PAREXEL International Corporation a leading global biopharmaceutical services organisation, today announced expanded services and capabilities in genomic-based drug development.

The PAREXEL® Genomic Medicine team offers clients a variety of strategic and operational genomic research services to accelerate drug development and to support regulatory and payer approval processes. Biopharmaceutical companies are increasingly applying genomics to drug discovery and development to better understand the genetic basis of disease, drug targets, and drug response. Over the next five years...

Haydale, a leader in the development of enhanced graphene and nanoparticulate materials, has announced that it has been awarded a number of research grants, totalling £350k, which will help accelerate the development of new products enhanced by the incorporation of functionalised graphene and other nanomaterials. 

These new projects include: The development of electrically conductive graphene enhanced adhesives for aircraft structures. The ability to conduct electricity from lightning strikes throughout a composite aircraft fuselage, including bonded joints, is essential for improved safety. This work builds on an existing research project to develop electrically conductive carbon fibre composite materials for aircraft construction...

Researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid are using directed evolution techniques to develop new enzymes for a variety of bioprocessing applications.

Taking advantage of the walkaway liquid handling capabilities of a Freedom EVO^® 75 workstation, the university’s Enzyme Biotechnology Group – headed by Dr Isabel de la Mata – has been able to investigate ~4,000 Rhodococcus mutants for penicillin acylase and N-acyl homoserine lactone acylase activity, conducting over 190,000 assays in the primary screen alone. Dr de la Mata explained: “We are interested in enzymes with...

Dean Street Express Expanding to Additional Locations using GeneXpert Infinity System

Aston University is playing a critical role in a €6 million EU project working to develop a robotic stem cell factory, which will reduce the cost of manufacturing adult stem cells and open up the opportunity to produce new therapies for a range of conditions.

The AUTOSTEM consortium, coordinated by NUI Galway in Ireland, has received funding through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme to address the current challenges in manufacturing stem cells. Dr Qasim Rafiq, academic lead for the project at Aston University and Lecturer in Bioprocess Engineering, explains: “Stem cell therapies have the potential to treat currently unmet patient needs and provide therapies...

The University of Tokyo's Department of Mechanical Engineering was established in 1879, providing education based on four disciplines; mechanics, materials, hydrodynamics and thermodynamics. 

Within the Department, the Maruyama-Chiashi Laboratory focuses its research on the synthesis and analysis of carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene and other nano-materials. They study applications related to the development of energy related devices, such as solar cells. The laboratory uses scanning Raman spectroscopy as an important tool for the investigation of the synthesized materials and their structure...

The ARNA Laboratory in Bordeaux, France, is using DNA and RNA aptamers to develop novel tools for biological applications.

To increase throughput, the laboratory has automated its procedures on two Freedom EVO^® platforms, as Inserm Research Director Dr Jean-Jacques Toulmé explained: “Our association with Tecan began when we decided to automate our selection protocols to allow us to screen large libraries of oligonucleotides. We generally perform two selections in parallel, consisting of between 8 and 15 runs. With each run taking around...

Prompt diagnosis of hepatitis E is essential, and for accurate results it is important to choose a sensitive and specific assay.

A recent comparison study has confirmed the success of a diagnostic assay from Fast-track diagnostics for the detection of hepatitis E virus. The results of the study have led a senior physician and assistant professor at Hannover Medical School to select the Fast-track diagnostics Hepatitis E RNA assay, to assist in the fast and accurate diagnosis of hundreds of patients. Every year an estimated 20 million individuals are...

PANalytical’s Epsilon 3XLE is a unique solution for the petrochemical industry

PANalytical, world market leader for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) equipment, announces a new dedicated solution for the analysis of very low chlorine concentrations in crude oils. Epsilon 3XLE, an XRF benchtop system, has now been equipped to meet the analytical challenges of the petrochemical industry. Chlorine and sulfur are unwanted elements in crude oil and other petrochemical products. They can cause corrosion in...

Grant will fund partnership between Desktop Genetics and Imperial College London to develop and validate software tools to design and test site-specific epigenetic CRISPR systems to target drug resistance mechanisms in cancer cells.

Desktop Genetics Ltd., a software company revolutionizing the way researchers use CRISPR genome editing technology, announced today that it has, in partnership with the Epigenetics Unit in the Division of Cancer at Imperial College London, received a grant for £300,000 ($430,000) from Innovate UK. Desktop Genetics will use the funds to develop software tools that selectively design CRISPR/Cas9 targets against cancer cell lines that are characterized at the epigenetic level, with the objective of improving chemotherapy and overcoming...

JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on the use of their NanoTracker™ 2 optical tweezers system which is being used to study the physical and chemical properties of micro-bubbles in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Shibaura Institute of Technology under the leadership of Associate Professor, Dr Yoko Yamanishi. 

