CELLAVISTA

The SYNENTEC CELLAVISTA is an automated imager for cells in multi-well plates. It images whole wells in brightfield and, on fluorescence-equipped versions, in up to six fluorescence channels, and analyses the images as it goes — cell counts, confluence, clone tracking for single-cell cloning and similar label-free and fluorescent assays. SYNENTEC describes the current CELLAVISTA 4 as a system that non-invasively measures brightfield and fluorescence assays in multi-well plates, chamber slides or RoboFlasks, aimed at cell line development, cellular research and drug discovery.

Everything about how a plate is imaged and analysed lives in SYNENTEC’s YT-SOFTWARE. A YT template holds the acquisition and analysis settings; an experiment created from it holds the plate’s measurements and results. Revolution drives the instrument through the SYNENTEC Automation Server that runs beside YT on the instrument PC: a schedule opens an experiment, measures it, exports the results and closes it, and the tray is moved out and in around every robot transfer.

At a glance

Type	Automated brightfield and fluorescence cell imager with built-in image analysis
Labware	SBS-format microwell plates, microscope slides and culture dishes, per SYNENTEC
Instrument software	YT-SOFTWARE with the SYNENTEC Automation Server (required — templates are made in YT)
Connection	TCP to the Automation Server, through SYNENTEC’s SynentecAutomation.dll client library on the Revolution PC
Plate locations	One — the tray
Revolution control	Open, create and close experiments (standard and GLP), select wells, measure, stop, export to CSV, tray in and out, read status, or the whole cycle in one step

Specifications

SYNENTEC publishes the following for the CELLAVISTA 4K line in its Technical Information 4K Line sheet (2022), linked from the CELLAVISTA 4 product page. Where the Basic and HighEnd versions differ, both are given.

Illumination	Brightfield, LED with 50,000 hour lifetime. HighEnd adds up to 6 fluorescence channels
Objectives (NA, approx. resolution)	2× (0.08, 3.3 µm/px) optional; 4× (0.2, 1.3 µm/px); 10× (0.3, 0.9 µm/px); 20× (0.5, 0.53 µm/px) optional; 40× (0.75, 0.35 µm/px) optional
Culture system	Microwell plates (SBS formats 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 and 384), microscope slides and culture dishes
Camera	Progressive scan CMOS, 5440 × 5440 (29.6 MP), 3.2 × 3.2 µm pixels, 8-bit mono, 15 fps, quantum efficiency ~57%
Measurement time, full-well brightfield scan at 4×	96-well: 2 minutes; 384-well: 3 minutes
Automation Server	Automated measurements by third-party software; interface by IP address and port over GigE
Operating temperature	20–28 °C
Operating humidity	50–85% relative humidity
Dimensions (H / W / D)	407 / 625 / 530 mm
Weight	61 kg
Power	100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, 295 W maximum

The CELLAVISTA 4 product page lists two current versions: the 4K HighEnd, with the camera above, and the 4 Scientific, with a 16-bit sCMOS camera at 2048 × 2048 and a quantum efficiency above 80%. Both carry up to four objectives and a brightfield plus six fluorescence channel illumination. The product page’s table gives the sample types as SBS plate format (1536, 384, 96 wells and less), where the 2022 sheet stops at 384 wells, so confirm 1536-well support with SYNENTEC for your configuration.

The measurement times are the figure to plan a schedule around, and they are quoted for the fastest case: brightfield only, at 4×. Fluorescence channels, higher magnifications and image analysis all lengthen a measurement, which is why the Revolution Measure step allows four hours by default.

Supported methods

Revolution does not choose objectives, channels or analysis settings. The template does. A schedule decides which template to use, which plate goes in, when it is measured and where the results go.

The experiment lifecycle

A plate’s time at the CELLAVISTA runs in this order. Each step holds until the Automation Server reports the state that step leads to.

