New advances in the pre-clinical evaluation of Hepatitis B therapies
CN Bio Innovations Ltd (CN Bio), an expert in developing human biomimetic platforms to test and develop therapeutics for serious diseases, has announced that data from its research collaboration with Imperial College London, where the team are analysing a novel human, full-viral-lifecycle model of Hepatitis B, will be the subject of oral and poster presentations at three international meetings this Fall, including..
Bibby Scientific demonstrates how users of the company’s popular Jenway 67 series spectrophotometers can implement them in assessments of chlorophyll in water samples.
When it comes to these crucial analyses, the quality optics installed in the instruments reliably deliver results to the level of precision required to meet strict water testing requirements. Within this application note, Bibby Scientific explores how mixtures of chlorophyll a and b within samples can be distinguished by their spectra using a Jenway 6715 spectrophotometer with a narrow band width. Chlorophyll a is a crucial indicator of...
JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on the use of the NanoTracker™ Optical Tweezers system in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics in the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University.
Dr Rosalie Driessen is a post-doctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, a part of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University. She is studying the organization and dynamics of bacterial chromatin having received her doctorate from the University for her thesis entitled “The architects of crenarchaeal chromatin.” Dr Driessen describes her research and talks about the “hows and whys” of choosing to...
TAP Biosystems is pleased to announce that its CompacT SelecT™, automated cell culture system has been chosen by a top ten pharmaceutical company to reliably produce consistent, high quality cells in plates, ready for use in transport assays.
CompacT SelecT is being routinely used to automatically culture and maintain a large range of cells in 24 and 96 transwell transport assay plates. With the system, researchers are setting up their cell culture seeding, feeding, expansion, plating and maintenance protocols to automatically produce consistent quality cells for extended periods of time. This flexible approach is allowing these scientists to have a constant supply of cell lines such as...
Porvair Sciences has published an informative 8-page brochure providing scientists with a background to Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP), an introduction to Chromatrap® ChIP assay technology and how Chromatrap® compares to traditional bead based methodologies.
Chromatrap®, the novel solid-based matrix for ChIP assays, available from Porvair Sciences, has been successfully used to isolate high quality chromatin from a wide range of biological matrices by research groups around the world. Chromatrap® uses a solid phase porous polymer functionalised with either protein A or G, allowing the chromatin capture to be more sensitive and efficient than bead based methods. The Chromatrap spin column approach offers significant advantages...
Today, areas in the High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free Hospital, where a patient was recently treated for Ebola Virus Disease have been sterilised using hydrogen peroxide vapour producing ‘robots’.
The effectiveness of the technology, designed and produced by UK company Bioquell, has been extensively evaluated by the NHS. The system has been deployed globally during the current outbreak. The portable, automated system uses 35% hydrogen peroxide, which is distributed as a vapour throughout the decontamination area, ensuring full three-dimensional coverage. The peroxide is then removed, allowing admission of another patient within 90 minutes...
People in the UK eat their main meal at dinner time, Brazilians eat theirs at lunchtime, and the population of the US tends to eat more throughout the day, according to research by computer scientists at the University of Birmingham in the first study of its kind into eating and drinking habits using social media data.
This research was presented at the launch of the British Science Festival held this week at the University of Birmingham, UK. The scientists looked at global data from 500,000 people from the mobile phone app Foursquare which details users’ specific locations and is a forum where they can share tips and comments about a particular venue with their friends. The research team wanted to study the ‘temporal’ habits of people relating to food, for example...
Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a precise, automated gas chromatography (GC) method for static headspace analysis of residual solvents in flexible packaging, using a headspace autosampler capable of multiple headspace extraction (MHE).
Application Note 10396: Static Headspace Analysis of Residual Solvents in Flexible Packaging and Quantitation with Multiple Headspace Extraction Following EN 13628-1: 2002 demonstrates the combined analytical power of the Thermo Scientific TRACE 1310 GC and the Thermo Scientific TriPlus 300 Headspace Autosampler to detect and quantify solvents that may leach from adhesives in flexible plastic packaging into the food products the packaging was...
Identifies 256 types of glycolipids with LCMS-IT-TOF / Precise analysis of entire glycolipid structure / Supports high precision analysis in various fields
Shimadzu, one of the world leaders in analytical instrumentation, has released the industry-first glycolipid-specific library, containing information on 256 types of glycolipids. The library is a result of joint research with Dr. Akemi Suzuki, Director of the Institute of Glycoscience at Tokai University, Japan. Even users without specialized expertise can now prepare samples, specify analytical conditions, analyze data and identify glycolipids using an LCMS-IT-TOF liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer....
