The BioDrop DUO is a UV/Vis spectrophotometer which has a novel in-built sample port with a fixed 0.5mm pathlength and a cuvette holder to accommodate the BioDrop CUVETTE 125 or a standard 10mm cuvette.
Because the BioDrop DUO has a fixed pathlength, excellent measurements can be achieved without ever needing calibration. Concentrations are obtained quickly using a colour touchscreen to select pre-programmed methods in the on-board software....
Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons in the brain.
For the first time, scientists at Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry have been able to map in detail the pathway that generates “aberrant” forms of proteins which are at the root of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. They believe the breakthrough is a vital step closer to increased capabilities for earlier diagnosis of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and opens up possibilities for a new generation of targeted drugs, as scientists say they have uncovered the earliest stages of the development of Alzheimer’s that drugs could possibly target....
Qualoupe LIMS from Two Fold Software includes specific features to fit with the dynamic needs of contract testing laboratories. As well as providing core LIMS functionalities to support day to day laboratory work, Qualoupe software helps labs meet the challenges of providing analytical testing to clients while still growing and supporting their business.
By creating a secure, reliable interface between laboratories and their clients, Qualoupe’s user-friendly system saves businesses time and money. The software automatically provides fast and accurate production of invoices and estimates for improved, more streamlined cash flows, while the flexibility of the system means laboratories have control over pricing plans. Customers can log in to Qualoupe remotely to view results and book in their own samples....
Since the dawn of modern medicine, human biological material has been collected, stored, and used for a variety of purposes with biological integrity ensured by cryopreservation at temperatures below -137°C. These samples are almost always unique and irreplaceable but, until now, it has been impossible to quality assure the material before use to check that thermal damage has not occurred.
In a recently published paper, a team from Saarland University's Biophysics and Cryotechnology department in Germany has demonstrated a powerful, Raman-scattering technique for monitoring and investigating cryopreserved samples. In particular, they confirmed unambiguously the detection of ice crystals in vitreous samples in situ at temperatures below -120°C....
TAP Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and consumables for life science applications, today announced its advanced micro bioreactor system (ambr™) is in use at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, one of the world’s leading structural biology research institutes, for rapid small-scale parallel expression of human multi-protein complexes using baculovirus.
The ambr micro bioreactor system at EMBL, which was funded by the French Investissement d'Avenir Initiative is being used by EMBL scientists in the Eukaryotic Expression Facility (EEF) for culturing insect cells containing baculovirus expression systems to produce differently engineered human multi-protein complexes for crystallography studies....
BioSentinel has selected Tecan’s Infinite® F500 as the reader of choice for its high sensitivity botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) assays.
Dr Ward Tucker, Director of Research and Development at BioSentinel, explained: “Our fluorescence-based BoTest® and BoCell® assays were developed using a high end, monochromator-based reader; however, we needed a more cost-effective solution that we could recommend to customers who did not already have fluorescence detection capabilities....
Read MoreCurie-Cancer and Roche strengthen partnership to fast-track the development of new moleculesMay 22, 2013
Curie-Cancer and Roche build on four years partnership by increasing translational research programs, speeding up development of new cancer treatments
Curie-Cancer, the body responsible for developing Institut Curie’s industry partnership activities, and the Roche Institute for Research and Translational Medicine are strengthening their collaborative efforts. In 2009, the Institut Curie and Roche signed an initial three-year agreement to partner one another in a major pre-clinical research program. The aim of the partnership was the better understanding of the mechanism of action of a new Roche antibody to target under-served highly aggressive forms of breast cancer. This antibody was the first in a new therapeutic class.
Read MoreNew York University Acquires 100th Leica Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope with White Light Laser for Morphogenetic StudiesMay 22, 2013
The Leica TCS SP8 X provides total freedom of excitation and emission coupled with low laser power and high sensitivity
The Department of Biology at New York University has been equipped with the 100th Leica TCS SP8 X, a state-of-the-art confocal laser scanning microscope with a white light laser. The system offers complete spectral freedom for fluorescence experiments. For live cell imaging, the combination of high sensitivity and low laser power provides better cell viability. The new instrument is installed in the Center for Developmental Genetics and has been used to further Assistant Professor Dr. Lionel Christiaen’s goal of understanding how tissue-specific gene regulatory networks control and coordinate cell behavior during morphogenesis since February 2013....
Read MoreDolomite expertise brings microfluidic product to marketMay 22, 2013
Fledgling spin-out company Drop-Tech has turned to microfluidics specialist Dolomite for its product development and fabrication skills to help productize the advanced and innovative RoboDrop™ technology into the Mitos Dropix.
Mitos Dropix is a droplet-on-demand sampler that is set to make it easy to produce extremely miniaturized droplet compartments with excellent control over their contents. The collaboration began when Drop-Tech entered – and won – Dolomite’s Productizing Science® Competition, sparking discussions and exchanges of ideas between the two development teams.
