Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a simple and economical size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) analysis method that enables nuclear power plants (NPPs) with pressurized water reactors to determine low concentrations of polyacrylic acid (PAA) in secondary feed water containing ethanolamine (ETA) and hydrazine.
Application Note 1058: Determination of Polyacrylic Acid in Nuclear Power Plant Pressurized Water Reactor Secondary Feed Water demonstrates that a SEC column separation with detection at 200 nm can determine PAA with a method detection limit of 2.6 μg/L. This method uses water as the eluent to maximize sensitivity and eliminate the need for eluent preparation...
End-of-year savings to be made on DiaSorin Blood DNA extraction kits for molecular confirmation of genetic disorders
The DiaSorin Arrow™ Blood DNA 200 extraction assays, that provide a highly purified DNA preparation, reduce inhibition in downstream analysis and ensure accurate and sensitive confirmation of Factor V Leiden thrombophilia, cystic fibrosis and other genetic disorders, are now available from approved DiaSorin distributors at special end-of-year rates. Molecular testing for genetic mutations, that cause conditions such as Factor V Leiden thrombophilia and cystic fibrosis, provide valuable confirmation of diagnosis and enables carriers of the mutated genes to be identified. The performance of these molecular tests can be affected by a number of factors, including the quality of the DNA preparation...
InnoCore Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has signed an exclusive License and Collaboration Agreement with Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN), a multi-specialty health care company headquartered in Irvine, California.
Under the agreement, the companies will expand their existing collaboration and jointly continue to develop long-acting ocular drug delivery products for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases. Utilizing its patented SynBiosys® polymeric drug delivery platform, InnoCore will formulate Allergan’s proprietary drugs into pharmaceutical products expected to be capable of sustained release for many months following a single ocular injection. The SynBiosys® drug delivery platform is based on novel biodegradable multi-block co-polymers with unique molecular architectures that allow precise and site-specific delivery of drugs for predetermined periods of time, ranging from weeks to many months...
JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on how AFM and advanced fluorescence microscopy is being applied in the study of biological membranes in the Centre de Biochimie Structurale (CBS, CNRS and INSERM affiliated) in Montpellier (France).
The CBS includes a research group focused on single molecule physics. Dr Pierre-Emmanuel Milhiet runs a team which applies AFM and advanced fluorescence microscopies (single molecule tracking and single-molecule localization microscopy or SMLM) in the study of both structure and dynamics of biological membranes. Speaking about his work, Dr Milhiet says "One of our aims is to decipher the molecular mechanisms involved in the lateral segregation of membrane components using artificial bilayers and intact cell membranes. Part of our activities is also to develop new methodologies and we have recently mounted a new setup combining a JPK AFM and home-made SMLM (especially PALM and STORM)...
Msoft Blood-Tracking Technology Snapped Up By The Royal Melbourne Hospital
A leading British healthcare software company is to introduce its innovative blood-tracking technology to hospitals in Australia for the first time. The Royal Melbourne is the first hospital in Australia to introduce MSoft eSolutions’ cutting edge Blood360 technology which is in widespread use in the UK – where it is known as Bloodhound. Blood360 controls access to and from all blood fridges with rigorous security and safety ensuring that only approved staff are allowed to access blood. The firm’s blood-tracking solution provides positive identification of users and patients and in-depth auditing of all bloods across each and every stage of the transfusion process – to help get the right blood into the right patient...
Anachem's Good Pipetting Practice programme covers a range of topics designed to ensure your team has the pipetting skills needed to produce consistent, reliable results.
Drawing on Anachem’s and Rainin’s 40 years of expertise in liquid handling and pipette service, the Good Pipetting Practice seminar focuses on five key areas. These include Pipetting Ergonomics, the Evaluation & Selection of the Right Tools for Your Liquid Handling Work, Pipetting Techniques and The Importance of Calibration & Routine Maintenance. As well as outlining how to optimise workflows, Good Pipetting Practice also focuses on how ergonomics can influence experimental data and pipette users’ health. It points out the risks associated with un-calibrated pipettes and the role of routine checks vs. professional service...
Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (Nederlands Kanker Instituut, NKI) are benefitting from the advanced, multi-parameter characterisation offered by Avacta Analytical’s Optim® technology for the study of novel proteins.
Dr Anastassis Perrakis, Principle Investigator in the Institute’s Structural Biology Group, explained: “We are interested in the mechanisms controlling a variety of different cellular processes, using in vitro protein characterisation to look at how proteins interact with other proteins and DNA. In addition to traditional biochemical assays, we perform a large number of biophysical experiments to help us understand these molecular interaction....
Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an on-line solid phase extraction (SPE)high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet absorbance detection method to determine the 14 explosives and related compounds specified in U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Method 8330A in environmental water samples. Application Note 1066: Sensitive Determination of Explosive Compounds in Waterdemonstrates that this approach eliminates the labor associated with off-line extraction and provides a convenient method that achieves reduced method detection limits (less than 0.35 μg/mL) when determining these compounds in water...
Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a reliable method for determining phthalates in alcoholic beverages by single-quadrupole gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
The method met the special testing requirements set by the China method GB/T 21911-2008 for determining phthalates in food. Application Note 10339,Determination of Phthalates in Liquor Beverages by Single Quadrupole GC-MS, describes a sensitive and accurate single-quadrupole GC-MS method for determining levels of phthalate plasticizers in alcoholic beverages. The method is sensitive, rapid, and accurate, and covers a wide linear range to meet the need for trace level detection of phthalate esters in different types of beverages....
NanoSight reports on how Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis, NTA, has been used to demonstrate the product performance of BD Medical - Pharmaceutical Systems' novel cross-linked silicone coating,BD XSi™, used in BD's prefillable syringe BD Neopak XSi™
Silicone oil is commonly used as a lubricant coating in prefilled syringes (PFS) and is becoming one of the most highly discussed topics in the PFS market, particularly for developers of highly sensitive biotech drugs. In specific biological drug cases, unexpected drug-container interactions have been reported that were potentially attributed to or potentially associated with sub-visible particles generated from the lubricating silicone layer...
Anasys Instruments reports on EPFL's publication in Plant Cell on the use of nanoIR to look into the process of photosynthesis to shed more light on how plants produce energy
École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, better known as EPFL, has recently reported on how a group of its scientists have used powerful imaging techniques including nanoIR to support a study which sheds light on photosynthesis. All plants use a form of photosynthesis to produce energy, though not all rely exclusively on it. In higher plants, capturing light takes place in specialized compartments called thylakoids. These are found in cell organelles called chloroplasts, which are the equivalent of a power station for the plant....
The telescope door of NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) equipped with HORIBA Jobin Yvon diffraction gratings was opened on July 17, 2013.
The IRIS spectrograph has begun to observe with unprecedented detail the lowest parts of the sun's atmosphere, known as the interface region. “The quality of images and spectra we are receiving from IRIS is amazing.” said Dr. Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator. IRIS data will allow scientists to study and better understand the energy transport on the sun. The diffraction gratings for the IRIS spectrograph have been produced by HORIBA Jobin Yvon S.A.S.Longjumeau – France...
Banook Central Imaging selected by Servier to provide innovative image analysis services based on a combination of RECIST, IrRC and TGR criteria
Banook Central Imaging (Banook CI), a global imaging core lab for drug and device clinical trials, announces today that it has been selected by Servier to assess the potential anti-tumor activity of a novel monoclonal antibody based on the RECIST 1.1 (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) and Immune-Related Response criteria (IrRC)....
Unique technology for virus screening in a single comprehensive assay to overcome the current limitations with predefined sets of known viruses
Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD), one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development companies, and PathoQuest, a pioneer in the field of pathogen detection, today announce an exclusive agreement to collaborate in providing Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) based biosafety assessments. This innovative biosafety testing approach, combined with Covance’s regulatory expertise, provides a flexible testing solution to all biotherapeutic clients and makes biologic medicines safer....
Researchers from Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, have characterized a genetic aberration on a group of colorectal cancer patients.
The discovery gives hope for a new and efficient treatment of colorectal cancer, which is a frequent and often fatal disease. The research was recently published in Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. “Our new research shows, that we might be able to introduce a treatment faster and cheaper than usual in the development of cancer treatment, and we estimate that it will be efficient in around 10 per cent of patients with colorectal cancer," says MD and PhD student Sune Nygård, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology, University of Copenhagen...
A living cell is built with barriers to keep things out – and researchers are constantly trying to find ways to smuggle molecules in. ?
Professor Giovanni Maglia (Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology, KU Leuven) and his team have engineered a biological nanopore that acts as a selective revolving door through a cell’s lipid membrane. The nanopore could potentially be used in gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. All living cells are enclosed by a lipid membrane that separates the interior of the cell from the outside environment....
New Webinar on Oncology Applications of RAFT 3D Cell Culture UCL and TAP Biosystems’ Experts Discuss 3D Cell Culture for Effective Cancer Targeting
TAP Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and consumables for life science applications, today announced that it will be running a new webinar on Wednesday November 6th, offering free access to scientific presentations on the benefits of using its innovative RAFT™ 3D collagen-based cell culture technology in oncology research. Two 3D cell culture experts....
Sygnature Discovery, a leading provider of integrated drug discovery services, and Proteros, the most experienced and largest biotechnology company in the field of X-ray protein structure analysis, today announced they have entered into a strategic alliance.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sygnature and Proteros will collaborate to provide integrated services to advance clients’ drug discovery projects. This new alliance adds an integral component to Sygnature’s ‘federated’ CRO Model, which provides fully-integrated drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry....
