Single-Cell Dispensers

The CYTENA family of sorters and dispensers isolates single cells with image-based proof of clonality, gentle recovery, and the throughput to isolate thousands of high-value clones in under one hour. From single-cell research and microbiome workflows to accelerated CLD campaigns, there’s a system for you.

GET A QUOTE BOOK A DEMO

Single-cell dispensers and sorters enable the precise isolation of individual cells from complex cell populations for downstream analysis, expansion, and characterization.

CYTENA’s single-cell technology combines advanced, microfluidic dispensing with image-based cell detection to support reliable workflows in cell line development, single-cell research, microbiome discovery, and other applications requiring accurate and reproducible single-cell isolation.

Proof of Monoclonality

Capture image-based proof that a single cell was dispensed into each well and maintain traceable evidence throughout clone development.

Gentle Cell Isolation

Low-shear dispensing preserves cell health and supports high viability for sensitive cell types, helping generate more successful clones from fewer plates.

Dispense Only The Cells You Want

Image-based gating enables precise selection based on morphology and fluorescence while excluding unwanted cells and debris.

Accelerate High-Throughput Workflows

Dispense up to 40 single cells per minute with 97% seeding efficiency, enabling large-scale workflows without sacrificing precision or cell viability.

Scale from Research to Automation

Our solutions integrate from manual operation to lab automation workflows, supporting increasing throughput demands without changing your core isolation technology.

Documented for Regulatory Approval

Image-based monoclonality documentation and comprehensive reporting help support FDA and EMA regulatory submissions.

UP.SIGHT

Single-cell dispenser with fluorescence and plate imaging for double-assured monoclonality.

F.SIGHT

Dual-channel fluoroscent and brightfield sorting for precise isolation of labeled cells.

C.SIGHT

Fast, label-free single-cell isolation engineered for high viability and outgrowth.

B.SIGHT

High-precision single-cell dispensing for bacteria, yeast, and other microbes.

Find the Right Single-Cell Dispenser For Your Workflow

Every single-cell workflow has unique requirements, from cell type and throughput needs to application goals and regulatory expectations. Our experts can help you identify the right CYTENA solution for your research, whether you are developing cell lines, studying individual cells, or exploring microbial diversity.

SPEAK WITH A SPECIALIST

“Axxam has revolutionized the limiting dilution process with the UP.SIGHT instrument over the past year. We experienced the power of this remarkable tool with its intuitive interface and double assurance of clonality, enabling us to accelerate the production of stable monoclonal cell lines expressing a diverse range of targets for our high-throughput screening campaigns.”

Paola Picardi Principal Scientist, Axxam
“UP.SIGHT is a very gentle and reliable cell dispensing system that allows for automation of assuredly monoclonal cell line generation with our very large and fragile protoplasts. The UP.SIGHT is easy to handle and easy to integrate into the existing lab due to its small footprint.”

Nicola Krieghoff Strain Development, Scientist, eleva
“The instrument [B.SIGHT] is handy and super user-friendly. The machine is ready to sort after a quick quality control step and adaption of sort settings. It sorts single cells reliably. Due to the usage of cartridges cross-contamination is not an issue anymore and cells are sorted alive and happy since they are kept in their needed buffer during the entire sort process. An in-built laser enables us to differentiate between fluorescently labelled and unlabelled cells, which makes the whole cell sorting process even more precise.”

Dr. Magdalena Unterer Doctoral Researcher, Helmholtz Munich
“We can isolate one cell, one clone that has the exact desired genome, and we need to prove from a regulatory purpose that there is just one cell in any well. For this purpose, we selected the UP.SIGHT, where we make use of the double clonality assurance to be confident in the results."

Suzanne Snellenberg PhD Vice President Cell Line Development, Cellistic
"The F.sight device is easy to use and, thanks to the use of sterile cartridges, does not require any complex cleaning procedures and prevents cross-contamination. The cells to be dispensed can be selected and reliably dispensed on the basis of size, roundness and fluorescence. The dispensing of the individual cells is documented with the aid of a camera, which also provides good quality control and documentation for each cell afterwards. Due to its small size, the F.sight can be operated in a sterile bench.”

