Link Technologies Ltd, a specialist oligonucleotide reagent manufacturer, has announced the availability of a novel vitamin modifier, which has shown in initial tests to have the potential of improving cell delivery of oligonucleotides.

The new reagent, 5’-Niacin-CE Phosphoramidite, is easily incorporated during solid phase oligo synthesis. The niacin-based modifier from Link offers several advantages over the use of conventional lipophilic delivery agents, including reduced risk of in vivo toxicity, and removes the necessity of cleaving the delivery reagent once in the cell. These benefits make vitamins, including niacin, an attractive method for the delivery...

A portable eye-scanning camera that could prevent blindness in millions of diabetes sufferers is being developed in Scotland, thanks to backing from angel investors.

The handheld device, built by Rosyth-based company Epipole, is the first portable and affordable camera capable of diagnosing diabetic retinopathy - a condition responsible for two million cases of preventable blindness worldwide. Now Dr Craig Robertson, 45, the managing director and founder of Epipole, has signed a £400,000 investment deal which will enable his firm to develop a single working prototype into a commercial reality. As well as being a landmark for Epipole, it is also the first major deal for newly launched Scottish angel syndicate, Lancaster Capital...

Seward Ltd., manufacturer of the world leading range of original Stomacher^® paddle blenders and accessories used in sample preparation for microbiological analysis, confirms the use of its Stomacher^® in USDA meat speciation protocols [1].

Following recent high profile meat provenance scandals, Seward has noted an increase in enquiries on the application of its technology for the delivery of contamination free, viable antigen samples. The complexity and globalisation of the food industry makes the management of the food chain from farm to fork increasingly difficult. The contamination of meat ingredients with unintended species in the UK has been very costly in reputations and profits....

Multiple myeloma (MM), a proliferation (growth) of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow destroying bones, accounts for 10% of all hematologic malignancies.

Approximately 45.000 new cases are diagnosed each year together in the US and Europe. MM is mainly a disease of elderly people with age at diagnosis between 65-70 years. During the meeting, recently developed approaches for diagnosis and monitoring will be presented. Gene-expression-profiling to detect molecular subgroups with a different prognosis and high-throughput-sequencing to identify new genetic lesions will be discussed...

Intomics A/S enters a new collaboration with a leading Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company to accelerate a better understanding of the pathological processes underlying human neurodegenerative diseases at the molecular level through systems biology.

Intomics A/S and Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd have entered a new collaboration with the aim of developing a systems biology view of neurodegeneration. Intomics will assist Actelion with expertise, experience and tools in analyzing and advancing knowledge based on data specifically related to neurodegeneration...

The link between blood flow in the retina and the development of glaucoma can now be measured accurately for the first time.

This was made possible by the further development of an established measurement method, optical coherence tomography (OCT), which enables the visual assessment of the retina and has thus become an important diagnostic tool. It does not, however, provide any information about retinal function...

Synbiosis, a world-leading manufacturer of automated microbiological systems, is pleased to announce its ProtoCOL 3 automated inhibition zone measurement system is being used at a major UK based microbiological contract testing laboratory to significantly speed up throughput of their antibiotic susceptibility testing.

Microbiologists at the contract testing laboratory are using a ProtoCOL 3 and SynStats software to measure zones, determine each antibiotic’s potency from measurement data and produce a result in an instant. Using the ProtoCOL 3 and SynStats software in combination is helping microbiologists at this contract testing laboratory to significantly increase their throughput when determining the efficacy of new antibiotics...

A new instructional video from Porvair Sciences explains exactly how to conduct a ChIP assay for epigenetic research starting from a confluent monolayer of human cells.

This live demonstration of the Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay uses Porvair’s innovative solid-state ChIP kit – Chromatrap 96. The video was prepared to inform researchers of an optimised protocol for preparing fresh chromatin from a dish of growing cells and how to verify the quality of the chromatin recovered...

Studylog Animal Study Software Named Best of Show Finalist at the 2014 Bio-IT World Conference

LGC today announced that they have been awarded a two-year contract by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide DNA Testing Services to assist with the identification of historic remains recovered from battlefields and aircraft crash sites.

The contract let on behalf of the Ministry of Defence Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) will assist the work undertaken by the JCCC’s Commemorations team in their efforts to positively identify the remains of British Service personnel recovered from battlefields, or other sites, arising from conflicts in the 20th Century....

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has published a new report—Understanding the Cost of Quality in the Laboratory (QMS20-R)—which focuses on understanding and managing the different types of quality costs that affect the laboratory.

QMS20-R presents an initial approach laboratories can take to identify quality costs and remove unnecessary expense from laboratory processes. Laboratories are  cognizant of the quality of examination results and laboratory services they provide. Yet many nonmanagement laboratory staff members are unaware of the quality of the laboratory's financial status, and believe that staying within budget is sufficient...

Magritek, a leading worldwide provider of compact NMR and MRI instruments, have released three new applications notes which showcase the use of their Spinsolve Benchtop NMR Spectrometer. 

Magritek has released three new applications notes to illustrate the versatility of their Spinsolve family of cost-effective benchtop NMR spectrometry solutions. Spinsolve uses standard 5 mm OD NMR test tubes, exactly the same as high field instruments, so sample handling is familiar and convenient. Spinsolve can be deployed in the lab where immediate results may now be obtained...

