Optical Surfaces has announced the new OS-Z range of mirror mounts.

OS-Z mirror mounts were developed to support off-axis paraboloid, spherical and flat mirrors in a manner that allows overcoming a number of constrains imposed by general purpose mounts. Two key advantages gained by using an OS-Z mount are rapid alignment using an optional pre-alignment aid and the ability to routinely accommodate wedge back and parallel back mirrors. In addition, in applications where long term stability and stress-free mounting are important, special factory fitted features allow this to be easily achieved. Constructed in black anodized aluminium – six models of OS-Z mount provide a secure, stable and compact platform for mirror diameters ranging from 90mm to 250mm...

Wyatt Technology has published a new whitepaper

Wyatt Technology Corporation, the world leader in absolute macromolecular characterization instrumentation and software, has published a new whitepaper on characterizing molecular structure in synthetic and natural polymers by multi-angle light scattering. Authored by Stepan Podzimek, Scientific Consultant for Wyatt Technology, the paper details the basic principles of the detection and characterization of branching by means of a multi-angle light scattering (MALS) detector and the various methods used...

Genevac reports on a protocol that describes a rapid, safe technique for drying oligonucleotide and DNA samples.

DNA and oligonucleotide samples are sensitive and care needs to be exercised during concentration. Research done at the Welcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (UK) shows that the Genevac EZ-2 evaporator is an ideal tool for concentrating SNP and oligonucleotides in microplates when preparing samples for microarraying and for Sequenon analysis. Compared to traditional methods, using the EZ-2 evaporator is shown to significantly speed up concentration rates, eliminate potential sources of damage to samples and also improve final sample quality...

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a rapid and robust high-performance anion-exchange chromatography

With pulsed amperometric detection method for the accurate determination of common sugars in acid-hydrolyzed biomass samples with high carbohydrate concentrations. Application Update 192: Carbohydrate Determination of Biofuel Samples demonstrates that this approach has a linear range suitable for handling high-concentration biomass samples with minimal sample treatment. This new method is fast, provides good sensitivity, has consistent response, and can be routinely used to determine carbohydrates in the feedstock for biofuel production...

Ultra-sensitive PointMan™ enables blood sampling instead of tissue biopsies for cancer patient mutation status assessment

Group's Gift Will Save Animals, Improve Medical Training 

Thousands of animals on three continents will soon be spared being cut apart and killed in medical training courses, thanks to PETA US' unprecedented donation of $1 million (£610,000) in simulators to countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. PETA US, through a landmark partnership with Seattle-based medical simulation manufacturer Simulab, is modernising medical training around the world with a donation of 64 state-of-the-art TraumaMan surgical simulators to replace the crude use of animals in deadly trauma training exercises completely in nine countries...

Standardising Cleanroom Production Line Monitoring for Microbial Contamination

Synergy Health’s Applied Sterilisation Technologies (AST) laboratory services are using Cherwell Laboratories’ SAS Pinocchio compressed air and bottled gas sampler to deliver an enhanced service to its customers. Synergy’s microbiological laboratories offer a wide range of services within the medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, including environmental monitoring, sterilisation validation and bioburden analysis. The introduction of Cherwell’s SAS Pinocchio is enabling Synergy to help their customers meet regulatory requirements more effectively...

A technical article is available from Genevac that describes a rapid, safe technique for drying oligonucleotide and DNA samples.

DNA and oligonucleotide samples are sensitive and care needs to be exercised during concentration. Research done at the Welcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (UK) shows that the Genevac EZ-2 evaporator is an ideal tool for concentrating SNP and oligonucleotides in microplates when preparing samples for microarraying and for Sequenon analysis. Compared to traditional methods, using the EZ-2 evaporator is shown to significantly speed up concentration rates, eliminate potential sources of damage to samples and also improve final sample quality...

A pioneering scanning technique that can image a patient’s entire body can reveal where cancer is affecting the bones and guide doctors in their choice of treatment, new research reveals. 

The new type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan could improve care for a type of cancer called myeloma and reduce reliance on bone marrow biopsies, which can be painful for patients and often fail to show doctors how far the disease has spread. The research is published today (Tuesday) in the journal Radiology and was carried out by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust....

Their joint aim is to identify new therapeutic targets in ‘triple negative’ breast cancers  

Curie-Cancer, the body which leads the Institut Curie's industry partner research activity, and Servier, today announce that they have renewed their partnership with the aim of identifying therapeutic targets for treating ‘triple negative’ breast cancers. The partnership will continue for a further three years. ‘Triple negative’ breast cancers account for around 15 per cent of breast cancer cases. They are particularly aggressive and can be unresponsive to the current chemotherapy regimens; hence the urgent need to find new therapies...

Bruker releases application note for analysis of sulfonamides in honey using Bruker’s Advance EVOQ Elite LC-MS/MS system

Bruker Chemical and Applied Markets (CAM), Fremont, California, US: Bruker releases application note for analysis of sulfonamides in honey using Advance EVOQ Eliteruker has released an application note detailing a simple, fast and robust method developed for the quantitation of sulfonamides in honey, using Bruker’s EVOQ Elite triple quadruple liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). Sulfonamides are a group of broad spectrum antibacterial drugs, used to prevent and treat bacterial growth in honey products...

