ERS Genomics Limited, which was formed to provide broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property (IP) co-owned by Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, congratulates Emmanuelle on being awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her groundbreaking work on the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Emmanuelle receives the award jointly with her colleague Dr. Jennifer Doudna....
With Ultimate Goal of Improving Virus Knowledge, Team Now Will Use its Optomechanical System to Design a Prototype for Airborne Virus Analysis. Targeting analysis of biological particles with large aspect ratios, such as viruses or fibrils, CEA scientists have demonstrated a breakthrough in single-particle mass spectrometry (MS) that could fast track the detection of viral particles in hospitals, offices, airplanes and other public places....
ILC Therapeutics, a Scottish biotech company, has announced that its unique synthetic Interferon called Alfacyte™ is fifteen to twenty times more effective at preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) in cell culture than other commercially-available Interferons such as Interferon alpha 2 and Interferon beta 1a. COVID-19 tries to slow down the body’s innate Interferon response to viral infection and Alfacyte™ is designed to help accelerate this response and prevent disease progression....
Metabolic phenotyping using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been applied to the characterization of the metabolic effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on human blood plasma. Metabolomic analysis was used to quantify key lipid and protein components of blood samples collected from...
Cobra Biologics (Cobra), part of the Cognate BioServices family, an international CDMO manufacturer of biological materials and pharmaceuticals, and Scancell Holdings plc (Scancell), the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, today announced that they have entered into a collaboration for Cobra to manufacture Scancell’s COVID-19 vaccine....
The American scientist Christopher Zimmerman, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, USA has won the 2020 Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology for his work on the neural circuits that govern thirst and drinking behavior. Zimmerman discovered that sensory signals originating throughout the body come together within individual neurons in the brain to produce the sense of thirst....
Phase 3 clinical trials are underway for COVID-19 vaccines, some of which call for an ultra-low freezer for storage and transport. Examples described in a September Wall Street Journal article notes the unusually cold storage temperatures – as low as -80?C – required. Covid-19 vaccine candidates are one of many applications for ultra-low freezers. This post provides you with info on when and how to specify one of these units
C4Diagnostics, Bertin Technologies, and Enalees announce the launch of their clinical trial of BEC-SARS-CoV-2 for humans, a diagnostic test for Covid-19, developed jointly with Pasteur Institute. The BEC-SARS-CoV-2 for humans test has been submitted to the authorities in accordance with French regulations, the detection process has been validated and a clinical trial has been launched by the consortium in order to obtain CE-IVD marking by the end of September...
From October 1, 2020, until January 15, 2021, young researchers not older than 35 years, with an advanced degree, who are working in Europe can apply for the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. This highly prestigious 20,000 EUR prize acknowledges outstanding contributions to biomedical research in Europe based on methods of molecular biology, including novel analytical concepts....
Porvair Sciences reports on testing that demonstrates how its hydrophilic Vyon® porous plastics exhibit outstanding performance in drug discovery applications due to the high hydrophilic void volume conversion of the materials’ pore structure after a special treatment process. Vyon® manufactured from HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) and & UHMWPE (Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) is naturally hydrophobic...
The COVID-19 crisis has led to unparalleled pressure on labs to ramp up capacity for SARS-CoV-2 testing. INTEGRA’s electronic pipettes, pipetting robots and other instruments have helped many labs tackle this challenge of increasing testing capacity while, at the same time, enhancing the reproducibility of results. VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipettes are ideal for transferring patient samples from individual collection tubes – either blood collection or swab tubes – to microplates in serological and PCR testing workflows...
The UK genomic tools developer, RevoluGen Ltd.,has announced new data validating the performance of its high-molecular weight (HMW) DNA extraction kit, Fire Monkey. Scientists at the UK’s Quadram Institute together with collaborators in Pakistan have published positive results from Illumina whole genome sequencing (WGS) for extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Salmonella Typhi characterization in Pakistan, using Fire Monkey....
In this unique new five-part weekly webinar series, Molecular Devices scientists will introduce you to various aspects of microplate reader technology in an educational and entertaining way. Starting with some basic concepts, they will explain a number of ‘urban myths’ or misconceptions each week - as well as introducing a variety of theories and technologies – ultimately enabling you to fully understand the choices you make when writing protocols, choosing a new microplate reader or optimizing an existing assay.
Cytel Inc. has significantly widened the geographical scope of the TOGETHER trial, a unique study to identify early COVID-19 interventions in underserved low- and middle-income country (LMIC) populations. The trial, supported with seed funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the very few studies investigating therapies at the earliest stages of COVID-19 infection, and is the only trial to explore early interventions in the Global South....
In this new webinar, Granutools will join forces with the RCPE to give you new insight on the importance of electrostatics for pharmaceuticals powders. Together they will explain how the material properties, particle properties, and formulation properties will affect the tribo-charging and how it is possible to use the GranuCharge as a proxy of industrial processes like a twin screw feeder....
National charity Heart Research UK has launched a new grant of up to £250,000 for research projects investigating the relationship between COVID-19 and heart disease. People with existing cardiovascular disease have a higher risk of severe complications from Covid-19 infection, and evidence is emerging that the virus can cause damage to the heart....
Relation Therapeutics, a drug development company driven by data science and machine learning (ML), announces Project RE, which will apply Relation Therapeutics’ and its partners’ technologyto the identification of repurposed drug combinations as potential therapeutic candidates for COVID-19....
Learn about microscopy, its applications, technologies, tips and tricks, imaging methods, and new developments - from the basics to more advanced topics. On the new content platform Microscopy Insights Hub from ZEISS Microscopy, access on-demand webinar recordings, how-to videos and further information pieces about your field of interest....
Illumina has announced that the Australian public health laboratories will aim to sequence the virus genomes of all positive COVID-19 tests in Australia and track COVID-19 using genomics across the country, rather than state by state, under a ground-breaking initiative spearheaded by Australia’s public health laboratory organisations and leading industry partners...
Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced new collaborations of the Thermo Fisher Precision Medicine Science Center (PMSC) with AstraZeneca and the University of Nebraska Medical Center as part of its ongoing development of innovative solutions for unmet needs in clinical biomarker discovery. The new alliances strengthen the PMSC’s mission of creating standardized workflows...
Bernie Benson, founder of Benson Viscometers, and explains more about the use of blood viscometers in helping to guide the treatment of Covid-19 patients. One of the biggest challenges facing medical teams treating Covid-19 patients is identifying which ones are likely to suffer the most extreme responses to the virus....
Autoscribe Informatics, a leading global laboratory informatics provider, announced the release of a new white paper on the validation of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). The white paper discusses what LIMS validation is and the steps involved, the responsibilities of the customer and supplier, how GAMP5 affects LIMS validation, and the deliverables you can expect from a LIMS validation project....