Analytik, leading suppliers of innovative analytical instrumentation, report on how handheld spectroscopy is being used at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.
Dr Chris Doughty is a lecturer in ecosystem ecology within the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford. He is also a Junior Research Fellow in the Tropical Forest Science group of the ECI. Chris describes his work and vision where a handheld spectrometer becomes a vital part of his laboratory on the move. “Our goal is to use leaf spectroscopy to predict leaf traits (photosynthesis, leaf chemistry, etc.). We then hope to develop these techniques to eventually use airborne remote...
With music production being a very technical process, new software developed by researchers at Birmingham City University aims to reduce the long periods of training and expensive equipment required to make music, whilst also giving musicians more intuitive control over the music that they produce.
The developed software trains computers to understand the language of musicians when applying effects to their music. The software (the SAFE Project) uses artificial intelligence to allow a computer to perceive sounds like a human being. The development of the software was motivated by the lack of statistically-defined transferable semantic terms (meaningful words) in music production. The software allows users to use key words to...
The cross-disciplinary capabilities of Malvern Instruments’ technology are being fully exploited at Queen Mary University London.
The Zetasizer Nano, NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and Mastersizer 2000 systems are all employed within the university’s multi-disciplinary lab. The instruments serve a wide variety of research groups working in areas as diverse as silica coating formulation through to tissue regeneration, demonstrating the value that Malvern’s robust technology brings throughout the scientific arena. “Our lab is part of The School of Engineering and...
Kibble-Zurek mechanism demonstrated in laboratory system with laser-cooled ion Coulomb crystals
The Andor iXon Ultra 897 EMCCD camera has been used by an international team of scientists to probe the nature of the symmetry-breaking phase transitions that began the process of creating our universe – the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Most cosmological scientists agree that within less than a billionth of a second of the Big Bang, the young universe had to ‘decide’ which new state to adopt and, everywhere that individual areas could not...
FLIR Systems proprietary 'superframing' technique has been developed to extend the effective scene brightness of a thermal image while maintaining its thermal contrast.
Although most thermal cameras can produce high-contrast images showing small temperature differences, they can only do so within a defined temperature range. However when extreme temperatures appear within a scene, the hottest parts of the image will be saturated and the coldest parts will appear black or noisy, resulting in a loss of image detail and invalid temperature measurements. This is a particular problem in...
First European bank for induced pluripotent stem cells
EFPIA pharmaceutical companies, SMEs, and academia join together in an IMI supported public-private partnership project to establish the leading facility for the storage and distribution of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in Europe. DefiniGEN Ltd, a leading provider of stem cell life science products and services, today announced it has joined the European Bank for induced pluripotent stem cells (EBiSC) consortium. The consortium comprises 26 partners, and...
NHS Pharmaceutical QA Service Annual Symposium, 16th-17th September 201
Pharmacy manufacturing units in NHS hospitals and trusts have the same responsibility for quality and patient safety as a global drug manufacturer but with fewer people and resources.Cherwell Laboratories have confirmed their ongoing support to helping NHS QA professionals keep up-to-date by attending the NHS Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance Service Annual Symposium.Experts from the company will be available to offer advice during the event at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth on...
SMi Group reports: 7th annual Pre-Filled-Syringes Conference will be taking place in London, on the 28-29 January 2015.
The administration of therapeutic drugs via injection is an indispensable delivery method for numerous drugs critical to patient health and well-being. This field is evolving in response to changing patient populations, new classes of powerful therapeutic drugs and healthcare administration initiatives....
A previously undiscovered role played by the hormone FGF23 has now been discovered in a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF.
Scientists were already aware that greater quantities of this hormone are produced when there is too much phosphate in the blood plasma and that it reduces the absorption of this mineral from the urine. The new results now also show an effect on the absorption of sodium. The hormone actually increases – through a newly discovered complex signalling pathway – the frequency of a transport protein which serves to re-absorb sodium from the urine in the...
SP Scientific, in conjunction with GILYOS GmbH, has announced the program and venues for a one day seminar designed to provide attendees scientific insights into current best practices and new research trends for the freeze drying of pharmaceuticals and biologicals.
