01 February 2011

Leica BOND III™ wins an International Design Award

Leica Microsystems has been awarded a prestigious Australian International Design Award for the Leica BOND III™ instrument, a fully automated staining system that delivers speed, efficiency and quality to histopathology laboratories and hospitals for the detection and diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases in human tissue samples.

Designed and developed with Invetech's assistance, the Leica BOND III™ instrument is a unique and sophisticated system, utilising state of the art robotics and optimised pre-configured reagents to assist pathologists in providing rapid and accurate diagnosis up to 50% faster than previous generation stainers. It also improves laboratory efficiency as it requires virtually no daily maintenance and delivers class-leading quality with superior Bond reagents and proven Covertile™ technology.

To carry out the staining process the Leica BOND III™ heats tissue samples (mounted on glass slides) to remove the wax that the tissue has been embedded in. It then delivers precise sequences of reagents for defined durations at carefully controlled temperatures. These reagents allow critical diagnostic markers to be visualised, so that under the microscope pathologists can confidently generate an accurate diagnosis.

The Leica BOND III™ instrument incorporates three dedicated bulk fluid robots that significantly increase its speed over previous instruments of this type. As well as increasing productivity for histology laboratories it lowers the turn-around time for sample analysis, helping get results back to patients more quickly.

Read more on the Australian International Design Awards website.