Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has one of the largest immunohistochemistry / in situ hybridization (IHC / ISH) workloads in the United Kingdom, performing almost 120,000 IHC slides a year. The Trust has selected Leica Microsystems' BOND platform to provide advanced IHC and ISH staining capabilities for cellular pathology services at its Hammersmith, Charing Cross and St Mary's Hospital sites. These hospitals are integrated with the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, rated in 2011 as a top 10 global university by Times Higher Education in conjunction with Thomson Reuters.

The Trust has recently installed a total of 10 new Leica BOND systems, offering increased throughput and improved staining consistency for a wide range of assays. Donna Horncastle, Laboratory Manager for Cellular Pathology at Hammersmith Hospital, explained: "Cellular pathology services within the Trust are split across three separate laboratories, with each site covering a range of specialties. In order to standardize our practices - as well as to provide a more consistent approach to servicing and support across all laboratories - we wanted to switch to fully automated immunostaining for both routine and research IHC and ISH. Following a comprehensive tender process, Leica Microsystems was able to offer the best solution for our needs, combining good staining quality with high throughput."

"Installation of the BOND instruments has gone very smoothly in all three laboratories, with only minimal disruption to service provision during the changeover, and we have been very impressed with the staining quality of the platforms. These systems also offer considerable efficiency savings - allowing staff time to be used more effectively - and we no longer rely on batch processing of samples, therefore improving turnaround times and streamlining our workflow."

The Leica BOND family has offered continued advancements to anatomical pathology laboratories since its introduction to the IHC market. Founded on the principles of superior detection sensitivity, workflow optimization and user flexibility in menu adoption, the BOND family is firmly established as an industry leading platform for immunohistochemistry. Coupled with a comprehensive menu of Novocastra antibodies and companion diagnostic products for HER2 IHC and HER2 FISH, the BOND systems provide the flexibility, quality and gold standard menu option required by an academically leading facility such as Imperial College.

Chris Rhoades, Global Product Manager - BOND Instrumentation, commented: "We are thrilled to have been chosen by Imperial College NHS Trust and look forward to working with them in the continued delivery of cost-effective and efficient clinical and research services."

Leica Microsystems is a world leader in microscopes and scientific instruments. Founded as a family business in the nineteenth century, the company's history was marked by unparalleled innovation on its way to becoming a global enterprise.

Its historically close cooperation with the scientific community is the key to Leica Microsystems' tradition of innovation, which draws on users' ideas and creates solutions tailored to their requirements. At the global level, Leica Microsystems is organized in four divisions, all of which are among the leaders in their respective fields: the Life Science Division, Industry Division, Biosystems Division and Medical Division.

Leica Microsystems' Biosystems Division, also known as Leica Biosystems, offers histopathology laboratories the most extensive product range with appropriate products for each work step in histology and for a high level of productivity in the working processes of the entire laboratory.

The company is represented in over 100 countries with 12 manufacturing facilities in 7 countries, sales and service organizations in 19 countries and an international network of dealers. The company is headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany.

For more information on the Leica BOND family click here