1. Load the plate. The mover places the plate on the tray. With Move Tray For Transfers on — the default — the driver moves the tray out before the place and back in after it, so the tray is in and the instrument is ready with no experiment open.
2. Open an experiment. Either Open new experiment, which creates one from a template, or Open experiment, which reopens an existing one so the next measurement is added to it — the pattern for a plate that comes back for each time point. The GLP versions do the same and record a Windows user in YT’s audit trail. Opening fails if an experiment is already open or the tray is out.
3. Adjust it, optionally. Select wells replaces the template’s well selection for the next measurement; Enable processing turns image analysis after each measurement on or off.
4. Measure. The instrument images the plate, and analyses it if processing is on. The step holds until the measurement is done, and publishes what the server reports about it.
5. Export, optionally. Export to CSV writes the results, with images as the template sets, to a folder on the instrument PC.
6. Close the experiment. Its measurements are already saved; closing returns the instrument to ready.
7. Unload the plate. The tray moves out, the mover picks the plate, and the tray moves back in.

Run experiment performs steps 2 to 6 in one schedule step: create from a template, select wells if given, measure, export if a folder is given, and close.

Export or close before the plate is picked. Once a measurement is done, the instrument will not move its tray until the results have been exported or the experiment closed. A pick straight after Measure therefore fails at the tray-out. Run experiment always closes, so it never leaves the instrument in that state when it succeeds.

Opening an experiment

• Run experiment — create a new experiment from a template, measure it, optionally export it, and close it, holding the step open throughout. Takes the template file, experiment name, barcode, project name, well selection, export folder and a measurement timeout (240 minutes by default). If anything fails after the experiment is open — the well selection, the measurement or the export — the experiment is left open for inspection.
• Open new experiment — create and open a new experiment from a template, ready to measure. Takes the template file, experiment name, barcode and project name.
• Open experiment — open an existing experiment, by name, barcode or full path, so that the next measurement is added to it. For a multiphase experiment the CELLAVISTA moves on to the next phase.
• Open new GLP experiment and Open GLP experiment — as the two above, but also take the Windows user to record in YT’s audit trail, in DOMAIN\User or MACHINE\User form, and the comma-separated YT audit groups (YtUser by default). The GLP versions take no project name.

The template file and any export folder are paths on the instrument PC, not on the machine running the schedule. When the barcode is left blank the driver uses the barcode recorded for the labware on the tray. When the experiment name is left blank it uses the barcode, and with neither it names the experiment Cellavista_ followed by the date and time. The name becomes a folder name on the instrument PC, so the driver refuses characters a folder name cannot contain before anything is sent; the project name is checked the same way. A project name needs a YT version whose client library accepts one — with an older library the step fails if a project name is given.

The experiment name and barcode actually used are published to the schedule as Cellavista.ExperimentName and Cellavista.Barcode.

Measuring

• Select wells — replace the template’s well selection for the next measurement. Wells are written (x,y) with (0,0) the top-left well; (0,0)...(2,2) selects the rectangle between two wells, and ; separates selections. The step fails if the instrument rejects any well.
• Enable processing — turn image analysis after each measurement on or off for the open experiment.
• Measure — measure the open experiment and hold the step until the server reports the measurement done, including image analysis if it is on. Takes a phase for multiphase experiments (-1, the default, lets the instrument choose) and a timeout in minutes (240 by default; 0 means no limit). When the timeout elapses the driver stops the measurement and fails the step; the experiment stays open. If the measurement is stopped or ends without finishing, the step fails.
• Stop measurement — stop the running measurement. It is sent straight away, even while another step is waiting on that measurement; that step then fails.

When a measurement finishes, the server sends a description of it, and the driver publishes each value as a schedule variable named Cellavista.Measurement. followed by the server’s own name for it. The names and values are whatever the installed YT version reports; the driver passes them on unchanged. If the server’s description does not arrive within about two seconds of the measurement finishing, the step still succeeds and nothing is published.

Results and housekeeping

• Export to CSV — export a measurement’s results to CSV, with images as the template sets, and hold the step until the export is written (30 minutes allowed by default). Takes the export folder, the measurement index counted from 0 (-1 for the last) and the phase counted from 0 (-1 for the last phase with a measurement). The folder may use YT’s macros: %BC% for the barcode, %PROJECTNAME% the project, %EXP% the experiment, %MEAS% the measurement, %MIDX% its index, %PHASE% the 1-based phase and %DATE% the date.
• Close experiment — close the open experiment. Nothing is sent if none is open.
• Set experiment folder — change the folder on the instrument PC that new experiments are saved under.

