the 2008 Award for Emerging Technology in the U.S. Flow Cytometry Market for its success in development and launch of Reflection, an innovative and highly automated parallel sorting technology. With translational efforts moving from basic research to clinical therapy, there is an increasing demand for sophisticated bio-safe methods for sorting live cells. In response to this need, Reflection provides complete, automated, high throughput and cost-effective cell processing and sorting solutions to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and research institutions.
Market-Driven Innovative Solutions
Flow cytometry remains the "gold standard" for numerous research and clinical applications. However, flow cytometry technology has not been used to its full potential in research and clinical settings due to technological challenges involved in the development of advanced instruments that meet researchers’ diverse needs. Stem cell research, cell based therapies, and clinical applications demand high-throughput, redundant, bio-safe, and flexible systems. To meet these needs iCyt Mission Technology has developed an innovative system, Reflection, from ground up. This next generation instrument is more likely to move the field of clinical research and cell based therapies to the next level.
Power in Hands of Users
The Reflection system allows for the installation of one to four independent highly automated parallel sorting (HAPS) modules, giving end users the flexibility to configure their own instruments. The technology’s flexible design enables sharing of lasers, detectors, computers, and software across all sorting modules. Moreover, the system’s "open configuration" design allows researchers to choose from multiple lasers and detectors to configure a system that meets their current needs. In addition, unparalleled flexibility to upgrade the system configuration provides end users with a solution for their future requirements. Reflection is designed to integrate with a standard biological safety cabinet, providing a complete solution for sorting biohazardous material. In addition, Reflection offers state-of-the-art and flexible software that enables control of real time data acquisition and sorting and analysis via the internet by multiple users. Research collaborations will be facilitated in a manner never before possible with this unique, web-enabled approach.
Advancing Cellular Medicine with Innovative Cell Sorting
Existing cell sorting technology imposes a number of limitations on its users. For example, many systems are incapable of the rapid and high throughput identification and sorting of cells that users demand. Moreover, many of the available flow cytometry systems lack the necessary quality and safety standards for clinical applications. Such limitations prevent users from employing existing sorters for the majority of cell therapy applications. Reflection allows sorting of cells from two or more different samples simultaneously on individual HAPS, significantly reducing the sorting time. The process of parallel sorting both reduces costs and significantly increases productivity, while providing the important feature of redundancy in the event of sort failure. With its innovative and advanced features, iCyt Mission Technology’s Reflection emerging technology provides unmatched cell sorting capabilities for emerging clinical applications, such as tissue engineering, isolation of adult stem cells, and cell therapies.
Conclusion
iCyt Mission Technology’s emerging technology should significantly improve the quality of clinical research and is likely to eventually have a lasting impact on clinical diagnostics and cell-based therapies. In acknowledgment of the substantial progress made through the use of the company’s technology, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2008 Award for Emerging Technology in the U.S. Flow Cytometry Market to iCyt Mission Technology, Inc.
Award Description
The Frost & Sullivan Emerging Technology Award is given to the company that has demonstrated technological superiority within its industry. This Award recognizes the ability of the company to successfully develop or introduce a new technology, formulate a well-designed product family, and make significant product performance contributions to the industry.
Research Methodology
To choose the recipient of this award, the analyst team tracks emerging and existing technologies as well as research and development (R&D) developments. This is accomplished through interviews with major market participants and extensive secondary research. Also considered are elements such as product launches, customer acceptance, penetration rates, and time to market. Finally, competitors are compared and ranked for relative position. Frost & Sullivan then presents the Award to the company that received the number one industry rank.
Measurement Criteria
The recipient that is chosen for the Frost & Sullivan Award for Emerging Technology must match the following criteria:
- Technology innovation
- Number of compeitors having similar industry technology (competitive factor)
- Value-added technology and services to the customers
- Time to market
- R&D expenditures
- Price premium
- First to market
- Adoption rate
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