Launch of the NS200 system for nanoparticle characterization

NanoSight announce the release of their latest NS200 nanoparticle characterisation system. It will be shown and demonstrated for the first time at the renowned US Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition being held in 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia from March 14-17. Based on the well-adopted LM20 model applying their unique particle-by-particle visualisation and counting method, Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis or NTA, NanoSight has taken advantage of developments in hardware to produce an easier-to-use instrument with a high sensitivity camera built into the housing of the system. With optimised locators for making it very easy to position the measurement cell and with an electronic readout of the cell test temperature, NanoSight have set out producing a design of instrument to meet the growing need for systems with a recognised SOP, standard operating procedure.

The system has an optional blue laser to improve imaging capability, and fluorescence filters can be added when working with suitably labelled particles. The EMCCD (electron multiplying CCD) camera is designed with maximal speed and sensitivity in mind. With 37 full frames/second collected directly through a universal USB2.0 interface, the EMCCD has greatly enhanced performance over the standard CCD previously supplied. Furthermore, the laser in the NS200 is triggered to reduce thermal issues with respect to the sample, restricting photobleaching during fluorescence imaging. The end result is a ruggedly constructed instrument, which requires minimal operator skills. Training is very rapid and operators can produce consistent results within a very short time from introduction. With applications transcending the life sciences through the materials sciences, NanoSight have installed more than 300 systems worldwide as NTA becomes increasingly accepted as the technique to quantitatively study nanoparticles.