Tray and status

• Tray out — move the tray out to its load position and hold until it is out. Nothing moves if it is already out. Refused while a measurement is running, and while a finished measurement has not been exported or the experiment closed.
• Tray in — move the tray in and hold until it is in. Nothing moves if it is already in.
• Read status — publish what the server last reported, without changing anything: Cellavista.Status, Cellavista.StatusName, Cellavista.ErrorCode, Cellavista.ErrorMessage and Cellavista.ExperimentFolder. It reads the driver’s record of the server’s last notification; it does not send a command.

Cellavista.Status is the Automation Server’s state code:

Code	State
-1	Error — initialise the device again to recover
0	Start — not initialised
1	Initialising
2	Initialised — ready, no experiment open, tray in
3	Experiment open
4	Tray moving
5	Tray out
6	Measurement running
10	Measurement done — export or close next
11	Exporting — returns to 3 when written

How the driver guards each step

A command the current state does not allow is refused before it is sent. The driver tracks every state the server reports, and checks it against the Automation Interface’s state rules first — you cannot open an experiment with one already open, measure with none open, or move the tray during a measurement. Until the server has reported a first state, nothing is refused on these grounds.

An error fails the step. If the server reports an error, or enters its error state, while a step is waiting, the step fails with the server’s error code and message. From the error state the device must be initialised again.

Instrument commands run one at a time. A second step that drives the instrument waits for the first to finish. Stop measurement and Read status are the exceptions, so a running measurement can always be stopped or observed.

Two time limits are fixed in the driver: two minutes to open or close an experiment, and two minutes for a stopped measurement to leave the running state. The connect, initialise, tray and export limits are configurable.

What the driver does not do

• It does not create or edit templates. Acquisition and analysis settings are made in YT-SOFTWARE and saved as template files on the instrument PC.
• It does not read result files back. Exports are written on the instrument PC; Revolution sees only the measurement summary the server sends and the export folder it was given.
• It does not authenticate the GLP Windows user. The name is passed to YT as given and recorded in YT’s audit trail; it is the schedule’s job to supply the right one.
• It exposes no live view, and no control of incubation, which SYNENTEC offers through an external incubation and plate-handling option.

Integration

Revolution talks to the SYNENTEC Automation Server, which runs on the instrument PC beside YT-SOFTWARE — as AutomationServer.exe or as the SAS service — and drives the instrument. The driver connects to it over TCP using SYNENTEC’s own client library, SynentecAutomation.dll, which must be installed on the Revolution PC. The driver is written against the YT 26.6.5 Automation Interface. It loads the library at run time rather than referencing it, so the device still appears in Revolution, and runs in simulation, on a PC where the library is missing.

The driver’s own notes state that it also serves SYNENTEC’s NYONE imager, which uses the same YT-SOFTWARE and Automation Server; this page describes the CELLAVISTA.

Initialising connects to the server and waits up to the connect timeout to hear from it. It then checks the state the server reports:

• if a measurement, an export, an initialisation or a tray move is in progress, initialising fails — wait for it to finish, or stop it in YT, and initialise again;
• if an experiment was left open, the driver closes it;
• unless the instrument is already initialised, the driver initialises it, which homes the instrument, and waits up to the initialise timeout for it to finish;
• if an Experiment Folder is configured, the driver sets it on the server.

Uninitialising stops a measurement this driver started and has not finished, closes any open experiment and releases the instrument. Each part is best effort; a failure is logged and the rest still runs.

The tray is motion. With Move Tray For Transfers on, the driver moves the tray out before every pick or place at the CELLAVISTA and back in after it. Turn it off only if something else presents the tray, and then schedule Tray out and Tray in around each transfer yourself — the driver will not move the tray, and will not check where it is, before a mover reaches in.

The device presents one location: the tray.

In simulation, nothing is sent to the instrument. Each operation waits its simulated duration, and the experiment operations still publish Cellavista.ExperimentName and Cellavista.Barcode so that later steps find them. No measurement values or status are published.

