Researchers at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, are using Viscotek multi-detector Gel Permeation/Size Exclusion Chromatography (GPC/SEC) (Malvern Instruments, UK) to analyze performance defining polymer features in the development of novel polymer coatings for metal nanoparticles.
“Multi-detection GPC/SEC helps us to monitor and control reaction conditions to engineer advanced polymer coatings which stabilize nanoparticle suspensions to ease their handling and preserve their industrial value,” said Dr. Farhad Faghihi, Research Associate at the University of Lethbridge. “GPC/SEC is the only technique that we have to determine molecular weight and molecular weight distribution with the speed and accuracy...
LINK, the innovative developer and manufacturer of nucleic acid reagents, has announced the incorporation of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and the first two appointments of Drs Brian Sproat and Thomas Rupp.
LINK’s SAB will identify and prioritise the development of new nucleic acid reagents designed to help researchers synthesise novel oligonucleotide therapeutics and diagnostics. The SAB will also support the management team in identifying other markets where LINK’s chemistry expertise can be beneficial. Brian Sproat (currently Managing Director, Chemconsilium GCV) has worked in the oligonucleotide market since its inception over 30 years ago. A graduate of the...
Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht successfully developed a culturing system for human liver stem cells as well as stem cells from pancreatic cancer.
They describe the development of these culturing systems in two articles in this week’s edition of Cell magazine. Until recently it appeared impossible to keep healthy or diseased tissue from patients alive under laboratory conditions, let alone multiply it. However, in 2009, the research group headed by Hans Clevers, professor of molecular genetics at the Hubrecht Institute/UMC Utrecht and president of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and...
Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, today announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Firefly BioWorks Inc ("Firefly") ("the Acquisition") on a cash-free/debt-free basis for £18.5m ($28.0m).
The consideration, which is payable in cash on completion, will be funded from Abcam's existing resources [1]. Firefly has developed a novel multiplex assay platform for the detection of biomarkers, based on a microfabrication technology developed by the founders at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has developed its first product for detection of microRNAs (miRNAs). Firefly has 15 employees and is based in Cambridge...
After a Nigerian UN peacekeeper contracted Ebola and was transported to the Netherlands for treatment, advanced decontamination technology was deployed to minimise the risk of cross-infection.
The University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht called the local representative of a UK decontamination specialist to intervene on an isolation suite where the patient had been hospitalised. Using hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) technology, capable of eliminating 99.9999% of pathogens, Bioquell technology was used to neutralise the risks of any cross-contamination. The Netherlands as well as other European countries have agreed...
Treeway B.V., founded by entrepreneurs Bernard Muller and Robbert Jan Stuit, both diagnosed with ALS, have announced a collaboration with uniQure N.V., a leading gene therapy company, (NASDAQ:QURE), to develop a gene therapy treatment for ALS.
Under the terms of the licensing and collaboration agreement, uniQure has granted Treeway an exclusive license in this field to uniQure’s relevant AAV5 viral vector and GDNF (Glial cell- derived neurotrophic factor) intellectual property. Treeway is responsible for the preclinical and clinical development of the ALS gene therapy treatment. uniQure will provide Treeway with its manufacturing capabilities and will further collaborate with Treeway on...
GENALICE and Knome, Inc. USA jointly announced a strategic partnership to offer their products together as a turn-key solution for those using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data to interpret patients’ genomes.
GENALICE MAP is an ultra-fast and highly accurate preprocessing solution for aligning and calling NGS data and seamlessly connects to Knome’s informatics and genomics interpretation system, the knoSYS® platform. Stated CEO and President of Knome, Wolfgang Daum, “The GENALICE and Knome partnership came about in response to the reality that the amount of NGS data and its increasing usage requires processing and...
The globalization of the food chain has meant that the focus on food safety is greater than ever before and as a result, food manufacturers are facing increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.
One area that is receiving a growing amount of attention is mycotoxin intake from contaminated food and feed which causes mycotoxin intoxication. Mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites that are typically produced by fungi growing on grains and fruit during shipment or storage. When ingested, mycotoxins may cause acute or chronic disease and it has been shown that repeated exposure to low level mycotoxin ingestion can affect...
