Beckman Coulter launches chemistry system
system, which aims to help clinical laboratories simplify and
automate chemistry testing and productivity whilst reducing overall
costs, reports Wai Lang Chu.
The UniCel DxC 800 Synchron clinical system features technology of the company's market-leading SYNCHRON clinical analysers to help clinical laboratories simplify and automate chemistry testing.
The DxC 800 is the third in the company's series of new UniCel brand laboratory instruments. The system reflects the company's ongoing strategy to deliver standardised product lines with large onboard test menus for greater workstation consolidation.
"This latest addition to the UniCel product family is an important part of our strategy to help labs obtain the blend of chemistry testing and productivity for peak performance," said Jeff McHugh, vice president of lab systems and routine testing for Beckman Coulter's diagnostics division.
"The new DxC 800 further extends our UniCel product line, offering capabilities ideal for high-volume labs processing more than 500 chemistry tubes per day," he added.
The DxC 800 features throughput of up to 1,440 tests per hour as well as an onboard capacity of 70 reagents and 100-tube-capacity autoloader. The system also delivers stat results for 11 critical care tests in 42 seconds as well as results for 90 comprehensive metabolic panels in just one hour.
The system has been designed to reduce the potential for worker injury by eliminating the de-capping step for most tubes. Workers therefore have less exposure to repetitive motion injuries and less exposure to biohazards.
The UniCel aims to be simple in operation with calibration data provided on disk, so technologists don't have to key in necessary information. Almost all calibrators are liquid and ready-to-use, therefore eliminating reconstitution, clean up, and potential result variability. The system automatically accepts within-range calibrations.
The first in the multi-platform UniCel series, the UniCel DxI 800 Access immunoassay system, debuted in 2003 and performs up to 400 tests per hour. In late December 2004, the company released its second UniCel system: the UniCel DxC 600 Synchron clinical system.
