BioTek congratulates Dr. Jeff Peterson of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Pennsylvania for winning a new Cytation™ 3 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader in BioTek's "Think Possible" Application Contest.

Entrants were judged on a short essay that they submitted, detailing the application that they think is possible for their specific research using the Cytation 3. As an Associate Professor, Dr. Peterson studies chemical biology and kinase signaling in cancer. "Multiplexing of disparate assays using multiple detection modalities is the future," Dr. Peterson wrote as part of his essay. "Cytation 3 is the first instrument that I am aware of that bridges the gap between imaging-based phenotypic screening and targeted assays using biochemical readouts....

Analytik, leading suppliers of innovative analytical instrumentation, report on use of CPS Disc Centrifuges for high resolution nanoparticle size analysis at the University of Liverpool and University College Dublin. 

The PXi Touch imaging system is being used in a new application by scientists at the UK’s University of Cambridge to visualise multiplex fluorescent and chemiluminescent labelled proteins on the same Western blots. This is contributing to rapidly providing researchers there with more accurate and reproducible results.

Researchers in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge are using a PXi Touch multi-application imager to analyse proteins on Western blots stained with chemiluminescent and multiplex fluorescent dyes. Dr Emily Taylor, Laboratory Manager in the Department of Pharmacology commented: “We want to perform multiplex fluorescent Westerns because we can use the same blot to probe for different proteins as we’re looking at proteins ranging 30 kDa to 260 kDa and it is quicker and easier to use just one blot rather than looking at multiple blots for each protein....

Alexander Seifalian is Professor of Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine at UCL Centre for Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine within the Division of Surgery and Interventional Science at University College London, UK. His research focus is on the development of human organs using nano composite materials and stem cells as well as treatment of cancer using nanoparticles.

With nanoparticles requiring rapid and repeatable measurement, Professor Seifalian selected Malvern’s NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) system. Previous to this, he had used techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) but found that NTA made measuring size easier and more accurate. Professor Seifalian’s paper, "Fumed Silica Nanoparticle Mediated Biomimicry for Optimal Cell-Material Interactions for Artificial Organ Development” published in the Journal of Macromolecular Biosciences...

Xpert HPV is the Only Test Capable of Reporting High-risk Human Papillomavirus DNA in Captured Cervical Cells

Blood cancers (leukemias) are life-threatening diseases that can devastate the lives of patients and their families. Great progress has been made in treatments to improve the survival of these otherwise invariably fatal conditions. Major advances in the understanding of leukemia genetics for genome sequencing of individual patients has taken us one step further towards realizing personalized medicine for many patients.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has released a new technical note which demonstrates the complete recovery of human hormones from drinking water.

Technical Note 148: Automated Extraction and Determination of Human Hormones in Drinking Water uses our newly released polymeric sorbent extraction cartridges (Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ SolEx™ SPE HRPHS cartridges) on our solid-phase extraction instrument (Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ AutoTrace 280 instrument) for the determination of human hormones. The SPE instrument can reduce solvent and labor costs by up to 90% in sample preparation...

JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on the study of the research work of Dr Paul Squires and his colleagues at the University of Warwick. 

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has produced a new whitepaper titled ‘Comprehensive genomic analysis – complementing sequencing with high-resolution CNV detection’.

The free, downloadable whitepaper provides researchers with an opportunity to explore the latest strategies in the genomic characterisation of complex disorders, and to discover how, when used alongside sequencing, microarrays play a vital role in delivering accurate detection of point mutations and single exon copy number aberrations. The new whitepaper explains how utilising a range of available tools builds a more complete picture of inherently complex genetic disorders...

Porvair Sciences has announced a new video that provides an informative introduction to the Ultravap Mistral - a next generation robot-compatible dry down station designed to remove the 'bottleneck' of solvent evaporation from microplates.

Hichrom has announced an expansion to its range of training courses and seminars to include a range of practical ‘Hands-On’ courses covering all aspects of LC, LC/MS, GC and GC/MS including Advanced GC Injection Techniques.

TAP Biosystems, (now part of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech Group), a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and consumables for life science applications, today announced its Fill-It™, automated cryovial filling system is being routinely used in clinical trials of novel cell-based cancer immunotherapies at children’s oncology units in three major US hospitals.

