Winter 2021 Newsletter
New Interviews, New Installation & More
It’s hard to believe it has been almost a year since we have been free to travel and see each other face to face. But in that time, Kinetic River has been hard at work improving our current products and launching some new ones.
As we all adapt to an even more digital life, we have been using LinkedIn each week to share product updates, interesting science facts, and flow cytometry news. Be sure to follow our LinkedIn company page to stay in the loop.
Whether you are continuing to work from home or are returning to your usual workplace, I hope you are managing to stay safe and well. I am looking forward to a time when we will be able to get back together in person.
In the meantime, keep scrolling to see what Kinetic River has been up to lately.
Custom Potomac Cytometer
Installed in Italy
A Potomac cytometer was recently installed in the lab of Dr. Romeo Bernini at the National Research Council in Naples, Italy. The instrument is custom designed with 3 lasers, including a 266 nm deep UV laser. The system will be used for the identification of cyanobacteria in water quality samples by autofluorescence. Installation and training were provided by Kinetic River’s European sales and service partner CytoFlowService by Giovanni Contini and Paolo Cappella.
This project was also featured in two online publications, Water Technology and Laser Focus World:
Hear about the Water Technology feature.
Learn about the Laser Focus feature.
Meet the Redesigned Potomac
Our modular flow cytometer was recently redesigned from the ground up. This revamp offers both the highest performance and the most flexibility in customization. Last summer, we shipped one of our first redesigned Potomac cytometers (you might have seen the news on our feed).
With the Potomac, our customers gain a flexible, modular, and completely customizable flow cytometry platform.
The updated Potomac offers:
- Increased sensitivity (including nanoparticle detection capabilities)
- Improved stability and flexibility of the fluidics system, enabling flow rates from 0.2 to 200 μl/min
- Outstanding optical stability and precision, with CVs as low as 2%
- Full plug-and-play swapping of filters and beamsplitters
- And made many more upgrades, including the addition of our all-new Panama software.
New Panama Software Launch
Kinetic River worked hard to get our new Panama software right. We partnered with JKI, a consulting team that specializes in complex software for science and technology products. The result was an intuitive and flexible software suite for data acquisition and visualization that now powers our modular, fully customizable Potomac cytometer.
Learn more about our collaboration with JKI →
Fluidics Module for UC Davis Completed
Kinetic River recently developed a custom Shasta fluidics module as part of an NSF-funded project awarded to Professor James Chan at UC Davis. For his work on stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, Dr. Chan required ultralow flow rates – about 100 times lower than is used in typical flow cytometry. Kinetic River was able to meet Dr. Chan’s exacting requirements.
Two Tuolumnes Sold to the NCI
We are pleased to announce that Kinetic River has placed two of our custom-built quad PMT amplifier modules in Dr. Bill Telford’s lab at the National Cancer Institute at NIH.
Dubbed Tuolumne, these modules will be used for Dr. Telford’s popular Build Your Own Cytometer course and are also already in use on our customized modular Potomac cytometer in his lab.
When you are innovating in flow cytometry, typical off-the-shelf components may not be adequate. Whether you are customizing an existing cytometer or building your own, the Tuolumne can simplify the process.
Meet the Tuolumne: a four-channel transimpedance amplifier module providing fixed-gain signal amplification in a compact, low-cost, simple-to-use package.
Another Phase II SBIR Grant Proposal Sent to the NIH
On the heels of our successful Phase I project, we are pleased to announce that Kinetic River submitted another Phase II SBIR grant proposal to the NIH.
The aim of the project is to further develop our Colorado cytometer for the automated removal of unwanted cellular autofluorescence in flow cytometry experiments.
Autofluorescence removal is yet another example of an application that leverages Kinetic River’s proprietary core technology: the measurement of fluorescence lifetime of fluorophores under flow conditions.
Discover how to “squeeze more out of light” with time-resolved flow cytometry with Dr. Vacca.
Team Updates
We are saying both farewell and welcome to Kinetic River team members.
After almost 5 years at our company, Kshitija Shevgaonkar has departed Kinetic River for personal reasons, and we are sad to see her go. KP (as she is known) was our second employee (after Founder and President Giacomo Vacca), and she was an integral part of Kinetic River’s success and growth. Her expertise and gregarious personality will be sorely missed.
Here we are at her farewell lunch. We wish KP well in her next endeavors!
Meet Courtney Harris, our newest team member. We are proud to announce that Courtney will now be leading the sales and marketing efforts for the North American market.
Courtney brings an established and diverse sales/marketing background to Kinetic River. From 2017–2020, he served as the Sales & Marketing Director for Tax Deferred Benefits, LLC, and from 2006–2017, he managed a marketing consulting agency. Courtney prides himself on an ability to always view everything from the customer’s perspective and deliver a tailor-made solution that best addresses their needs.
Courtney earned his bachelor’s degree at San Diego State University and received his MBA from Nova Southeastern University.
Welcome, Courtney!
Recent Interviews with Dr. Vacca
As we moved from 2020 to 2021, the timing was perfect for reflection. Through two interviews, Dr. Giacomo Vacca, Kinetic River’s Founder and President, shared his insights and experience.
Thank you to Javier Ruiz and Alina Warrick for these discussions!
Enabling Cutting-Edge Biomedical Research: An Interview
Speaking with Javier Ruiz, Partner at JKI, Dr. Vacca explained how Kinetic River technology makes innovative biomedical research possible. During the interview, Javier asks him what advice he has for people looking to innovate in bioscience.
Here’s the beginning of Dr. Vacca’s response:
“There’s no shortage of interesting ideas that need to be explored and need to be commercialized. So, there’s certainly lots of room.
The question is: Do you also have in place the things that are necessary to make your venture successful?”
See the rest & watch the interview →
Giacomo Vacca Leaves Hometown at 16, Becomes an Inventor in the Flow Cytometry Industry: An Interview
Hear Dr. Vacca chronicle his journey from Italy to Silicon Valley. Through this podcast, you can learn about his career and entrepreneurship with Kinetic River.
A quote from Dr. Vacca during the interview:
“In grad school, you always need to teach yourself everything, and that has served me incredibly well as an entrepreneur.”
Learn more & listen to the podcast →
Celebrating 500+ LinkedIn Followers
Our following on LinkedIn has been growing. We are excited to announce that we recently passed the 500-follower mark.
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to these updates!
If you would like to start following our LinkedIn posts, you can click + Follow on the Kinetic River page.
Did you know…?
Sir George Gabriel Stokes coined the term “fluorescence” while studying the properties of fluorspar and uranium glass, materials that he viewed as having the power to convert invisible ultraviolet radiation into radiation of longer, visible wavelengths.
See his rationale for the term in the footnote on page 479 of his 1852 paper from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Read “On the Change of Refrangibility of Light” →
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