Due to run on October 27th, 28th and 30th 2014, in Princeton (NJ), Boston (MA) and San Francisco (CA), the one day seminar will provide novices with an informative freeze drying overview and the expert with up-to-date information on newer topics of interest to the lyophilization scientist. The agenda will cover topics including Lyophilization Basic Principles, Thermal Analysis, Controlled Ice Nucleation, Scale-Up of Freeze Drying Cycles and more...
Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an efficient ion chromatography (IC) method with on-line sample cleanup for the rapid and sensitive determination of p-toluenesulfonic acid in water-insoluble drugs.
The on-line cleanup step provides the benefits of efficient matrix elimination, time savings, and convenience. Application Brief 165:Determination of p-Toluenesulfonic Acid in Water-Insoluble Drugs shows that this approach—performed on an integrated IC system that includes sample preparation capability and uses an ion chromatography column designed for separation with sodium carbonate/sodium biocarbonate eluents—demonstrates good linearity with a...
Tooth decay is often revealed by an X-ray taken in the dentist’s chair.
The image taken is relatively coarse and only reveals the presence of the problem, what it doesn’t show is detail about the mechanism that has led to the decay. Understanding the processes that occur during tooth decay and indeed repair involves researchers looking at concentrations of minerals such as Calcium present in the structure. X ray microtomography is now helping researchers at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) gain a deeper...
Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. (ATL) will host the seventh in a series of webcasts on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, to share information on the Top Ten Reasons for Deploying a LIMS Needs Assessment.
A LIMS and Automation Assessment provides tools utilized to identify not only requirements, but what types of laboratory automation technologies, methods and training should be provided to a laboratory in order to improve productivity, efficiency, and data quality, while meeting regulatory compliance requirements. A LIMS Needs Assessment can be vital in assisting organizations in determining what the best options are for...
CN Bio Innovations Ltd (CN Bio), an expert in developing human biomimetic platforms to test and develop therapeutics for serious diseases, has announced that data from its research collaboration with Imperial College London, where the team are analysing a novel human, full-viral-lifecycle model of Hepatitis B, will be the subject of oral and poster presentations at three international meetings this Fall, including..
When it comes to these crucial analyses, the quality optics installed in the instruments reliably deliver results to the level of precision required to meet strict water testing requirements. Within this application note, Bibby Scientific explores how mixtures of chlorophyll a and b within samples can be distinguished by their spectra using a Jenway 6715 spectrophotometer with a narrow band width. Chlorophyll a is a crucial indicator of...
Dr Rosalie Driessen is a post-doctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, a part of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University. She is studying the organization and dynamics of bacterial chromatin having received her doctorate from the University for her thesis entitled “The architects of crenarchaeal chromatin.” Dr Driessen describes her research and talks about the “hows and whys” of choosing to...
CompacT SelecT is being routinely used to automatically culture and maintain a large range of cells in 24 and 96 transwell transport assay plates. With the system, researchers are setting up their cell culture seeding, feeding, expansion, plating and maintenance protocols to automatically produce consistent quality cells for extended periods of time. This flexible approach is allowing these scientists to have a constant supply of cell lines such as...
Chromatrap®, the novel solid-based matrix for ChIP assays, available from Porvair Sciences, has been successfully used to isolate high quality chromatin from a wide range of biological matrices by research groups around the world. Chromatrap® uses a solid phase porous polymer functionalised with either protein A or G, allowing the chromatin capture to be more sensitive and efficient than bead based methods. The Chromatrap spin column approach offers significant advantages...
The effectiveness of the technology, designed and produced by UK company Bioquell, has been extensively evaluated by the NHS. The system has been deployed globally during the current outbreak. The portable, automated system uses 35% hydrogen peroxide, which is distributed as a vapour throughout the decontamination area, ensuring full three-dimensional coverage. The peroxide is then removed, allowing admission of another patient within 90 minutes...
This research was presented at the launch of the British Science Festival held this week at the University of Birmingham, UK. The scientists looked at global data from 500,000 people from the mobile phone app Foursquare which details users’ specific locations and is a forum where they can share tips and comments about a particular venue with their friends. The research team wanted to study the ‘temporal’ habits of people relating to food, for example...