A refreshingly modern and inviting operating environment led independent, commercial materials testing laboratory NSL Analytical Services (Cleveland, US), straight to the Mastersizer 3000 from Malvern Instruments when it came to choosing a laser diffraction particle size analyzer to extend testing capabilities.
“The software really is the shining star of this product,” said Brian Bacher, Technical Specialist at NSL. “It makes the Mastersizer 3000 feel radically different from other systems on the market and a really great instrument to use. I especially like the live trends which make it so quick and easy to compare data sets,” he continued. NSL provides physical material testing to multiple verticals including the aerospace, ceramics and powder metallurgy industries...
Until 15 January 2014, young researchers working in Europe, who are not older than 35 years, are invited to apply for the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.
This highly prestigious prize was first established in 1995. It acknowledges outstanding contributions to biomedical research in Europe based on methods of molecular biology, including novel analytical concepts. The winner is selected by an independent expert committee chaired by Reinhard Jahn (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany). The award winner 2014 will receive: Prize money of 15,000 Euro. An invitation to the prize ceremony at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on 22 May 2014..
Starving cancer cells of a key amino acid slows down their ability to grow and multiply, according to new research from Queen Mary University of London, announced today at the World Conference on Lung Cancer.
Scientists researching one of Britain’s deadliest rare cancers, mesothelioma, at Queen Mary’s Barts Cancer Institute studied how cancer cells are not able to survive and continue growing when starved of the amino acid ‘arginine’. Cells are normally able to make arginine themselves, but research found around half of tumours lacked this ability and need to be fed arginine in order to survive, leaving it vulnerable to starvation....
Developed within the context of the RHENEPI consortium, this computer simulator opens up new possibilities for research into new treatments for epilepsy and identification of the convulsion risks associated with candidate drugs or environmental factors
Rhenovia Pharma, a leading biotech company specialized in biosimulation applied to the discovery of new medications, announces today that it has developed the first computer simulator for the biological mechanisms of epilepsy, validated by laboratory experiments. The simulator has been developed within the framework of RHENEPI, a consortium initiated and led by Rhenovia Pharma under the French government's ’Fonds Unique Interministeriel’ ....
The CBS includes a research group focused on single molecule physics. Dr Pierre-Emmanuel Milhiet runs a team which applies AFM and advanced fluorescence microscopies (single molecule tracking and single-molecule localization microscopy or SMLM) in the study of both structure and dynamics of biological membranes. Speaking about his work, Dr Milhiet says "One of our aims is to decipher the molecular mechanisms involved in the lateral segregation of membrane components using artificial bilayers and intact cell membranes. Part of our activities is also to develop new methodologies and we have recently mounted a new setup combining a JPK AFM and home-made SMLM (especially PALM and STORM)...
Drawing on Anachem’s and Rainin’s 40 years of expertise in liquid handling and pipette service, the Good Pipetting Practice seminar focuses on five key areas. These include Pipetting Ergonomics, the Evaluation & Selection of the Right Tools for Your Liquid Handling Work, Pipetting Techniques and The Importance of Calibration & Routine Maintenance. As well as outlining how to optimise workflows, Good Pipetting Practice also focuses on how ergonomics can influence experimental data and pipette users’ health. It points out the risks associated with un-calibrated pipettes and the role of routine checks vs. professional service...
École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, better known as EPFL, has recently reported on how a group of its scientists have used powerful imaging techniques including nanoIR to support a study which sheds light on photosynthesis. All plants use a form of photosynthesis to produce energy, though not all rely exclusively on it. In higher plants, capturing light takes place in specialized compartments called thylakoids. These are found in cell organelles called chloroplasts, which are the equivalent of a power station for the plant....
The IRIS spectrograph has begun to observe with unprecedented detail the lowest parts of the sun's atmosphere, known as the interface region. “The quality of images and spectra we are receiving from IRIS is amazing.” said Dr. Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator. IRIS data will allow scientists to study and better understand the energy transport on the sun. The diffraction gratings for the IRIS spectrograph have been produced by HORIBA Jobin Yvon S.A.S.Longjumeau – France...
Professor Giovanni Maglia (Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology, KU Leuven) and his team have engineered a biological nanopore that acts as a selective revolving door through a cell’s lipid membrane. The nanopore could potentially be used in gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. All living cells are enclosed by a lipid membrane that separates the interior of the cell from the outside environment....
Rhenovia Pharma, a leading biotech company specialized in biosimulation applied to the discovery of new medications, announces today that it has developed the first computer simulator for the biological mechanisms of epilepsy, validated by laboratory experiments. The simulator has been developed within the framework of RHENEPI, a consortium initiated and led by Rhenovia Pharma under the French government's ’Fonds Unique Interministeriel’ ....