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies has announced that it has commissioned on time its new mammalian cGMP Cell Banking Facility (CBF) at its Billingham, UK site.
The new CBF is available to the company’s customers either as part of a larger development and manufacturing programme, or as a stand-alone service. It forms the second stage of a major expansion of the company’s mammalian cell culture capabilities at the site, following installation last year of new process development and scale-up capabilities. The asset will support delivery of manufacturing programmes for both Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ Billingham UK, and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA facilities....
DSM Pharmaceutical Products, the custom manufacturing and technology business of Royal DSM (NYSE, Euronext: DSM KON), announced today that their new cGMP custom biopharmaceutical manufacturing 'biologics plant of the future' will open in June 2013
The DSM facility was built with cooperation from the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments of Australia. Karen King, President of DSM Biologics, the biopharmaceutical manufacturing business of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, stated, “We are thrilled to announce the June opening our of new cGMP facility in Brisbane. This operation combines DSM's twenty five years of experience and high quality track record in mammalian cell culture manufacturing with a state-of-the-art commercial and development facility....
Read MoreAstraZeneca and BIND Therapeutics Sign Cancer Nanomedicine Worldwide AgreementMay 20, 2013
BIND Therapeutics and AstraZeneca announced today that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop and commercialize an Accurin™, a targeted and programmable cancer nanomedicine from BIND’s Medicinal Nanoengineering platform, based on a molecularly targeted kinase inhibitor developed and owned by AstraZeneca.
The collaboration is based on emerging data suggesting that nanomedicines like Accurins selectively accumulate in diseased tissues and cells, leading to higher drug concentrations at the site of the tumor and reduced exposure to healthy tissues. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will work together to complete Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies of the lead Accurin identified from a previously-completed feasibility program. AstraZeneca will then have the exclusive right to lead development and commercialization and BIND will lead manufacturing during the development phase....
BioCity Nottingham has completed a major refurbishment of office suites and central communal areas worth in excess of £450,000.
The building reconfiguration and redecoration in the UK’s busiest bioscience business incubator began in December 2012 and was officially completed in March this year. BioCity’s position in the heart of Nottingham’s new Creative Quarter continues to attract ambitious life science start-up companies looking for the best facilities as well as on-site business advice....
Spinnovation Analytical B.V. and Pivot Park have entered into an agreement where Spinnovation will supply analytical services at the newly established life sciences park, while gaining access to Pivot Park’s advanced analytical platform.
Pivot Park, located on the former Organon/Schering Plough/MSD research site in Oss, the Netherlands, is a centre for open-innovation, where facilities, instruments and knowledge are made available to the pharmaceutical and biotech companies based on the site. Spinnovation will further support the park’s research and productivity with its portfolio of analytical services specifically designed to address both the needs of the small-molecule pharmaceutical and the biopharmaceutical industries. The agreement will allow Spinnovation to expand and complement its extensive technology platform, thanks to exclusive access to several high-end analytical instruments....
Read MoreDebunking Myths about Peak Area Response of Glycoprotein OligosaccharidesMay 20, 2013
Thermo Fisher Scientific has released a technical note (TN) that challenges the common misconception that there is significant variation in high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) peak area response of oligosaccharides.
TN 133: HPAE-PAD Peak Area Response of Glycoprotein Oligosaccharides summarizes the peer-reviewed scientific literature concerning this subject. This review concludes that the variation in HPAE-PAD oligosaccharide response with structure is minimal, especially among sets of similar oligosaccharides such as those found on many glycoproteins.....
Scientists at the specialised biotech company PharmAbcine are completing formulation and stability studies in a fraction of the time thanks to an Optim 1000 microvolume protein analysis and characterisation instrument from Avacta Analytical.
PharmAbcine was established in the Republic of Korea in 2008 specifically for the development of human monoclonal antibodies into drugs for the treatment of human diseases, including cancer and inflammatory diseases. With one product already undergoing clinical trials for blocking angiogenesis in glioblastomas, and a second monoclonal in development stages, the Company is keen to use high throughput technologies where possible, as Dr Weon Sup Lee, Head of the R&D Center at PharmAbcine, explained....
Read MoreNovel RNA detection reagent enables gene expression analysis in living cellsMay 16, 2013
In this new application note, Millipore describes how a Novel RNA detection reagent enables gene expression analysis in living cells.
This technology allows for carrier- free cellular endocytosis of the reagent, followed by detection and relative quantitative analysis of RNA levels. Because the reagent leaves the cell after the detection event, the same sample can be used for any downstream analysis, meaning you can assess multiple biomarkers or downstream functionalities in the same cells. Additionally, this reagent requires no upfront sample preparation, has no toxic effects on cellular fate and no known nonspecific, off-target effects....