Application Note 10396: Static Headspace Analysis of Residual Solvents in Flexible Packaging and Quantitation with Multiple Headspace Extraction Following EN 13628-1: 2002 demonstrates the combined analytical power of the Thermo Scientific TRACE 1310 GC and the Thermo Scientific TriPlus 300 Headspace Autosampler to detect and quantify solvents that may leach from adhesives in flexible plastic packaging into the food products the packaging was...
Shimadzu, one of the world leaders in analytical instrumentation, has released the industry-first glycolipid-specific library, containing information on 256 types of glycolipids. The library is a result of joint research with Dr. Akemi Suzuki, Director of the Institute of Glycoscience at Tokai University, Japan. Even users without specialized expertise can now prepare samples, specify analytical conditions, analyze data and identify glycolipids using an LCMS-IT-TOF liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer....
Dr Chris Doughty is a lecturer in ecosystem ecology within the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford. He is also a Junior Research Fellow in the Tropical Forest Science group of the ECI. Chris describes his work and vision where a handheld spectrometer becomes a vital part of his laboratory on the move. “Our goal is to use leaf spectroscopy to predict leaf traits (photosynthesis, leaf chemistry, etc.). We then hope to develop these techniques to eventually use airborne remote...
The Zetasizer Nano, NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and Mastersizer 2000 systems are all employed within the university’s multi-disciplinary lab. The instruments serve a wide variety of research groups working in areas as diverse as silica coating formulation through to tissue regeneration, demonstrating the value that Malvern’s robust technology brings throughout the scientific arena. “Our lab is part of The School of Engineering and...
The Andor iXon Ultra 897 EMCCD camera has been used by an international team of scientists to probe the nature of the symmetry-breaking phase transitions that began the process of creating our universe – the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Most cosmological scientists agree that within less than a billionth of a second of the Big Bang, the young universe had to ‘decide’ which new state to adopt and, everywhere that individual areas could not...
Although most thermal cameras can produce high-contrast images showing small temperature differences, they can only do so within a defined temperature range. However when extreme temperatures appear within a scene, the hottest parts of the image will be saturated and the coldest parts will appear black or noisy, resulting in a loss of image detail and invalid temperature measurements. This is a particular problem in...
EFPIA pharmaceutical companies, SMEs, and academia join together in an IMI supported public-private partnership project to establish the leading facility for the storage and distribution of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in Europe. DefiniGEN Ltd, a leading provider of stem cell life science products and services, today announced it has joined the European Bank for induced pluripotent stem cells (EBiSC) consortium. The consortium comprises 26 partners, and...
Pharmacy manufacturing units in NHS hospitals and trusts have the same responsibility for quality and patient safety as a global drug manufacturer but with fewer people and resources.Cherwell Laboratories have confirmed their ongoing support to helping NHS QA professionals keep up-to-date by attending the NHS Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance Service Annual Symposium.Experts from the company will be available to offer advice during the event at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth on...
The administration of therapeutic drugs via injection is an indispensable delivery method for numerous drugs critical to patient health and well-being. This field is evolving in response to changing patient populations, new classes of powerful therapeutic drugs and healthcare administration initiatives....
Scientists were already aware that greater quantities of this hormone are produced when there is too much phosphate in the blood plasma and that it reduces the absorption of this mineral from the urine. The new results now also show an effect on the absorption of sodium. The hormone actually increases – through a newly discovered complex signalling pathway – the frequency of a transport protein which serves to re-absorb sodium from the urine in the...
Due to run on October 27th, 28th and 30th 2014, in Princeton (NJ), Boston (MA) and San Francisco (CA), the one day seminar will provide novices with an informative freeze drying overview and the expert with up-to-date information on newer topics of interest to the lyophilization scientist. The agenda will cover topics including Lyophilization Basic Principles, Thermal Analysis, Controlled Ice Nucleation, Scale-Up of Freeze Drying Cycles and more...
The image taken is relatively coarse and only reveals the presence of the problem, what it doesn’t show is detail about the mechanism that has led to the decay. Understanding the processes that occur during tooth decay and indeed repair involves researchers looking at concentrations of minerals such as Calcium present in the structure. X ray microtomography is now helping researchers at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) gain a deeper...
A LIMS and Automation Assessment provides tools utilized to identify not only requirements, but what types of laboratory automation technologies, methods and training should be provided to a laboratory in order to improve productivity, efficiency, and data quality, while meeting regulatory compliance requirements. A LIMS Needs Assessment can be vital in assisting organizations in determining what the best options are for...