Improved drug delivery and compound identification with the Cellaxess technology

Cellectricon, a leading provider of advanced cell-based screening technologies and services, presented new data at Neuroscience 2013. In a series of poster presentations, Cellectricon demonstrated how its technology can be applied effectively for drug discovery, particularly in relation to cytoskeletal disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Utrecht University Appoints Makarov Professor of High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Chair established to advance large protein research

The Executive Board of Utrecht University, by special appointment, named Alexander Makarov, Ph.D, professor of high resolution mass spectrometry at the Bijvoet Center of the Department of Chemistry. Makarov is Director of Global Research, Life Science Mass Spectrometry (LSMS) for Thermo Fisher Scientific. “I hope this appointment will become a bridge that connects academia to industry,” Makarov said. “I want to make it easier for students and industrial scientists to learn from each other...

In a move that reflects continued sales growth in Mexico, Malvern Instruments has opened a new office in Mexico City.

Operational since August 2013, the Mexico office provides both pre- and after- sales support to a growing customer base. It is also the venue for an increasing number of advanced training courses and seminars, and is part of Malvern’s operational expansion in Mexico and throughout Latin America as a whole. The opening of the office in Mexico comes just a year after the establishment of a sales and applications laboratory in Sao Paolo, Brazil...

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...

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...

Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS), the UK’s largest independent supplier of scientific equipment, chemicals and consumables is pleased to announce its new partnership with Bactest for the Speedy Breedy portable respirometer.

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...

Lab Innovations - the UK’s only show dedicated to the latest laboratory technology & consumables, analytical & biotech equipment – which took place last week at the NEC, Birmingham, was a huge success.

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....

Key European Biotech Partnering Conference Opens In Vienna, LISAvienna is organising the largest exhibition to date of domestic life sciences 

The most important event on the annual calendar of the European biotech industry opens today in Vienna: BIO-Europe 2013. The largest European biotech partnering conference is taking place this year with LISAvienna as the local organiser. More than 1,800 companies will be represented, making this a record-breaking year for participation. In addition to the 116 Austrian companies, 81 of which are based in Vienna, this year marks the first time that academic institutions will have the opportunity to present their research findings. Fittingly, there will be numerous panel discussions that focus on technology transfer and translational research...

Presented by Dr Elad Katz, a senior scientist at AMSBIO, a new on-demand webinar explores the potential of 3D cell-based models for regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

Two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures have provided a number of breakthroughs for understanding human tissues and diseases, as well as for discovering and testing new drugs. However, 2D cell cultures have limitations, such as limited cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts, flat cellular morphologies and a lack of realistic mass transfer gradients. As a result, technologies that facilitate growing cells in three-dimensional (3D) configurations have been developed to make cellular behaviors in vitro better resemble the body...

International scientists exchange ideas on developing this technology

Over forty international scientists gathered for the 5th Annual Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy Workshop in September in Thornwood, New York. The meeting was held at the U.S. headquarters of Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC. Researchers presented data and shared ideas regarding instrument development, standards, applications and specific applications of light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) and related technologies to various biological model organisms such as zebrafish, drosophila, mouse and others...

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..

AACC is pleased to announce that the AACC Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo won the 2013 Trade Show News Network (TSNN) award for having the fastest growing attendance of all nonprofit trade shows.

The AACC Annual Meeting is also known for being the world's largest diagnostics conference and expo.This weekend's 4^th Annual TSNN Awards: Celebrating Trade Show Excellence in Reno, Nev., recognized four medical trade shows in all for topping the list of the 25 nonprofit shows that experienced the fastest increase in attendance from 2010–2012....

ModiQuest Research BV, the Dutch antibody generation services company, today announced that it has expanded its research collaboration with Dako – an Agilent Technologies company. 

After the successful generation of monoclonal antibodies by ModiQuest against a proprietary target selected by Dako earlier this year, both parties have extended their collaboration with three additional targets for monoclonal antibody generation by ModiQuest. During the collaboration, ModiQuest will make use of its proprietary hybridoma-electrofusion technology (ModiFuse^TM)....

Synexus has today opened a regional office for Eastern Europe in Wroclaw, Poland. The investment reflects Synexus’ continued commitment to the region and has been created to service the important role that clients see for Eastern Europe in terms of global clinical trials.

The new 3,000 square foot office located in the Sky Tower, in one of the city’s most prestigious business districts, will house a strong regional team with experience in delivering clinical trials for Synexus clients. The extra space will allow Synexus to further strengthen this team that has over a decade of experience in Eastern Europe....

Sherwood Scientific exhibits solution for enzyme-based diagnostic testing in remote locations 

Sherwood Scientific Ltd will exhibit the CHROMA Model 260uv Programmable Colorimeter for the first time at MEDICA 2013 (20 - 23 November 2013, Düsseldorf Fairgrounds, Germany). The instrument allows users to conduct enzyme-based tests in challenging and remote locations without access to a laboratory. Also on display at MEDICA will be Sherwood Scientific’s magnetic susceptibility balance and the model 926S Chloride analyser, both valuable and established tools in clinical applications. The Model 260uv Programmable Colorimeter’s ability to operate in the near UV region makes it ideal for enzyme-based clinical diagnostic tests...

Fast and accurate screening for mutations identified in acute myeloid lymphoma using the xGen® Acute Myeloid Lymphoma Panel v1.0

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), the world leader in oligonucleotide synthesis, is enabling cancer research with its latest next generation sequencing (NGS) product, the xGen® Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cancer Panel v1.0. Consisting of 11,743 xGen Lockdown® Probes, this cancer panel targets over 260 clinically relevant genes that were found to be mutated in a study of 200 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and published by The Cancer Genome Atlas consortium. The AML Cancer Panel is used for enriching the genome for regions of interest before performing NGS. It can, therefore, be used to study disease occurrence and progression, and help with the development of better targeted therapies...

Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS), the UK’s largest independent supplier of scientific equipment, chemicals and consumables has recently invested in temperature-controlled storage facilities at its main site on the Wilford Industrial Estate in Nottingham.

An investment of £15,000 in the 40 square metre high-tech storage facility has been designed to accommodate the new Lonza laboratory range which requires cell culture media products to be stored at +4C. Earlier this year, Lonza appointed Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS) as the sole distributor for its BioWhittaker™ cell biology media and serum product lines in the United Kingdom. The new facility allows SLS to respond quickly to requests from laboratories anywhere in the UK....