Tender for a Replacement Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System

The Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science at Swansea University is seeking to procure a fully Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System to be used across multiple research groups within the Department of Biomedical Sciences and will play a critical role in supporting high-quality, externally funded research in immunology, reproductive health, cellular metabolism, oncology, neurodegeneration, neuroscience and women’s health.In order to further investigate initial data on global genomic changes in the nasal mucosa of pregnant women, this Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System will be used for isolating neutrophils from nasal swabs and peripheral blood of pregnant female, non-pregnant female, and male human donors. These cells will undergo downstream functional assays and phenotyping using a range of techniques to determine pregnancy-specific immune adaptations, with the aim for this data to inform understanding around air pollution and/or respiratory virus infection vulnerabilities in pregnant women, with a future goal of impacting public health messaging and vaccine strategies in pregnancy.The current Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System is a critical component of ongoing research in immunology, cellular metabolism, cancer, women’s health and neurodegeneration amongst others. It is currently used extensively within the Department of Biomedical Sciences within the Medical School by a series of research groups, many of whom rely on the machine on multiple days each week for essential work supporting several externally funded research grants. This System is approximately 10 years old and has become increasingly prone to failure and is nearing obsolescence, so replacing this equipment will immediately restore and futureproof the cell separation capabilities of the many different projects who make use of it. The System enables high-throughput, reproducible magnetic separation of immune cell populations from blood and tissues essential for downstream functional assays and omics analysis.NOTE: The authority is using eTenderwales to carry out this procurement process. To obtain further information record your interest on Sell2Wales at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/search_switch.aspx?ID=154791

(WA Ref:154791)The buyer considers that this contract is suitable for consortia bidding.