Award-winning analytical instrument manufacturer Markes International has announced that it has entered into an agreement with ExtraTECH Analytical Solutions to globally sell ExtraTECH’s newly developed and patented vacuum-assisted caps for headspace microextraction. The caps ingeniously extend the applicability of headspace, SPME and SPME Arrow sample extractions by allowing analytes to be extracted under vacuum conditions with milder heating and agitation than is required using current non-vacuum methods....

In 2022, raw sewage was pumped into English rivers and seas for 1.75 million hours, or 200 cumulative years. Despite awareness of the need for environmental safeguarding growing every year, UK waterways still suffer pollution of the foulest kind. And it isn’t only sewage that waste companies have to worry about: here Matt Allen, product manager for elemental analysers at SciMed, the UK’s largest distributor of lab equipment, explains why testing water for halogen species will be a serious consideration in the near future...

The various APU 28 connect models are capable of enriching 28 different samples sequentially or in parallel using the AOX column method, halving preparation time for laboratories. Even fully automated SPE-AOX enrichment is significantly simplified. This new sample preparation system makes it possible for the first time to have a mix of SPE-AOX and standard AOX samples in one sequence....

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, now offers nuclear power plants a new continuously regenerated cation trap column (CR-CTC) application workflow for robust and efficient trace anion contaminant testing of industrial waters. The new Thermo Scientific Dionex CR-CTC III application workflow offers a solution to reduce the high cost and complexity of anion analysis in lithium borated water, and boiler and cooling water, in nuclear power plants...

BioChromato Inc. has published an interview that describes a new bioremediation technique developed by a leading Environmental Research Center and how the Smart Evaporator C1 offers a productive tool for preparing microbial degradation culture media for analysis. The novel bioremediation technique, based upon patented degrading microorganisms impregnated on carbonized wood, has been demonstrated to detoxify persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that cannot be decomposed by natural processes in soil.

A UK-based aquaculture business aims to remove billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year by growing and harvesting floating seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean. Seafields is developing and testing new technologies focused on growing and capturing Sargassum, a seaweed that has escaped its normal environment in the Sargasso Sea and has exploded in growth in the last two decades...

Was there life on Mars? Amongst the excitement of space missions to the Red Planet, successful landings and the deployment of the Mars Rover, it’s easy to forget that the vital analysis of samples retrieved from the surface will take place here, on our Blue Planet. In preparation for the return of soil samples, the University of Leicester has designed a new double-walled isolator to provide a super-sterile research and analysis environment, protecting the invaluable Martian material from earthly contaminants...

Metrohm USA and Metrohm Canada are pleased to announce that they have entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Agilent Technologies to become a value-added reseller for their single- and triple-quadrupole mass spectrometers as well as ICP-MS and ICP-OES products, software and services. This new partnership significantly expands the ion chromatography (IC) capabilities of Metrohm USA and Metrohm Canada and opens numerous additional applications...

A complete workflow developed by Promega Corporation enables wastewater testing laboratories, including public health organizations, to quickly assess the health of entire communities from a single sample. The Maxwell® RSC Enviro Total Nucleic Acid Kit and Wizard^® Enviro Total Nucleic Acid Kit join a growing portfolio of products that support wastewater surveillance to monitor the spread of SARS-CoV-2....

A Glasgow University spinout specialising in the next generation of green insecticides has secured seed investment of £1.3 million to support ongoing development of its unique nature-inspired pesticides, the first of their kind to be developed worldwide. Established in May 2020 after four years of research funded by UKRI BBSRC and the EC, and commercialisation support from Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spinout Programme, SOLASTA Bio develops environmentally-friendly products that meet a global need for new and effective crop protection...

IDEXX has welcomed the publication of a study carried out by the Public Health Laboratory of L'Hospitalet in Barcelona, Spain, which compared the IDEXX Legiolert® test with the standard method for detection and enumeration of Legionella (ISO 11731). Comparing the methods in both potable and non-potable water samples according to the rigorous ISO 17994 protocol, the study found that Legiolert detected more positive results than ISO 11731 and was statistically more sensitive for Legionella pneumophila....

A new approach to tackling the spread of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which combines affordable, easy-to-administer blood tests with machine learning and unbreakable encryption, has generated encouraging early results in Uganda. Malaria is one of the world's leading causes of illness and death, sickening around 228 million people each year, more than 400,000 of them fatally. Like COVID-19, malaria can spread asymptomatically, making widespread field testing vital to containing outbreaks and saving lives. ...

Markes International (Bridgend, UK) has signed an agreement with Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri (‘ICS Maugeri’) of Italy to become distributors of ICS Maugeri’s radiello® range of passive samplers. Radiello is a well-established range of radial diffusive (passive) sampling devices for air sampling. The range of samplers are used for a wide range of analytes from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and phenols through to nitrous and sulphur dioxides, aldehydes and more...

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Dr Mason and his team set about turning their knowledge of functional genomics to sequencing and understanding the clinical impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The lab developed multiple methods to detect infections, track strain evolution, and identify biomarkers of disease course to assist with clinical identification and treatment....

Agilent Technologies Inc., has announced the availability of an optimized and verified eMethod for PFAS Analysis in Water by LC/TQ for testing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking and surface water using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.  PFAS—known as ‘Forever Chemicals’—are a group of man-made chemicals that include PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many others....

A new Zero-Bubble septa (ZB Seal™ Closure) has been engineered and designed by (ILT) specifically for EPA vials. This revolutionary compression molded PTFE/Silicone liner is assembled into a 24-414 Heavy Walled cap to create the ZB SEAL™ Closure system. This complete liner system reduces liner fallout and enhances long term storage of samples....

Merck, a leading science and technology company, has announced the winners of this year’s Future Insight Prize. The € 1 million prize in the category of “Food Generation” was awarded during the Future Insight Days in Darmstadt, Germany, to Ting Lu, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, and Stephen Techtmann, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University, USA....

Metrohm DropSens has announced new capabilities that facilitate the high-volume production of customized electrochemical sensors. Custom sensors are manufactured through a highly scalable and cost-effective manufacturing process with virtually no quantity limits. Metrohm DropSens supports the entire development and production process, from initial conceptualization to in-depth prototype design....

Agilent Technologies Inc., announce that both the InfinityLab LC/MSD iQ and the Ultivo Triple Quadrupole LC/MS systems have earned the highly-respected Accountability, Consistency, and Transparency (ACT) Label from My Green Lab, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the sustainability of scientific research. “Agilent’s mission is to provide trusted answers and insights that advance the quality of life, and sustainability is an important part of achieving that mission....