The publication of a scientific paper by a group of American and European researchers announcing the identification of a new antibiotic with the potential to treat MRSA is fantastic news says Professor Colin Garner, Chief Executive of Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK).
We are desperately short of new antibiotics and the novel strategy used by the researchers could lead to the identification of many more novel antibiotics. The new antibiotic has been named teixobactin and was discovered in the soil of back garden at the home of one of the American researchers, Dr Ling using a new device called the iChip. Teixobactin was particularly active against against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staph...
Partnership to develop high-quality immunoassays for life science research
Abcam plc, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, announced today it has signed a partnership agreement with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. Under the terms of the agreement, Abcam will develop a range of RabMAb® antibody pairs against targets jointly selected by IMCB and Abcam, to be...
University of Leicester Professor contributes to major International Review of peptide Urotensin II
A major international review of a peptide originally found in fish that could be used in the battle against cardiovascular disease has been published. Professor David Lambert from the University of Leicester’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences contributed to the review, which has been largely written by the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) subcommittee, to pull together the vast literature on...
The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) released a new edition of its annual supplement Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing; Twenty-Fifth Informational Supplement (M100-S25).
This document provides the revised breakpoints, new testing recommendations, and reporting changes needed to incorporate into routine practice to improve detection and reporting of antimicrobial resistance. This year, M100-S25 has published in tandem with its two related methodology standards, Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disk Susceptibility Tests; Approved Standard—Twelfth Edition (M02-A12) and Methods for...
New study examines tweets from a medical conference
A new pilot study into the impact of Twitter on conferences suggests that social media may impact on quality of presentations as speakers receive real-time feedback. The study resulted from collaboration between a group of doctors with a strong interest in Social Media and was brought together by Dr Damian Roland, a honorary senior lecturer at the University of Leicester and Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Care at Leicester’s Hospitals...
PCRmax, a Bibby Scientific company, has launched the Eco 48 real time PCR system.
This high specification, economically priced real time thermal cycler provides users with premium quality alongside unprecedented speed. The optimised instrument is capable of running 40 cycles in 15 minutes while still using standard chemistries and plastics. In a typical run, the instrument can still complete 40 cycles in 40 minutes compared to 2 hours with competitive systems. In addition to this exceptional efficiency...
Following a recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) patient being discharged from a Glasgow hospital and transferred by military plane to a specialist north London centre, Bioquell technology was again called into action.
The Hampshire-based company was commissioned to deploy its hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) technology - the gold standard in bio-decontamination. The firm’s HPV process kills 99.9999% of pathogens, eliminating doubt by destroying biological threats in healthcare and life science environments. The patient, a nurse who contracted the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, returned back to the UK before being...
Strategic acquisition of high-throughput functional genomics platform aims to drive product development, revenue growth and enable broader market penetration
Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) ("Horizon" or the "Company"), the international life science company supplying research tools and services to organizations engaged in genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has agreed to acquire Haplogen Genomics GmbH, a biotechnology company based in Vienna, Austria (“Haplogen Genomics”), for an initial consideration of ...
Biologics, oncology drugs and blood-based products will be key revenue-generating segments, finds Frost & Sullivan
Big pharmaceutical companies and foreign investors are flocking to Turkey to capitalise on its encouraging economic policies. The establishment of technology development zones that exempt pharmaceutical entrepreneurs and academics from income taxes until 2023 has played a particularly crucial role in driving R&D activity in the nation’s life sciences industry. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, 2014 Life Sciences Outlook in Turkey...
Specialised Imaging reports that high tech material, testing and process development specialists - REL, Inc. has expanded its capabilities in their high strain rate lab by combining a Kirana Ultra High-Speed camera with their Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system.
The Specialised Imaging Kirana camera provides REL, Inc with the ability to create high-resolution images of the ultra high-speed events that often occur with materials testing. Taking up to 5,000,000 frames per second, and shuttering every 100 nanoseconds, there is no compromise in capturing high quality data. The data is exported in 180 frames so each test can be easily saved and viewed. The initial applications undertaken...