Specialty pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi SA (Rovi) struggled to find a new, more agile customer relationship management (CRM) system to replace an outdated technology.

The company evaluated different systems in search of a modern system that would fully and efficiently support multichannel strategies. Cloud-based Veeva CRM, part of Veeva Systems’ Commercial Suite, stood out from its competitors, offering a highly flexible and integrated platform that seamlessly connects sales and marketing teams with physicians across all channels. Today, more than 250 Rovi users in Spain are utilising Veeva CRM...

Congratulations to Mr. Charles Teta and the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on winning BioTek's MultiFlo™ FX Giveaway!

Mr. Teta was randomly chosen from all global, qualified entrants, and is a research fellow in the university's Department of Environmental Science and Health. The modular MultiFlo FX Microplate Dispenser combines up to four independent dispensers and an optional wash module in one compact unit for endless functionality. The simple color, touch screen interface offers intuitive protocol creation and implementation, while Parallel Dispense™ technology combines syringe and peristaltic pump-based dispensing to eliminate reagent carryover...

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a reproducible and accurate high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method combined with on-line solid-phase extraction for the sensitive determination of carbendazim in orange juice.

Application Note 1067: Determination of Carbendazim in Orange Juice demonstrates that this application—performed using a rapid separation liquid chromatography system—simplifies sample preparation and improves HPLC detection sensitivity with a method detection limit of carbendazim in orange juice of 0.2 μg/L. Although carbendazim is a fungicide used in many countries to improve crop production....

Stem cells can turn into heart cells, skin cells can mutate to cancer cells; even cells of the same tissue type exhibit small heterogeneities.

Scientists use single-cell analyses to investigate these heterogeneities. But the method is still laborious and considerable inaccuracies conceal smaller effects. Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen and the University of Virginia (USA) have now found a way to simplify and improve the analysis by mathematical methods. Each cell in our body is unique....

Launch Of Award Scheme And Conference

Competitive, financial and other pressures mean that research and teaching in universities, commercial, Government, health sector and other laboratories have to achieve more with less. The 2014 Conference and Awards scheme of the S-Lab initiative will highlight best practice in achieving this through more effective management of science facilities, leaner and more productive lab design, improved processes and workflows, enhanced technical support, and more effective use of IT and other technology....

Freeman Technology, a global provider of powder testing instruments, and GEA Pharma Systems, a company that specialises in the design and development of processing solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, are collaborating to advance the application of continuous wet granulation and drying technology in the pharmaceutical industry.

A world of cloak-and-dagger pharmaceuticals has come a step closer with the development of stealth compounds programmed to spring into action when they receive the signal. 

Researchers at the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy have designed and tested large molecular complexes that will reveal their true identity only when they’ve reached their intended target, like disguised saboteurs working deep behind enemy lines. The compounds have been developed as part of a five-year programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) called “Bar-Coded Materials”. The cloak each spherical complex wears is perhaps more a plastic mac: a sheath of biocompatible polymer that encapsulates and shrouds biologically active material inside, preventing any biological interaction so long as the shield remains in place...

A new study from the University of Surrey, published today in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), found that the daily rhythms of our genes are disrupted when sleep times shift. 

Researchers placed twenty-two participants on a 28-hour day in a controlled environment without a natural light-dark cycle.  As a result, their sleep-wake cycle was delayed by four hours each day, until sleep occurred 12 hours out of sync with their brain clock and in the middle of what would have been their normal ‘daytime’. The team then collected blood samples to measure the participants’ rhythms of gene expression.....

Significant improvements in assay reagents and availability of High Throughput Screen (HTS)-compatible readers has propelled fluorescence lifetime (FLT) technology to the vanguard of cost-effective screening technologies.

TTP Labtech has consolidated its position in the field with today’s announcement of the purchase of assets from AssayMetrics Limited, Cardiff, UK a leading company in FLT. The acquisition enhances TTP Labtech’s new ameon™ system equipped with real-time decay curve analysis (RT-DCA), licensed from Fluorescence Innovations Inc (Minneapolis, US). The ameon represents the next generation of FLT reader technology providing a combination of speed, precision, and data quality that can be readily exploited in HTS workflows...

Lingonberries almost completely prevented weight gain in mice fed a high-fat diet.

A study at Lund University in Sweden has found - whereas the ‘super berry’ açai led to increased weight gain. The Scandinavian berries also produced lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol. The Lund University research team used a type of mouse that easily stores fat and therefore can be regarded as a model for humans who are overweight and at risk of diabetes.....

Scientists all over the world have been monitoring the statistical distribution of weather patterns over extended periods of time to measure the potential affects and significance of climate change.

This research not only studies past fluctuations, but also is used to predict future shifts in our climate and its global environmental impact. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is a leading environmental research center that focuses on the United Kingdom’s national scientific activities in Antarctica. Some of their current research includes long-term monitoring of global climate change via ice core sample analysis of the polar ice caps....