Prerequisites

• YT-SOFTWARE and the Automation Server must be installed, licensed and running on the instrument PC, with the server listening on the address and port set in its EnvironmentConfig.xml. The firewall must allow that port from the Revolution PC.
• SynentecAutomation.dll must be on the Revolution PC. Left blank, Automation Library Path is searched beside the driver and in SYNENTEC’s install folders under C:\Program Files\SynenTec\ (the NyONEReader\bin, NyONEReader\bin\AutomationServer and AutomationTestClient\bin folders, and the 32-bit Program Files equivalent of the last).
• Templates must be made in YT and saved on the instrument PC before a schedule names them.
• Do not run the instrument from YT while a schedule is using it. The driver tracks the state the server reports, so work started elsewhere changes what the schedule’s next step is allowed to do, and that step may be refused.
• A schedule that uses the separate steps must close the experiment — or export it — before the plate is picked.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
Automation Server Address	Host name or IP address of the instrument PC running the Automation Server. Required.
Automation Server Port	TCP port the Automation Server listens on, as set in its EnvironmentConfig.xml. Required.
Automation Library Path	SynentecAutomation.dll, or the folder that holds it. Blank searches beside the driver and SYNENTEC’s install folders.
Experiment Folder	Folder on the instrument PC that new experiments are saved under, applied on initialise. Blank keeps the server’s own setting.
Connect Timeout (s)	How long the server has to answer after connecting. Default 60.
Initialise Timeout (min)	How long instrument initialisation may take. Default 10.
Tray Timeout (s)	How long a tray move may take. Default 120.
Export Timeout (min)	How long an export may take. Default 30.
Move Tray For Transfers	Move the tray out before each pick or place at the device and back in after. Default on.

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.

Operations

These are available from a Run Device Operation step.

Close Experiment

Closes the open experiment on the Cellavista. Its measurements are already saved. Nothing is sent if no experiment is open.

Enable Processing

Turns image analysis after each measurement on or off for the open experiment.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Enable Processing	bool	true	Whether the Cellavista analyses the images after each measurement.

Export To Csv

Exports the results of a measurement to CSV, with images as the template sets, and holds the step open until the export is written. The step fails if no experiment is open or the Cellavista reports an error.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Export Folder	string	—	Folder the results are exported to. May use macros such as %BC%, %EXP% and %MIDX%. Resolved on the Cellavista PC, not on the machine running the schedule. %BC% is the barcode, %PROJECTNAME% the project, %EXP% the experiment, %MEAS% the measurement, %MIDX% its index, %PHASE% the 1-based phase and %DATE% today's date.
Measurement Index	int	-1	Measurement to export, counted from 0. -1 exports the last one.
Phase	int	-1	Phase to export, counted from 0. -1 exports the last phase with a measurement.

Measure

Measures the open experiment and holds the step open until the Cellavista reports the measurement done, including image analysis if enabled. The tray must be in. If the timeout elapses the measurement is stopped and the step fails.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Phase	int	-1	Phase of a multiphase experiment, counted from 0. -1 lets the Cellavista choose.
Timeout (min)	int	240	How long to allow the measurement before this step stops it. Zero means no limit. When the limit elapses the measurement is stopped and the step fails. The experiment stays open.

Open Experiment

Opens an existing experiment on the Cellavista, so the next measurement is added to it. For a multiphase experiment the Cellavista moves on to the next phase without a measurement.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Experiment Name	string	—	Name, barcode or full path of an existing experiment on the Cellavista PC.
Barcode	string	—	Plate barcode stored with the experiment. Blank uses the barcode of the labware on the tray.

Open Glp Experiment

Opens an existing GLP experiment on the Cellavista and records the given Windows user and audit groups in its audit trail.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Experiment Name	string	—	Name, barcode or full path of an existing experiment on the Cellavista PC.
Barcode	string	—	Plate barcode stored with the experiment. Blank uses the barcode of the labware on the tray.
Windows User	string	—	Windows user recorded in the audit trail, in DOMAIN\User or MACHINE\User form. The GLP audit trail records actions under this user, so it should be the person accountable for the run.
Audit Groups	string	YtUser	Comma-separated YT audit groups for the user, for example YtUser,YtManager.

Open New Experiment

Creates and opens a new experiment on the Cellavista from a template, ready to measure. The step fails if an experiment is already open.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File	string	—	Full path of the YT template file, on the Cellavista PC. Resolved on the Cellavista PC, not on the machine running the schedule. Templates are made in the YT software and hold every acquisition and analysis setting.
Experiment Name	string	—	Name of the experiment. Blank uses the barcode. It also names the experiment's folder on the Cellavista PC; if that name is taken, the Cellavista appends an index. With neither a name nor a barcode the experiment is named by date and time.
Barcode	string	—	Plate barcode stored with the experiment. Blank uses the barcode of the labware on the tray.
Project Name	string	—	Optional project (campaign) the experiment belongs to.

