Celartia, the pioneering Life Sciences group, has announced they have entered into a number strategic alliances with major life science organisations aimed at growing availability of the Petaka^TM product for its global markets. Agreements are in place in several key markets covering Europe, the Far East, South America and Australia and they plan to add other territories to their worldwide network to complement offices already based in Columbus, Ohio and Valencia, Spain. The move is a result of an increasing demand for new innovative and efficient cell culture devices, with many technicians still using antiquated methods that date back to the 1950's.

With its groundbreaking Petaka cell culture device, Celartia have cornered the market enabling cells to be cultured in an environment much more closely resembling their normal physiological state, whilst at the same time, saving time, incubation space requirements and reducing the consumption of media and growth factors. Cells may be grown without artificially increasing CO2 or humidity conditions with the help of its build in "Gas Transfer Quenching System" (GTQS). The most innovative of all its characteristics is the application of being able to induce the cells into a state of suspended animation, enabling the cells to be kept up to months (depending on cell type) without cryopreservation enabling sub-culture to be effected when convenient and not when dictated. This application allows cells to be transported internationally, again without freezing thus significantly reducing logistics costs. Some of the more technical applications such as transfection/magnetofection and hypoxia studies are much more easily achieved in less time with less instrumentation and manipulation.

The philosophy behind the Petaka product is to "save time and effort spent on routine and mundane tasks in the laboratory enabling more resources to be invested in the innovative, creative areas"

Celartia's President Dr Emilio Barberá says, "Petaka and its concept, will be a reference for the future and will define how cell culture is to be done in order to out-perform the long established and antiquated methods currently in existence. The new availability of Petaka and the unique option it brings to culture mammalian cells in near perfect physiological conditions, now effectively renders the most commonly used devices today as pure and simple artefacts of the 20th century and to overlook a technology that is easily & economically able to reproduce a cells natural physiological state for applications in virology & immunology would simply be absurd".

The worldwide network will help facilitate greater access to the Petaka product for cell culture and research professionals bringing infinite cell culture advances, such as researching cells in the normal physiological state together with real cost and time savings for all day to day applications.

Visit Celartia's new comprehensive website at www.celartia.com