The system is being utilised in research labs to help determine the correct dosage of cells to treat children with life-threatening cancers, as well as to create stocks of consistent, high-quality product in cryovials for clinical trials. Scientists at the hospitals are using Fill-It to produce batches of around 400 cryovials per run, with each 1ml vial containing between 40 and 100 million cell/ml of cell immunotherapy, depending on their requirements...

Latest Application Note from Wyatt Technology Demonstrates How Absolute Molar Mass can be Measured Using UHPLC SEC-MALS

Analytical laboratories standardized on the Waters^® Empower^® Chromatography Data System (CDS) now have a wider choice of Thermo Scientific chromatography systems and modules which can be integrated into this environment.

Users of Thermo Scientific Dionex UltiMate 3000 series UHPLC and HPLC systems can now drive Thermo Scientific Dionex Corona Veo charged aerosol detectors and Thermo Scientific Dionex UltiMate 3000 ECD-3000RS electrochemical detectors with Waters Empower. The new version 1.12 of Thermo Scientific Dionex Instrument Integration (DII) for Empower enables control of these additional instruments on any LC system controlled by Empower for additional freedom in experimental design....

Ranjith Gopinathan, Life Sciences Programme Manager at Frost & Sullivan, comments on the Novartis – GSK deal

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a rapid and reliable sample preparation procedure and ion chromatography-based method to determine the phytate hydrolysis products in dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

Application Note 1070: Determination of Inositol Phosphates in Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles demonstrates the determination of 25 inositol phosphate isomers—InsP2–InsP6—in an in-house prepared reference solution. Separation is achieved in less than 42 minutes using a column designed for high-resolution separations of carbohydrates. Using this separation, inositol phosphates are determined in DDGS....

Market leaders in temperature controlled microscopy, Linkam Scientific Instruments report on the use of their PE120 stage and Imaging Station in the development of smart energy windows at RavenBrick LLC in the USA.

International Research Team Relies on CAMECA Atom Probe and Ion Mass Spectrometer to Determine Age and Geochemistry of 4.4-Billion-Year-Old Australian Zircon Crystal

An international team of geoscientists, utilizing advanced microanalytical instruments, has determined that a tiny fragment of zircon crystal from Western Australia is about 4.4 billion years old, making it the oldest confirmed intact piece of the Earth’s crust. The crystal, not much larger than the width of four human hairs, was analyzed using the latest Atom Probe Tomography (APT) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) instrumentation from CAMECA^®, a unit of the Materials Analysis Division of AMETEK^®, Inc....

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an ion chromatography (IC)-based method for the determination of ammonia in adenosine that can easily meet the sensitivity requirements in the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) adenosine monograph.

Application Note 1072: Ion Chromatography Assay for Ammonia in Adenosinedemonstrates that this proposed IC method for the determination of ammonia in adenosine enables an analysis time of 5 min, thereby yielding high sample throughput. This IC assay avoids the hazardous chemicals used in the color-based ammonia assay in the USP adenosine monograph...

Scientists from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo and the United States Geological Survey have reported new data that shows how a volcanic event might have wiped out mammoths including sabre-toothed cats, in the Basin of Mexico.

They have discovered that the extinction could have been caused by a series of volcanic events and therefore the primary cause was environmental disruption and not man-made factors. This is despite the fact that Paleo-Indian populations were also present in this region at this time and several have been found associated with the volcanic ash deposits....

Anasys Instruments reports on a new publication from their nanoIR users at NIST which assess the chemical composition of a metal-organic framework with nanoscale resolution. The publication may be accessed in the leading journal “Angewandte Chemie International Edition.”

Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), in collaboration with researchers from University of Lyon, France, have applied a novel microscopy technique to characterize metal-organic framework (MOF) materials, potentially opening a pathway for engineering the chemical properties of these materials at the nanoscale.* MOFs are composed of metal ions connected by organic linker molecules to form 3D-crystalline networks of nanopores with....

BGI, one of the world’s leading genomics services providers, has announced a range of RNA sequencing services offered at reduced prices, available until 30 June 2014.

The total RNA sequencing service, which covers the whole transcriptome (long non-coding RNA and mRNA) as well as miRNA, allows researchers to save up to $1800/sample. For RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis (mRNA) and RNA-Seq quantification (mRNA) services, the time-limited offers start at only $450/sample. All offers are available in Europe and the Americas....