Purite has launched a new swap out scheme that will save money and bring peace of mind to laboratories that run water purification units.

TAP Biosystems has announced that its new ambr250™ automated mini bioreactor system has already been chosen by a number of major pharmaceutical, biotech and CRO firms as a high-throughput, scale-down bioreactor model for their process development and optimisation programmes.

Dutch Software Company GENALICE announced that it has reached an agreement on a multi-million euro capital investment from Redbrae, a consortium of US- and UK-based private equity investors.

The dramatic improvement in outcome for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is one of the major achievements in hematology in the last 40 years. However, while 90% of children with this disease can now be cured, the outlook has not been so good for the less common type of childhood leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Although only 1 in 7 children with leukemia have AML, half of these children will die from their disease. The challenge now is to harness the new developments in genomics to improve the outcome for these children. At the 19^th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), we will learn about the state-of-the-art in management of childhood AML.  New concepts in the way AML develops and the way AML cells 'hijack' the main sites of normal blood production within the body will be presented....

EU support boosts development of therapeutic vaccines against Parkinson's and Multiple System Atrophy. AFFiRiS leads consortium.

An international consortium of top European research teams has received significant EU funding for the development of therapeutic vaccines against Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). Led by the Austrian biotech company AFFiRiS AG, the consortium will use a novel tandem strategy to advance the development of two therapeutic vaccine candidates in parallel. They are both unique in the potential for disease modification, something which is sorely missing in PD as well as in MSA. Both candidates target a protein called alpha-synuclein, which plays a key role in the onset and progression of PD and MSA. Additionally, the group attempts to identify biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic value....

Dutch Software Company GENALICE today announced at the 14^th Bio-IT World Conference & Expo that it has started discussions with Intel® about a product development as well as a product delivery partnership.

On 12/12 last year, GENALICE launched its groundbreaking DNA processing software; GENALICE MAP. On a simple dual Intel® Xeon® E5 server the company was capable to map the short reads of 42 complete human and 42 full tomato genomes within 24 hours. The software is designed to optimally make use of the modern hardware architecture of these commodity Intel processors....

Sygnature Discovery Limited, the UK’s largest independent integrated drug discovery provider, today announced the appointment of Dr Gerry Thomas to the pivotal role of Director of Business Development.

Board Director, Dr Paul Clewlow, stated, “I am delighted to welcome Gerry Thomas to Sygnature Discovery.  Gerry is a very experienced industry professional having spent over 20 years in drug discovery and development at Boots Pharmaceuticals, BASF/Knoll, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Prosidion and Shire Pharmaceuticals.  Sygnature Discovery has ambitious plans to expand its customer base and Gerry will be instrumental in promoting Sygnature’s integrated drug discovery capabilities and expertise across Europe and North America....

Quotient Clinical, the Translational Pharmaceutics Company, has announced the extension of its Translational Pharmaceutics™ platform into patient-focused cancer drug development.

Quotient will employ its real-time, flexible manufacturing capabilities to supply specialist oncology centers with drug products to support first-in-patient and proof-of-concept programs. Translational Pharmaceutics integrates real-time drug product manufacturing and clinical testing, using processes that significantly reduce the timelines and cost of early stage drug development....

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) today expanded its family of CORTECS® Columns with the introduction of a new line of 2.7 micron silica-based, solid-core particle columns that set a new standard for HPLC column performance.

HORIBA UK Ltd, Medical Division, has introduced a new version of its Quality Slide Program (QSP) service specifically designed to readily meet new CPA guidelines for evaluating and reporting on staff competency and training for blood cell identification in line with ISO 15189. As a unique digital blood cell morphology QC and training program, HORIBA’s QSP also helps to standardise blood film review.

ISO 15189 Medical Laboratory Accreditation is a tool to demonstrate the quality and competence of medical laboratories and ensure delivery of timely and accurate results. Key to this is on-going assessment of laboratory staff technical skills. The new version of HORIBA’s QSP offers enhanced recording of staff competency and training in blood cell identification, where results may sometimes be subjective. Intuitive and easy-to-use, QSP can be fully customised to meet UK working practices...

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has published an updated version of H52-A2—Red Blood Cell Diagnostic Testing Using Flow Cytometry; Approved Guideline—Second Edition.

This standard addresses the diagnostic red blood cell (RBC) assays performed as fluorescence-based assays on a flow cytometry platform; including testing procedures for fetomaternal hemorrhage detection, paroxysmal nocturnal hematuria screening, membrane defect anemia testing for hereditary spherocytosis, and nucleated RBC counting. Points of validation and quality control, and caveats of interpretation are also discussed.

OHAUS, a leading worldwide manufacturer of scales and balances, has been extremely successful with the Explorer® Series. This line of ingenious balances offers advanced applications that simplify even the most complex laboratory measurements.

OHAUS Explorer® with its unmatched functionality and high-performance has received two prominent awards. One of them was granted by the American magazine Laboratory Equipment that gave Explorer® the 2013 “Readers' Choice” Award for best balance. The voters were focusing on products that lead the industry in technology... 

