MILPITAS, CA - (February 3, 2009)
AVerMedia® Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of digital multimedia and presentation technology, announced today a partnership between the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The Grafting Parlour to display living cells expressing GFP via streaming video to the Lightwave 2009 event in Dublin, Ireland. Connecting to a microscope in the MIT Biological Engineering Lab, the AVerVision CP300 captures live images of the changing GFP bacteria, then broadcasts the images through the AVerVision Software and a third-party video streaming service for live viewing at Trinity College.

Dr. Natalie Kuldell of the MIT Biological Engineering Department, who is facilitating the creative collaboration with her Bio Engineering students, offers the following explanation for the project's long-term research goals: “A microscope allows us to see living cells grow and divide. However other important changes occur inside cells during the cell cycle, changes that are harder to see. For instance, before cells divide they must make a copy of their DNA to pass onto the daughter cell. To better visualize the difference cell cycle stages, we are fluorescently tagging proteins that are uniquely active during a single stage. Thus cells would appear green or blue while they are growing (the G1 and G2 stages), yellow while they are copying their DNA (the S stage), and red when they are dividing (the M stage). The colorful yeast can then be an interactive platform for an artistic exhibit since a small protein called alpha factor could be applied to the colorful array of cells by the viewer of the exhibit, synchronizing the cells to which it’s applied and leaving a single color trace behind.”

Due to the high definition output, powerful zoom and enhanced software capabilities, the AVerVision CP300 Interactive Document Camera was selected as the broadcast vehicle. With the ability to connect the CP300 to the MIT microscope, viewers both in the lab and in Dublin can watch and analyze the live bacteria in real time. “The CP300 was the only instrument that could broadcast the bacteria live, meeting both the technical requirements for digitalization and those for microscopy,” says Lucy Hg, an artist with the Grafting Parlour and The League of Imaginary Scientists. “The additional support and training from AVerMedia have been essential to our work in the lab and to the display of live science.”

The MIT and Grafting Parlour project will be on display live at Lightwave 2009, January 23 through February 20, 2009. For more information about the exhibits at Lighwave 2009, visit www.sciencegallery.com. The Grafting Parlour is part of e-MobileArt (European Mobile Lab for Interactive Artists). For more about the Grafting Parlour and to find out where the next GfP and AVerMedia Exhibit will be held, visit www.thegraftingparlour.org. For more information about the AVerVision CP300 Interactive Document Camera, or other AVerVision solutions, visit www.averusa.com/presentation or call AVerMedia toll-free at 1-877-528-7824.

About AVerMedia Technologies:
AVerMedia is the technology leader in Digital Multimedia Video Convergence Technology. Aside from its full line of TV Tuners and Personal Video Recorder products, AVerMedia provides Hardware and Software Surveillance Systems, Document Cameras, Digital Video Makers, and PC-to-TV Converters for consumer and corporate/educational markets. As a leader in innovative manufacturing and environmentally friendly products, AVerMedia is also highly involved with community and social responsibilities. AVerMedia also partners with ODMs for the development of AVerMedia’s technologies for integration applications.

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