Today, the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) announced that over 750,000 entries are now available to the scientific community through the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD).
This unique, fully validated database, established in 1965, contains all small-molecule chemical structures ever published and is an essential resource to scientists around the world. The publishing and sharing of ¾ million structures of organic and metal-organic molecules is a significant landmark for the crystallographic community, achieved within the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr). Information derived from...
Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an ion chromatography method with suppressed conductivity detection for sensitive determination of inorganic anions and carboxylic acids (fluoride, acetate, formate, mesylate, chloride, nitrate, succinate, malonate, sulfate, and oxalate) in airborne particulate matter (PM2.5).
Application Note 1107: Determination of Anions and Carboxylic Acids in Urban Fine Particles (PM2.5) demonstrates that this new method can determine more analytes relevant to air contamination than either of the two standard methods currently in use. The determination is performed using a high-pressure ion chromatography system, the Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ ICS-5000+ Reagent-Free™ HPIC™ system, equipped with a...
To accelerate the understanding of disease and the development of gene knockdown therapies, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) is facilitating the advancement of a new transfection technique.
This nanoparticle-based method is explored in a recent DECODED article contributed by Precision NanoSystems Inc. (PNI). By combining IDT’s highly potent Dicer-substrate RNAs (DsiRNAs) and PNI’s unique nanoparticle delivery system for hard-to-transfect cells, the IDT-PNI partnership presents a successful solution for challenging gene silencing applications, achieving >95% transfection efficiency. The novel NanoAssemblr™ system and...
A brand new family of cancer drugs designed to block several key cancer-causing proteins at once could potentially treat incurable skin cancers, a major new study reports.
Clinical trials to test the new drugs in patients should begin as early as 2015. Existing drugs target faulty versions of a protein called BRAF which drives about half of all melanomas, but while initially very effective, the cancers almost always become resistant to treatment within a year. The new drugs – called panRAF inhibitors – could be effective in patients with melanoma who have developed resistance to BRAF inhibitors. The new study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, and jointly led by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research...
“Multi-detection GPC/SEC helps us to monitor and control reaction conditions to engineer advanced polymer coatings which stabilize nanoparticle suspensions to ease their handling and preserve their industrial value,” said Dr. Farhad Faghihi, Research Associate at the University of Lethbridge. “GPC/SEC is the only technique that we have to determine molecular weight and molecular weight distribution with the speed and accuracy...
LINK’s SAB will identify and prioritise the development of new nucleic acid reagents designed to help researchers synthesise novel oligonucleotide therapeutics and diagnostics. The SAB will also support the management team in identifying other markets where LINK’s chemistry expertise can be beneficial. Brian Sproat (currently Managing Director, Chemconsilium GCV) has worked in the oligonucleotide market since its inception over 30 years ago. A graduate of the...
They describe the development of these culturing systems in two articles in this week’s edition of Cell magazine. Until recently it appeared impossible to keep healthy or diseased tissue from patients alive under laboratory conditions, let alone multiply it. However, in 2009, the research group headed by Hans Clevers, professor of molecular genetics at the Hubrecht Institute/UMC Utrecht and president of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and...
The consideration, which is payable in cash on completion, will be funded from Abcam's existing resources [1]. Firefly has developed a novel multiplex assay platform for the detection of biomarkers, based on a microfabrication technology developed by the founders at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has developed its first product for detection of microRNAs (miRNAs). Firefly has 15 employees and is based in Cambridge...
The University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht called the local representative of a UK decontamination specialist to intervene on an isolation suite where the patient had been hospitalised. Using hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) technology, capable of eliminating 99.9999% of pathogens, Bioquell technology was used to neutralise the risks of any cross-contamination. The Netherlands as well as other European countries have agreed...
Under the terms of the licensing and collaboration agreement, uniQure has granted Treeway an exclusive license in this field to uniQure’s relevant AAV5 viral vector and GDNF (Glial cell- derived neurotrophic factor) intellectual property. Treeway is responsible for the preclinical and clinical development of the ALS gene therapy treatment. uniQure will provide Treeway with its manufacturing capabilities and will further collaborate with Treeway on...