Metrohm is pleased to present 'Power plant analysis', a practical guide to quality control in power plants.
While the major focus is on water chemistry, the new brochure also presents methods for quality control of turbine oils, fuels, and operating materials. «Power plant analysis» spans the entire array of types of thermal power plants dealing with fossil-fueled plants and nuclear plants (BWR, PWR) alike...
Modern laboratory managers face a unique blend of technical and people management challenges. Many have climbed the technical ranks and are well positioned to address the technical challenges but don’t have or have had very little formal training in management skills, especially when they start managing a laboratory.
The British Laboratory Managers Association (BLMA) has been formed to enable all laboratory managers to learn and improve their skills in laboratory management. The BLMA will provide laboratory managers with opportunities to meet other laboratory managers, to exchange ideas, build on their experience and improve their laboratory management skills. The first notification of the association came last year and saw a very strong response from laboratory managers from all sectors for such an organisation...
Detection efficiency of Andor iXon 885 low-light EMCCD camera captures fluorescent interference patterns built up by individual massive molecules at double slit grating
Described as the "most beautiful experiment in physics", Richard Feynman spoke of the double-slit experiment as 'the heart of quantum physics', emphasizing how the diffraction of individual particles at a grating is an unambiguous demonstration of wave-particle duality and contrary to classical physics. Matter-wave interference has been observed for almost 90 years, first for electrons, neutrons, atoms, and small molecules. The first single-electron/double-slit experiment to back-up Feynman's assertion that an individual electron itself can behave like a wave was reported by Tonomura's team in 1989....
Read MoreFood Forensics provides evidence for British food brandsMay 10, 2013
Norwich Research Park company uses ‘environmental fingerprinting’ to prove UK-origin
Waitrose is one of the first to pilot a new service which is able to verify the origin of British foods. Whether the product is fruit, meat or alcohol, Food Forensics, based on the Norwich Research Park, can determine not just the country of origin, but potentially also the local region from its unique ‘environmental fingerprint’. Alison Johnson, Director of Food Forensics, discusses the benefits of the technology....
BioCity Nottingham Ltd, the UK’s leading provider of life sciences business incubation services, has been appointed by AstraZeneca to establish a new centre for bioscience companies at Alderley Park in Cheshire.
The BioHub, will initially provide 36,000 sq ft of high-end laboratory and office facilities for early-stage and growing firms engaged in innovative drug discovery and development. Demand for accommodation is expected to be competitive with the first three tenant companies due to move on site today...
Because the BioDrop DUO has a fixed pathlength, excellent measurements can be achieved without ever needing calibration. Concentrations are obtained quickly using a colour touchscreen to select pre-programmed methods in the on-board software....
For the first time, scientists at Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry have been able to map in detail the pathway that generates “aberrant” forms of proteins which are at the root of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. They believe the breakthrough is a vital step closer to increased capabilities for earlier diagnosis of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and opens up possibilities for a new generation of targeted drugs, as scientists say they have uncovered the earliest stages of the development of Alzheimer’s that drugs could possibly target....
By creating a secure, reliable interface between laboratories and their clients, Qualoupe’s user-friendly system saves businesses time and money. The software automatically provides fast and accurate production of invoices and estimates for improved, more streamlined cash flows, while the flexibility of the system means laboratories have control over pricing plans. Customers can log in to Qualoupe remotely to view results and book in their own samples....
In a recently published paper, a team from Saarland University's Biophysics and Cryotechnology department in Germany has demonstrated a powerful, Raman-scattering technique for monitoring and investigating cryopreserved samples. In particular, they confirmed unambiguously the detection of ice crystals in vitreous samples in situ at temperatures below -120°C....
The ambr micro bioreactor system at EMBL, which was funded by the French Investissement d'Avenir Initiative is being used by EMBL scientists in the Eukaryotic Expression Facility (EEF) for culturing insect cells containing baculovirus expression systems to produce differently engineered human multi-protein complexes for crystallography studies....
Dr Ward Tucker, Director of Research and Development at BioSentinel, explained: “Our fluorescence-based BoTest® and BoCell® assays were developed using a high end, monochromator-based reader; however, we needed a more cost-effective solution that we could recommend to customers who did not already have fluorescence detection capabilities....
Curie-Cancer, the body responsible for developing Institut Curie’s industry partnership activities, and the Roche Institute for Research and Translational Medicine are strengthening their collaborative efforts. 
The Department of Biology at New York University has been equipped with the 100th Leica TCS SP8 X, a state-of-the-art confocal laser scanning microscope with a white light laser. The system offers complete spectral freedom for fluorescence experiments. For live cell imaging, the combination of high sensitivity and low laser power provides better cell viability. The new instrument is installed in the Center for Developmental Genetics and has been used to further Assistant Professor Dr. Lionel Christiaen’s goal of understanding how tissue-specific gene regulatory networks control and coordinate cell behavior during morphogenesis since February 2013....