Open New Glp Experiment

Creates and opens a new GLP experiment on the Cellavista from a template, recording the given Windows user and audit groups in its audit trail. The step fails if an experiment is already open.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File	string	—	Full path of the YT template file, on the Cellavista PC. Resolved on the Cellavista PC, not on the machine running the schedule. Templates are made in the YT software and hold every acquisition and analysis setting.
Experiment Name	string	—	Name of the experiment. Blank uses the barcode. It also names the experiment's folder on the Cellavista PC; if that name is taken, the Cellavista appends an index. With neither a name nor a barcode the experiment is named by date and time.
Barcode	string	—	Plate barcode stored with the experiment. Blank uses the barcode of the labware on the tray.
Windows User	string	—	Windows user recorded in the audit trail, in DOMAIN\User or MACHINE\User form. The GLP audit trail records actions under this user, so it should be the person accountable for the run.
Audit Groups	string	YtUser	Comma-separated YT audit groups for the user, for example YtUser,YtManager.

Raise Error

Makes this device report a failure on demand: the step fails with an error naming the device, and the operator is offered the usual error recovery choices. No command reaches the instrument and nothing moves, and the failure is raised in simulation as well as on a real system, so this is the step to use when rehearsing how a schedule handles a device failure.

Read Status

Reads what the Cellavista last reported and publishes it to the schedule as Cellavista.Status, Cellavista.StatusName, Cellavista.ErrorCode, Cellavista.ErrorMessage and Cellavista.ExperimentFolder. Nothing on the instrument changes.

Run Experiment

Creates a new experiment from a template, measures it, optionally exports the results, and closes it, holding the step open throughout. The results are published as Cellavista.ExperimentName, Cellavista.Barcode and Cellavista.Measurement.* variables. If the measurement fails the experiment is left open for inspection.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Template File	string	—	Full path of the YT template file, on the Cellavista PC. Resolved on the Cellavista PC, not on the machine running the schedule. Templates are made in the YT software and hold every acquisition and analysis setting.
Experiment Name	string	—	Name of the experiment. Blank uses the barcode. It also names the experiment's folder on the Cellavista PC; if that name is taken, the Cellavista appends an index. With neither a name nor a barcode the experiment is named by date and time.
Barcode	string	—	Plate barcode stored with the experiment. Blank uses the barcode of the labware on the tray.
Project Name	string	—	Optional project (campaign) the experiment belongs to.
Well Selection	string	—	Wells to measure instead of the template's selection, for example (0,0)...(2,2). Blank keeps the template's selection. Wells are (x,y) with (0,0) the top-left well; two wells joined by ... select the rectangle between them, and ; separates selections. The step fails if the Cellavista rejects any well.
Export Folder	string	—	Folder the results are exported to; blank skips the export. May use macros such as %BC%, %EXP% and %MIDX%. Resolved on the Cellavista PC, not on the machine running the schedule. %BC% is the barcode, %PROJECTNAME% the project, %EXP% the experiment, %MEAS% the measurement, %MIDX% its index, %PHASE% the 1-based phase and %DATE% today's date.
Timeout (min)	int	240	How long to allow the measurement before this step stops it. Zero means no limit. When the limit elapses the measurement is stopped and the step fails. The experiment stays open.

Select Wells

Replaces the template's well selection for the open experiment's next measurement. The step fails if the Cellavista rejects any well.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Well Selection	string	—	Wells to measure instead of the template's selection, for example (0,0)...(2,2);(5,1). Wells are (x,y) with (0,0) the top-left well; two wells joined by ... select the rectangle between them, and ; separates selections. The step fails if the Cellavista rejects any well.

Set Experiment Folder

Changes the folder on the Cellavista PC that new experiments are saved under.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
Experiment Folder	string	—	Folder on the Cellavista PC that new experiments are saved under.

Stop Measurement

Stops the measurement the Cellavista is running. It can be sent while another step is waiting for that measurement, which then fails.

Tray In

Moves the Cellavista tray in and holds the step open until it is in. Nothing moves if the tray is already in.

Tray Out

Moves the Cellavista tray out to its load position and holds the step open until it is out. The step fails while a measurement is running or done but not yet exported or closed.