Dr. Rainer Will DKFZ Heidelberg
"Single cell efficacy: 70-93%; Colony efficacy: 58-91% (after optimization). The plating effort (to get single cells) can be lowered compared to limited dilution and FACS single cell deposition by the factor 4-5."

A. Mayer-Bartschmid, Senior Scientist, Bayer
“This instrument [F.SIGHT] is a very reliable, cost-efficient and gentle cell dispensing system, which greatly reduces premature cell lysis and avoids debris, duplets, and clumps through its sophisticated optical control parameters. Cells can be efficiently selected based on size and roundness. In addition, the f.sight optionally allows the use of fluorescence as an optical selection parameter for gentle selection of e.g. GFP-labelled or antibody stained cells.”

Kathrin Kattler Postdoc, Universität des Saarlandes
"When using the single-cell printer, the number of monoclonal cell lines increased 6-fold compared to the limiting dilution process, therefore increasing the number of pools that could be cloned. By implementing both of these technologies, the cell line development process can be decreased from 9 months to 6 months."

A. Mahé Scientist, Novimmune
"ExcellGene SA relies on the Cytena Single Cell Dispenser, which offers both single cell dispensing and imaging capabilities. This technology provides documented evidence of clonality for all dispensed cells, ensuring the integrity and reliability of the resulting cell lines. The user-friendly nature of Cytena devices makes them invaluable tools for streamlining and optimizing laboratory workflows."

Stéphanie Anchisi Head of Cell Line Development, ExcellGene SA

No Risk of Cross Contamination

CYTENA dispensers are compact systems that fit neatly in standard biosafety cabinet. Cell suspensions are loaded in the individually packaged EASY.ON single use cartridges that prevent cross-contamination between samples.

Cell-friendly, High Dispensing Speeds

CYT | UP.SIGHT_-_Combined_single-cell_dispensing_and_3D_full_well___img-004

Cells don’t like being outside their optimal micro-environment. Cytena dispensers seed around 40 single cells a minute. That’s a 96-well plate in 2min, a 384 in 8min. The faster the dispensing, the better.

In CLD, the faster your cells are back in the incubator and optimal physiological conditions, the higher the outgrowth rate of your CLD campaign.

In OMICS, fast and gentle dispensing preserves the native cellular state to prevent artifactual changes in transcriptional, translational, or metabolic profiles.

>97% single-cell dispensing efficiency and up to 80% clonal recovery

High dispensing efficiency and outgrowth rates means that you get more clones per plate, including fragile hiPSCs. That’s lower real-estate requirements in your incubators, less plate handling, less time wasted on screening empty wells, and less plastics used in the process. Theses effects compound to significant time- and resources savings.

All your clone intelligence in a single place

Product-Details-Clone-tracking-and-more-Everything-in-one-place-1536x930

UP.SIGHT extends beyond single-cell isolation with integrated clone tracking and analysis through C.STUDIO. Monitor clone growth from Day 0 onwards, combine imaging with viability, titer, and productivity data, and compare candidates using a centralized workflow.

With all clone information connected in one place, teams can identify high-performing clones faster and make data-driven selection decisions with greater confidence.

In CLD, the faster your cells are back in the incubator and optimal physiological conditions, the higher the outgrowth rate of your CLD campaign.

In OMICS, fast and gentle dispensing preserves the native cellular state to prevent artifactual changes in transcriptional, translational, or metabolic profiles.

With all clone information connected in one place, teams can identify high-performing clones faster and make data-driven selection decisions with greater confidence.

WEBINAR

10× Faster VCD, One-Tenth the Pipette Tips: How AI Is Rewriting Cell Counting in CLD

Learn how AI-powered image analysis automates viable cell density (VCD) measurements directly in the microplate, accelerating cell counting by 10x while drastically reducing plastic pipette tip consumption and manual pipetting steps.

Watch Now →

APPLICATION NOTE

Fast and Precise Clonal Derivation Double Assurance on a Single instrument Enabled by 3D Well Imaging

Discover how the combination of nozzle imaging and advanced 3D well imaging provides >99.99% probability of clonal derivation on a single platform, eliminating the need for pre-imaging centrifugation and saving valuable time.

