Turkish scientists developed a cell counter
Turkish scientists working at the Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG) developed a cell counter with higher capacity and lower error rate than the examples on the market.
Working as a research group leader at IBG Dr. Arif Engin Çetin 10 months ago, biomedical engineering students Meryem Beyza Avcı and Sevim Deniz Yaşar started working to develop a local cell counter.
In the project supported by TÜBİTAK, scientists developed image processing technology and a unique hardware for the cell counting device, the equivalents of which are imported at high costs and that show the viability of cells.
Dr. Çetin stated that the cell counting device they developed is frequently used in scientific studies, especially in the field of medicine.
For example, in the process of determining whether the active molecule works in cancer drug research, Çetin stated that it is very important that these devices make accurate measurements, and pointed out that there are many measuring devices using different systems in the world.
Stating that the device they developed with a project of approximately 45 thousand liras uses the highest technology, Çetin stated that the equivalents that do not perform well in the market start from 120 thousand liras, while a good device finds a value of around 300 thousand liras.
Expressing that they have developed a device that can scan more samples than competing products, Çetin said, “With the device we developed, we can count 3,000 cells in 4 seconds. This allows us to achieve an error rate of less than 3 percent. Many commercial examples have an error margin of 10 to 20 percent, we have reduced this to less than 3 percent.
We did this project with my 2 undergraduate students. We wanted to show that high-tech products are produced in Türkiye with modest budgets and undergraduate students. We have shown that we can develop an essential device used in medicine and life sciences in as little as 10 months.”
Stating that they have produced a prototype product and that they do not want a patent for the product, Çetin added that they have made an attempt to start mass production in a short time.
Avcı, who was part of the team, explained that scientists spent a lot of time in the laboratory during cell counting, and they worked to minimize this time and they were successful.
Yaşar also said that they worked on image processing and design in the project and that they were proud of the device they developed.