GENALICE MAP is an ultra-fast and highly accurate preprocessing solution for aligning and calling NGS data and seamlessly connects to Knome’s informatics and genomics interpretation system, the knoSYS® platform. Stated CEO and President of Knome, Wolfgang Daum, “The GENALICE and Knome partnership came about in response to the reality that the amount of NGS data and its increasing usage requires processing and...
One area that is receiving a growing amount of attention is mycotoxin intake from contaminated food and feed which causes mycotoxin intoxication. Mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites that are typically produced by fungi growing on grains and fruit during shipment or storage. When ingested, mycotoxins may cause acute or chronic disease and it has been shown that repeated exposure to low level mycotoxin ingestion can affect...
We are desperately short of new antibiotics and the novel strategy used by the researchers could lead to the identification of many more novel antibiotics. The new antibiotic has been named teixobactin and was discovered in the soil of back garden at the home of one of the American researchers, Dr Ling using a new device called the iChip. Teixobactin was particularly active against against Gram-positive bacteria such as Staph...
A major international review of a peptide originally found in fish that could be used in the battle against cardiovascular disease has been published. Professor David Lambert from the University of Leicester’s Department of Cardiovascular Sciences contributed to the review, which has been largely written by the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) subcommittee, to pull together the vast literature on...
This document provides the revised breakpoints, new testing recommendations, and reporting changes needed to incorporate into routine practice to improve detection and reporting of antimicrobial resistance. This year, M100-S25 has published in tandem with its two related methodology standards, Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disk Susceptibility Tests; Approved Standard—Twelfth Edition (M02-A12) and Methods for...
This high specification, economically priced real time thermal cycler provides users with premium quality alongside unprecedented speed. The optimised instrument is capable of running 40 cycles in 15 minutes while still using standard chemistries and plastics. In a typical run, the instrument can still complete 40 cycles in 40 minutes compared to 2 hours with competitive systems. In addition to this exceptional efficiency...
Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) ("Horizon" or the "Company"), the international life science company supplying research tools and services to organizations engaged in genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has agreed to acquire Haplogen Genomics GmbH, a biotechnology company based in Vienna, Austria (“Haplogen Genomics”), for an initial consideration of ...
Big pharmaceutical companies and foreign investors are flocking to Turkey to capitalise on its encouraging economic policies. The establishment of technology development zones that exempt pharmaceutical entrepreneurs and academics from income taxes until 2023 has played a particularly crucial role in driving R&D activity in the nation’s life sciences industry. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, 2014 Life Sciences Outlook in Turkey...
The Specialised Imaging Kirana camera provides REL, Inc with the ability to create high-resolution images of the ultra high-speed events that often occur with materials testing. Taking up to 5,000,000 frames per second, and shuttering every 100 nanoseconds, there is no compromise in capturing high quality data. The data is exported in 180 frames so each test can be easily saved and viewed. The initial applications undertaken...
This unique, fully validated database, established in 1965, contains all small-molecule chemical structures ever published and is an essential resource to scientists around the world. The publishing and sharing of ¾ million structures of organic and metal-organic molecules is a significant landmark for the crystallographic community, achieved within the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr). Information derived from...
Application Note 1107: Determination of Anions and Carboxylic Acids in Urban Fine Particles (PM2.5) demonstrates that this new method can determine more analytes relevant to air contamination than either of the two standard methods currently in use. The determination is performed using a high-pressure ion chromatography system, the Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ ICS-5000+ Reagent-Free™ HPIC™ system, equipped with a...
This nanoparticle-based method is explored in a recent DECODED article contributed by Precision NanoSystems Inc. (PNI). By combining IDT’s highly potent Dicer-substrate RNAs (DsiRNAs) and PNI’s unique nanoparticle delivery system for hard-to-transfect cells, the IDT-PNI partnership presents a successful solution for challenging gene silencing applications, achieving >95% transfection efficiency. The novel NanoAssemblr™ system and...