Download Now →

APPLICATION NOTE

Sequencing Single-cell Genomes of Uncultivated Bacteria in the Human Oral Microbiome

Explores how automated, gentle single-cell dispensing isolates fragile, uncultivated oral bacteria from complex native samples, preparing them directly for high-resolution single-cell genomic sequencing.

Download Now →

BLOG

Gene Editing in Cell Line Development: Cutting-Edge Approaches

How label-free, high-resolution microbial dispensing enables single-prokaryotic-cell sequencing, helping researchers sequence and study uncultivated microbes that cannot be grown in traditional lab cultures.

Read Now →

CELL LINE DEVELOPMENT

Selection and cultivation of stable clonal lines for biomanufacturing.

MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

Discovery, identification, and characterization of therapeutic antibody candidates.

SINGLE-CELL OMICS

High-resolution genomic and transcriptomic analysis of cellular heterogeneity.

MICROBIOME RESEARCH

Analysis of complex microbial ecosystems, strain isolation, and host interactions.

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Design, assembly, and optimization of novel genetic constructs and metabolic pathways.

CELL THERAPY & STEM CELLS

Cellular therapeutics, stem cell biology, and advancements in regenerative medicine.

GENE THERAPY

Viral vector development, delivery system optimization, and advanced genomic medicine.

SPEAK TO OUR EXPERTS

Get a Quote or Book a Demo

GET A QUOTE BOOK A DEMO

A single-cell dispenser is a piece of automation-ready laboratory equipment that enables researchers to isolate individual cells quickly, easily, and without compromising cell viability and integrity for a variety of downstream processes that require that require single cells, for example the generation of monoclonal cell lines.

CYTENA’s single-cell dispensers utilize microfluidics technology to isolate and dispense single cells at very low-pressure precisely. It consists of a dispensing chip that rapidly produces microdroplets from the sample inside a disposable cartridge, combined with high-resolution optical microscopy and real-time image analysis to guarantee the dispensing of single cell into individual wells of a microplate.

Our single-cell dispensers are compatible with mammalian, insect, and microbial cells. Any mammalian cell up to 40 µm in diameter, and microbial cells up to 20 µm, can be dispensed and isolated with the devices. Some common cell types used with a CYTENA single-cell dispenser include CHO cells, HEK293 cells, iPSCs, T cells, primary cells, yeast cells, bacterial cells, microbiome, and environmental samples.

Yes. CYTENA's single-cell dispensers can be integrated into a lab automation system. The lid opening and closing can be automated, and our instruments are compatible with standard automation arms and grippers, as well as third-party automation clients.

We additionally offer C.STATION, an automated workstation specifically designed to automate the CLD workflow.

Isolation of single cells into a 96-well plate takes only 2 minutes, while a 384-well plate takes about 8 minutes. The duration may vary depending on the sample concentration, but our single-cell dispensers are designed with ease and speed in mind.

Yes — CYTENA single-cell dispensers isolate cells into either standard 96- and 384-well microtiter plates, so they fit straight into existing workflows.

Yes — F.SIGHT, B.SIGHT, UP.SIGHT and C.STATION carry a 488 nm laser (replaceable with 561 nm on request) and can gate on fluorescence in addition to size and roundness to either include or exclude labelled cells. The entry-level C.SIGHT dispenses on morphology only, without fluorescence.

No. You can simply let the cell sediment at the well bottom. Alternatively, with UP.SIGHT's 3D Full Well Imaging, the full liquid volume is imaged right after dispensing while the cell sinks in, so a single cell is verified without the extra centrifugation step traditional imagers require or any waiting time — saving time and handling.

On-instrument. AI-based cell counting and VCD run locally on the AI.SIGHT workstation — no cloud upload, no black box — keeping your data in-house.

C.SIGHT is the entry image-based dispenser. F.SIGHT adds a fluorescence channel and AOC centre-of-well precision. UP.SIGHT is the all-in-one system, with a plate bottom imager that adds a second, in-well assurance of clonality (>99.99%), tracks Day-x clone growth (cell count and confluency), enables VCD and titer assay readout and advanced clone analytics for early selection with C.STUDIO.