The US Federal Drug Administration Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory has increased the efficiency of preparing its agar plates for microbiological research using an INTEGRA MEDIAJET vario automated petri dish filling system.

Located in Dauphin Island (AL), the FDA’s Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory (GCSL) site is used by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) to conduct research programs related to seafood safety, especially seafood harvested from the Gulf of Mexico. The US FDA operates a mandatory safety program for all fish and fishery products under the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, and related regulations. The FDA program includes research, inspection, compliance, enforcement, outreach and the development of regulations and industry guidance...

Analytik, leading suppliers of innovative analytical instrumentation, are pleased to announce the availability of the TerraSpec Halo mineral identifier from PANalytical Boulder (formerly ASD Inc). 

Analytik has announced the UK and Ireland release of the TerraSpec Halo, a lightweight, portable, full range near-infrared spectrometer designed to revolutionise the mineral exploration process. With a simple push of a button, the TerraSpec Halo delivers mineralogy results in a matter of seconds, a rapid method to identify minerals and decrease associated exploration costs... 

XEI Scientific Inc, maker of the popular EVACTRON^® De-Contaminator™ Plasma Cleaning System for electron microscopes and other vacuum chambers, has appointed remX GmbH, as distribution partners for their decontamination products in Germany. 

XEI Scientific has appointed new distributors for Germany. remX GmbH is a company specializing in hardware and software solutions for Scanning Electron Microscopes for industry and universities. Their specialty is in microscopy-based techniques such as electron microscopy and detectors such as EDX and SDD. They will also cover other European countries, particularly those speaking German. These include Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Switzerland (German speaking regions only) and the Netherlands... 

Planning has been granted by Cambridge City Council for The Forum, an innovative £120 million mixed-use medical and education facility on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

The Forum, designed by architects NBBJ, is the product of a pioneering joint venture between John Laing and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHT). Consisting of a post-graduate medical education centre, 900 delegate conference centre, 90-bed private hospital, and four-star hotel, The Forum will bring together local, national and international medical professionals, researchers and academics from around the world all focused on the development of life-changing treatments....

This month laboratory autoclave manufacturer Priorclave announces the availability of a very much extended range of autoclave consumables.  

Over 70 scientists from 16 countries are due in Nottingham this week for the biennial Scientific Laboratory Show and Conference at the East Midlands Conference Centre on the University of Nottingham campus.

This is the largest gathering of leading academic and commercial scientific experts in the city for several years, for what has become an occasion of real scientific value for leading manufacturers and for visiting international delegates. The three-day event is organised by Nottingham-based Scientific Laboratory Supplies Ltd, in association with the Royal Society of Chemistry and is further recognition of the city’s growing influence in the UK’s life sciences business sector....

Tim Freeman, Managing Director, and Dr Xiaowei Fu, Product Specialist at Freeman Technology, will deliver four oral presentations relating to aspects of powder characterisation and critical powder handling issues at the 7th World Congress on Particle Technology (WCPT7) taking place from 19-22 May 2014 in Beijing, China.

Tim Freeman is an invited speaker at the Particle Design: Formulation and Processing session, where he will present ‘A QbD Approach to Continuous Tablet Manufacture’. This talk will focus on the use of powder characterisation to measure material properties that directly correlate with the quality attributes of a finished product to support the development of continuous processes...

Seward Ltd., manufacturer of the world leading range of original Stomacher^® paddle blenders and accessories used in sample preparation for microbiological analysis, has increased production capacity for Stomacher^® blender bags with additional manufacturing in the UK.

By locally manufacturing its range of Stomacher^® 400 and 3500 mL bags at its UK facility, Seward has now reduced delivery lead times for its European customers and also minimised its environmental footprint. Seward already ensures rapid supply of Stomacher products through local bag manufacture and stocking from regional sites in USA and Singapore to fully support its customers worldwide. In addition to reducing delivery times, this policy for local manufacture and stocking also helps to minimise the impact of...

EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics business, announces that it has acquired Selah Genomics, Inc. and DiaSpect Medical AB.

Sweden based DiaSpect manufactures desktop hemoglobin analyzers, whilst Selah, of South Carolina is a service provider that supplies molecular diagnostics tests for the development of personalized medicine. The integration of DiaSpect’s product line into the existing portfolio of EKF hemaglobin analyzers will enable the provision of an analyzer to meet any need....

Chemistry engineering specialists Vapourtec (Suffolk, UK) has reached the notable landmark of appearing in 125 peer reviewed publications, making it the clear global leader in terms of research breakthroughs and published findings for flow chemistry systems.

Vapourtec systems have been used in some notable published breakthroughs including the recent research from a leading academic group headed by Professor Steven V Ley at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry into more efficient production methods for breast cancer drug Tamoxifen utilised Vapourtec’s E-Series system. Also in 2012 the Innovative flow manufacturing route for Artemisinin, a drug that addresses Malaria, was published by Professor Peter Seeberger of the Max Planck Institute, Berlin....