Testimonial
My name is Dr. Elina Nürnberg, and I am a biotechnologist at faCellitate GmbH in Mannheim, Germany. At faCellitate, we focus on developing specialized cell culture surfaces for advanced applications, including 3D and stem cell culture.
I have over 10 years of experience in microscopy, working with both 2D and 3D systems. Much of my work has involved 3D microscopy of 3D cell cultures, optical tissue clearing, and advanced image analysis, including image segmentation and automated analysis workflows.
One of the main challenges I have consistently encountered with conventional confocal microscopes is their limited throughput. The number of samples that can be imaged within a reasonable timeframe is often very small. In contrast, my experience with Hermes has been that it allows us to acquire a large amount of high-quality data in a very efficient timeframe.
At faCellitate, Hermes plays a particularly important role in our quality assurance processes. We perform standardized assays that mirror customer workflows for spheroid seeding. Once the spheroids have formed, we use Hermes to automatically image all plates, scanning each individual spheroid.
The combination of automation, full-plate imaging across different formats, and automated image analysis saves us significant time and effort. We no longer have to wait long periods for results and can make decisions quickly based on reliable data.
An additional significant advantage is the ability to move the objective while keeping the plate stationary. This design prevents motion artifacts during acquisition, which are common in systems where the plate itself moves, and spheroids tend to shift within the well. As a result, Hermes provides more reproducible imaging results and eliminates the need for re-imaging plates.
The intuitive user interface is another key benefit. The software guides users step by step through the workflow, making it very easy for new or less experienced users to learn microscopy. At the same time, it enables a highly time-efficient process, from plate setup to final image acquisition.
The analysis is performed directly in Athena, which is integrated with Hermes. We evaluate morphological characteristics such as spheroid size, roundness, and overall structure. This streamlined workflow allows us to image many plates in a single run and immediately determine whether a newly produced batch passes quality control.
Because our decisions are based on quantitative data, high image quality at high throughput is essential for us — and Hermes consistently delivers it.