Dr Yoko Yamanishi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. She leads the Yamanishi Laboratory - the Micro-nano Functional Fluid Laboratory. The Laboratory's goals aim to clarify unknown function of cells by using micro-nano technology based on mechanical, electrical and bio-medical engineering. It targets a contribution to the development of cellular scale...

Today the world's no. 2 influenza vaccine provider, Seqirus, announced a £22.1m investment for its UK manufacturing site in Liverpool.

The company, which is part of global biotherapeutics leader CSL Limited, is going to develop a new £15.3m manufacturing facility to support the production of influenza vaccines at its Speke site. The announcement came as Seqirus today celebrated the opening of a £6.8m investment in new warehousing facilities at the site. Seqirus was created in November 2015 following CSL's acquisition of the Novartis influenza vaccines...

Fast Lyophilisation on the Genevac Series 3 HT Evaporator was developed to provide a rapid, high-throughput alternative to freeze drying HPLC purification fractions.

Traditional evaporation methods of removing solvents, such as water and acetonitrile, often results in formation of a gum or oil due to solvent interactions with the dissolved sample. Employing a Series 3 HT Evaporator with LyoSpeed™ Fast Lyophilisation technology is enabling pharma labs to now routinely dry HPLC fraction samples to a powder form, such that the samples can then be accurately weighed, easily sub-sampled and redissolved. While standard evaporation works...

INTEGRA, in conjunction with DPX Labs LLC, has produced an application note that describes a novel high throughput semi-automated sample method for processing urine samples ready for drugs of abuse analysis by LC-MS/MS. 

Using an INTEGRA VIAFLO 96 electronic pipette with DPX mixed mode tips, a single 96-well plate loaded with samples can be extracted and ready for LC-MS/MS analysis in less than ten minutes eliminating the need for a time-consuming evaporation step. Sample preparation is required to remove matrix interferences from urine samples prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. This procedure is typically very time-consuming and is...

The University of Rochester Medical Center announced it's collaborating with Indivumed, a Germany-based company, to establish a bank of human tissues and tumor samples that are expertly preserved and stored for use in cancer research.

The URMC signed a three-year agreement with Indivumed; financial details were not disclosed. Approximately 15 other research institutions have formed similar partnerships with the company-including Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and several medical centers in Europe-enabling a worldwide network for researchers to...

A University of Brighton professor has become the first British citizen to join one of America?s leading organisations supporting research into ageing.

Professor Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology and assistant head of the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). AFAR is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to support and advance healthy ageing through biomedical research. Founded in 1981, AFAR has championed the cause and supported the funding of science in healthier ageing and...

Technical innovations from TUM could help bring cures within reach

The quest to bring immunotherapy into widespread clinical use against cancer and infectious diseases has made great strides in recent years. For example, clinical trials of adoptive T cell therapy are yielding highly promising results. The latest progress is being reported at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 2016) by three international leaders in the field: Prof. Dirk Busch of...

Alternative to Antibiotics can Help Millions

Micreos intends to use the secured funds, which run until 2017, for the global development of Staphefekt™ as a pharmaceutical (Rx) product. Micreos develops targeted antibacterial technology as a sustainable alternative to antibiotics for which it is a recognised leader in the field. Gladskin is the world’s first lysin (enzyme) based product registered for human use. It specifically targets S. aureus, including MRSA on intact skin...

Sophia Genetics announces a strategic partnership with Integrated DNA Technologies to accelerate the adoption of next generation sequencing (NGS) in routine clinical diagnostics.

The Asynt CondenSyn Air Condenser has been extensively tested by researchers in the renowned Cronin Group within the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, UK.

Having implemented over 10 of these air condensers for use in inorganic and organic syntheses, as well as long term experimental systems, the Cronin Group were able to confirm that they now spend less set-up time and no longer have to worry over water leaking into electronic control and heating systems. In addition using CondenSyn air condensers has reduced clutter in heavily used fumehood spaces, as it eliminates the...

Scientists at BioGenes GmbH, Berlin and Greenovation Biotech GmbH, Freiburg, have cooperated to develop a novel host-cell protein (HCP) assay for Greenovation’s Physcomitrella patens expression system.

The data have been published in the Journal BioProcess International in February 2016 by Dabrowska-Schlepp and colleagues. HCPs are inevitable impurities found in biopharmaceutical products originating from recombinant cell culture. HCPs are a heterogeneous mix of different proteins, and their specific characteristics depend on the kind of organism used as an expression platform. Contamination of a final drug substance with...

Interview released with US Federal Agency, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), in the run up to SMi’s 18^th annual show on antimicrobial resistance.

SMi’s 18th annual conference on “Superbugs & Superdrugs” returns to London this March and is thrilled to have Dr. Christopher Houchens, Project Manager of BARDA's Anti-Infective Programme, as one of the keynote speakers for 2016. It was announced last September that the US Government would provide the federal agency, BARDA, which works on national preparedness for chemical and biological threats, funding of $96 million to explore new therapies