In Libya, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) has installed laboratory containers from Waldner, which were completely planned and designed in Wangen im Allgäu, Southern Germany. These laboratory capacities are intended to increase the accessibility of PCR tests in the region. On behalf of the German government, GIZ supports developing and emerging countries in the fight against corona...

Vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been made possible by an unprecedented worldwide partnership. But medications against Covid-19 have as yet seen only partial success. With the support of the Bavarian Research Foundation, a Munich research team has developed a protein which has reliably prevented infection by the virus and its variants in cell culture tests...

AMSBIO has announced new additions to its portfolio of tools for COVID-19 research - two monoclonal antibodies that recognize the Spike RBD (B.1.1.529, Omicron Variant) protein and neutralizes its interaction with ACE2. The human ACE2 receptor is found on the surface of type I and II pneumocytes, endothelial cells, and ciliated bronchial epithelial cells. Research has shown that ACE2 mediates COVID-19 infection through direct binding of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein....

Evotec SE has announced that the Company has been selected by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research ("BMBF") to receive a grant for the development of EVT075, a potential first-in-class immunomodulatory therapy against COVID-19. Evotec is one of three companies receiving a highly competitive grant as part of a new initiative by the BMBF to support the clinical development of novel therapeutic candidates against COVID-19...

Ziath reports how its super-fast 2D barcode rack readers are assisting leading COVID-19 testing lab – SummerBio LLC (Menlo Park, California, USA) to offer rapid, low-cost, high-volume testing solutions for educational organizations, employers and laboratories. SummerBio was conceived during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, to combat expense and slow turnaround times of existing PCR testing...

Novel Concepts Medical, founded by Rachel Alkalay, PhD, and based in Tel Aviv, is delighted to announce the successful testing of its plant-based formulations for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The testing methodology was devised by Dr. Alkalay, who is the inventor of these formulations. The testing, led by Tracey Campbell, PhD, was carried out by the Centre for Microbial Chemical Biology at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University...

40 senior people working across UK labs were surveyed by Automata on their current challenges and views. The poll identified that automation is seen as a solution to relieve existing pressures, improve day-to-day capacity and turnaround time, reduce human error and ultimately enhance patient outcomes. Respondents worked across pathology (60%) and diagnostics (38%), with the vast majority (93%) of those questioned undertaking NHS work...

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a global leader of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, announce the launch of the Bio-Plex™ Pro Human SARS-CoV-2 Variant Neutralization Antibody Assays, for research use only (RUO). The assays allow scientists to measure neutralizing antibodies quickly and efficiently against wild-type and significant variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus...

Avacta Group plc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, announces that the AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test has received a CE mark for use as a consumer self-test in the UK and EU. Avacta partnered with Medusa Healthcare (“Medusa”) to obtain regulatory approval for the AffiDX® antigen test for consumer self-testing and has now received the CE mark from a European Notified Body...

R-Biopharm, an international specialist in clinical diagnostics, announces that the company’s RIDA^®GENE Flu & SARS-CoV-2 multiplex test (PG6825) has been approved in the UK under the UK Health Security Agency’s Medical Devices (Coronavirus Test Device Approvals) Regulations 2021 (“CTDA”). R-Biopharm, which has a significant operation in Glasgow, will now work to resume the sale of the product in the UK...

PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE: PKI), a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, has announced the research use only (RUO) launch of the NEXTFLEX® Variant-Seq™ SARS-CoV-2 Kit v2 to accelerate the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants. This complete next generation sequencing (NGS) solution will allow laboratories to increase sequencing throughput and make reliable variant identifications....

FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, Inc., a world leader in the development and manufacture of serum-free and chemically defined cell culture media for bioproduction and cell therapy manufacturing, has announced the establishment of an Innovation and Collaboration Center in Suzhou New District, China. Through this new center, experts will collaborate with customers to design upstream cell culture processes that meet their biomanufacturing needs...

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, has announced that the performance of its SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assays are not impacted by the emergence of Omicron (B.1.1.529), a variant of concern that was recently identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). There are more than 30 Omicron mutations reported in the S gene of SARS-CoV-2. PerkinElmer’s assays do not target the S gene for SARS-CoV-2 detection and are not affected by these S gene mutations...

INTEGRA’s automated pipetting solutions are helping scientists meet the challenge of efficiently pooling potentially infectious samples prior to testing for disease surveillance and diagnostics, increasing throughput and accelerating time to results. Pooling of patient samples is commonly used in immunoassays and molecular diagnostics to increase testing capacity while reducing reagent costs for the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious agents....

Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, has announced updates to its strategy to address SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, given the emergence of the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant. The recently described Omicron variant includes mutations seen in the Delta variant that are believed to increase transmissibility and mutations seen in the Beta and Delta variants that are believed to promote immune escape....

A recent article published in mBio (American Society for Microbiology) illustrates how the cVLP vaccine developed by AdaptVac and University of Copenhagen has successfully been produced using a robust production platform providing scalability, low cost, and safety.  Attana technology has been applied by the team of Prof Ali Salanti at the University of Copenhagen in their development of a COVID-19 vaccine based on the patented Capsid Virus-Like Particle (cVLP) technology...

INTEGRA Biosciences’ selection of liquid handling tools provides scientists worldwide with the solutions they need for their PCR workflows. The company offers an array of options for manual, electronic or fully automated pipetting, and volumes ranging between 0.2 µl and 5000 µl. Combined with INTEGRA’s unique GripTip system, which ensures pipette tips never leak or fall off, the company is redefining how laboratories approach tedious PCR workflows...

EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces that it has acquired Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory LLC (“ADL Health”), a Texas based PCR-focused testing laboratory certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (“CLIA”) for high-complexity molecular diagnostics testing. ADL Health’s CLIA-certified laboratory covers the fields of clinical, forensic and microbiological tests...

 (Education and Skills Funding Agency) assessment and has been successful in their application to the RoATP (Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers) to deliver apprenticeships to train the lab technicians and scientists of the future. This will help bridge the huge skills shortage of lab technicians and scientists across the UK....