AMSBIO announces the introduction of CRISPR/Cas9 - a full gene editing tool designed to produce a genetically modified cell using any mammalian cell line and targeting any gene.

CRISPR/Cas9 is revolutionizing the field of genomic editing by providing scientists with a powerful tool able to change any gene, in any cell in a highly targeted manner and without introducing foreign DNA. The benefits of CRISPR/Cas9 over previous forms of gene editing, such as TALENs and zinc finger, are that it is much simpler to implement and has higher efficiency at performing bi-allelic gene modifications...

Dr Paul Gleeson and Prof Chanin Nantasenamat on Dotmatics’ Tools and their Research.

Dotmatics, a leading provider of scientific informatics solutions and services to the academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, reported today that its premium data analysis and visualisation software, Vortex, is being used by university research groups in Thailand to further their scientific research in diverse fields. Dotmatics’ Vortex is designed to assist scientists gain a deeper understanding of their data and help to draw meaningful conclusions in an efficient way...

Cresset, innovative provider of computational chemistry software and services, announces its annual user meetings, ‘Field Based Chemistry North America’ and ‘Field Based Chemistry Europe’.

Both meetings combine scientific presentations, product updates, and news on the latest Cresset research. There are also free expert training sessions for Cresset products at each meeting. The North America meeting takes place on June 11^th, 2014 in Cambridge, MA, USA. Presentations will be given by Novartis, Retrophin, Harvard Medical School, leading academics and Cresset scientists...

FFEI Life Science has successfully concluded phase I of the BiognostiX project with a symposium to share the results of this 3-year EU funded FP7 research programme.

Delegates to the event, held at the Hauser Forum, Cambridge, UK on Thursday 27 February. Led by FFEI, the BiognostiX Consortium has developed a radical new approach to performing diagnostic tests at point-of-use, with potential applications in veterinary, agri-food and human diagnostics. The BiognostiX technology uses a multiplex microfluidic platform and newly invented Immuno-Ink to deliver fast, flexible, single-use tests in a format that anyone can use...

Learning from sharks

Genetically engineered antibodies are deployed successfully in cancer diagnostics and therapy. Therapeutic antibodies against Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis are currently under development. An important criterion when designing suitable antibody fragments is their stability. Comparing the antibodies of sharks, which are very old from an evolutionary perspective, with those of humans, a team of researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen discovered stabilizing mechanisms that can also be applied to optimize custom-tailored antibodies in humans...

TAP Biosystems (now part of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech Group), a leading supplier of innovative cell culture and fermentation systems for life science applications, today announced that it will be co-presenting a new bioprocess webinar with KBI Biopharma, a major biopharm contract development and manufacturing organisation.

Wednesday June 11th 2014 at 4pm BST / 5pm CEST / 8am PDT / 11am EDT.

The live event will detail how to use the ambr15™ automated microbioreactor system to speed up early process development of biologics. Bioprocessing experts, Dr Shahid Rameez, Process Development Scientist at KBI Biopharma and Joe Jirka, ambr Product Specialist at TAP Biosystems, will present technical data on the use of the ambr15 micro bioreactor system, as a small scale cell culture mimic...

Drawing upon over 10 years’ experience - Warwick Analytical Service (WAS) is able to provide high quality laboratory analytical services for analysis of environmental samples from their facilities at the University of Warwick Science Park (Coventry, UK).

Driven by increasing governmental legislation – monitoring of contamination of air, land and water samples now needs to be undertaken by any responsible organisation producing waste and/or emissions. These monitoring processes are important not only for legislative compliance but also for assessing the risk that human activities pose to the natural environment...

A long-standing relationship with Agar Scientific has helped Dr Robert Young, currently working in the Cardiff Centre for Vision Science, throughout a research career spanning rheumatoid arthritis, ocular degeneration, osteoarthritis and corneal structure.

Use of microscopy has been at the heart of this work – covering various light microscopy techniques, transmission electron microscopy and 3D microscopy – and close ties with Agar have played a vital role, as Dr Young explained: “My first research lab had very close links with Alan Agar, the Company’s original founder. Alan used to come to the lab quite frequently, and we often got to test new products before launch...

The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (SSP), one of two Pittcon conference and exposition sponsors, is pleased to announce the 2015 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award recipient. Alfred G. Redfield, Professor of Biochemistry and Physics, Emeritus, Brandeis University (Massachusetts).

This prestigious award, established in 1957, honors an individual who has made outstanding contributions in the field of spectroscopy. The award committee selected Redfield based on his many accomplishments in the advanced understanding, practical developments and applications in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance especially in nuclear-spin relaxation, as well as his leadership role in the scientific community and mentorship of young scientists...

Syngene, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions, today announced its new G:BOX Chemi XX6 is being used by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet for multiplex imaging of IR fluorescent viral proteins on Western blots.

This is contributing to rapidly providing researchers there with accurate information on the efficacy of hepatitis B and hepatitis C DNA vaccines. Researchers in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden are using a G:BOX Chemi XX6 multi-application imager to analyse viral antigens on multiplex Infrared (IR) fluorescent Western blots...