Mitos Dropix is a droplet-on-demand sampler that is set to make it easy to produce extremely miniaturized droplet compartments with excellent control over their contents. The collaboration began when Drop-Tech entered – and won – Dolomite’s Productizing Science® Competition, sparking discussions and exchanges of ideas between the two development teams. 
The DSM facility was built with cooperation from the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments of Australia. Karen King, President of DSM Biologics, the biopharmaceutical manufacturing business of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, stated, “We are thrilled to announce the June opening our of new cGMP facility in Brisbane. This operation combines DSM's twenty five years of experience and high quality track record in mammalian cell culture manufacturing with a state-of-the-art commercial and development facility....
The collaboration is based on emerging data suggesting that nanomedicines like Accurins selectively accumulate in diseased tissues and cells, leading to higher drug concentrations at the site of the tumor and reduced exposure to healthy tissues. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will work together to complete Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies of the lead Accurin identified from a previously-completed feasibility program. AstraZeneca will then have the exclusive right to lead development and commercialization and BIND will lead manufacturing during the development phase....
The building reconfiguration and redecoration in the UK’s busiest bioscience business incubator began in December 2012 and was officially completed in March this year. BioCity’s position in the heart of Nottingham’s new Creative Quarter continues to attract ambitious life science start-up companies looking for the best facilities as well as on-site business advice....
Pivot Park, located on the former Organon/Schering Plough/MSD research site in Oss, the Netherlands, is a centre for open-innovation, where facilities, instruments and knowledge are made available to the pharmaceutical and biotech companies based on the site. Spinnovation will further support the park’s research and productivity with its portfolio of analytical services specifically designed to address both the needs of the small-molecule pharmaceutical and the biopharmaceutical industries. The agreement will allow Spinnovation to expand and complement its extensive technology platform, thanks to exclusive access to several high-end analytical instruments....
TN 133: HPAE-PAD Peak Area Response of Glycoprotein Oligosaccharides summarizes the peer-reviewed scientific literature concerning this subject. This review concludes that the variation in HPAE-PAD oligosaccharide response with structure is minimal, especially among sets of similar oligosaccharides such as those found on many glycoproteins.....
PharmAbcine was established in the Republic of Korea in 2008 specifically for the development of human monoclonal antibodies into drugs for the treatment of human diseases, including cancer and inflammatory diseases. With one product already undergoing clinical trials for blocking angiogenesis in glioblastomas, and a second monoclonal in development stages, the Company is keen to use high throughput technologies where possible, as Dr Weon Sup Lee, Head of the R&D Center at PharmAbcine, explained....
This technology allows for carrier- free cellular endocytosis of the reagent, followed by detection and relative quantitative analysis of RNA levels. Because the reagent leaves the cell after the detection event, the same sample can be used for any downstream analysis, meaning you can assess multiple biomarkers or downstream functionalities in the same cells. Additionally, this reagent requires no upfront sample preparation, has no toxic effects on cellular fate and no known nonspecific, off-target effects....
While the major focus is on water chemistry, the new brochure also presents methods for quality control of turbine oils, fuels, and operating materials. «Power plant analysis» spans the entire array of types of thermal power plants dealing with fossil-fueled plants and nuclear plants (BWR, PWR) alike...
The British Laboratory Managers Association (BLMA) has been formed to enable all laboratory managers to learn and improve their skills in laboratory management. The BLMA will provide laboratory managers with opportunities to meet other laboratory managers, to exchange ideas, build on their experience and improve their laboratory management skills. The first notification of the association came last year and saw a very strong response from laboratory managers from all sectors for such an organisation...
Described as the "most beautiful experiment in physics", Richard Feynman spoke of the double-slit experiment as 'the heart of quantum physics', emphasizing how the diffraction of individual particles at a grating is an unambiguous demonstration of wave-particle duality and contrary to classical physics. Matter-wave interference has been observed for almost 90 years, first for electrons, neutrons, atoms, and small molecules. The first single-electron/double-slit experiment to back-up Feynman's assertion that an individual electron itself can behave like a wave was reported by Tonomura's team in 1989....
Waitrose is one of the first to pilot a new service which is able to verify the origin of British foods. Whether the product is fruit, meat or alcohol, Food Forensics, based on the Norwich Research Park, can determine not just the country of origin, but potentially also the local region from its unique ‘environmental fingerprint’. Alison Johnson, Director of Food Forensics, discusses the benefits of the technology....
The BioHub, will initially provide 36,000 sq ft of high-end laboratory and office facilities for early-stage and growing firms engaged in innovative drug discovery and development. Demand for accommodation is expected to be competitive with the first three tenant companies due to move on site today...