The race is on in the diagnostics industry to develop a device that instantly detects coronavirus for use in large public spaces and airports, according to one of the UK’s top medical technology recruiters. Ivor Campbell, chief executive of Snedden Campbell, said the biggest companies are chasing the ‘holy grail’ of a rapid-test, biosensing device – similar to that used to test blood sugar levels in diabetic patients – that will identify whether a patient has Covid within a matter of seconds...
Cerno Bioscience, in collaboration with XenoBiotic Labs*, has recently published an article in the peer reviewed journal "Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry" which demonstrates reliable and accurate quantitation of both cold and hot labeled compounds down to 0.5%. This robust method was tested on both simple and complex systems containing as many as 6 separate labeling sites and is capable of quantifying from...
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a global leader of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, announced the launch of the Reliance SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB™ RT-PCR Kit (IVD) for European markets after having met the CE-IVD mark requirements. The Reliance SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB™ RT-PCR Kit (IVD) is a single molecular test designed for clinical diagnostic labs that conduct COVID-19 testing...
UK’s biggest trade show for the laboratory industry returns for 2021. At Lab Innovations, the UK’s largest trade exhibition for the laboratory industry, professionals, scientists, researchers and more will come together and do business for the first time in 2021. On November 3 and 4 2021, at the NEC, Birmingham, the show will open its doors to a visitors and exhibitors with a bigger floor space than ever before...
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, has opened a new cGMP plasmid DNA manufacturing facility in Carlsbad, California, enabling it to meet rapidly growing demand for plasmid DNA-based therapies and vital mRNA-based vaccines. "Demand for commercial plasmid DNA is outpacing supply as the development of transformative gene therapies and vaccines accelerates globally," said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer...
Specialist analytical instrument manufacturer Markes International Ltd has launched the world’s first range of thermal desorption (TD) instruments that are safety-certified to run on three gases: helium, nitrogen and hydrogen. All manufacturers’ TD instruments can run on helium and nitrogen, but it’s well known that the most popular, helium, is a rapidly-dwindling, non-renewable resource, becoming ever-scarcer and more expensive....
Ziath reports on ground-breaking use of Artificial Intelligence that enables discrimination between empty wells in sample tube racks from wells with a tube present which may have an obscured or poorly rendered barcode. This pioneering work, done in conjunction with the University of Hertfordshire (UK), is part of a program of development for the next generation of Ziath barcoded tube scanners due to launch around the end of 2021....
Techcomp Instruments Limited (“Techcomp”) is delighted to announce that Techcomp Europe has successfully completed the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Isotopx Limited, based in Middlewich, Cheshire. For the past 13 years Isotopx has been at the forefront of mass spectrometer design and innovation. The whole team at Isotopx, led by CEO and founder Zenon Palacz, are justifiably proud of their achievements in providing their customers with the most advanced and reliable instrumentation available..
Many people in the laboratory industry will have heard of Autoscribe Informatics and its Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) solution, Matrix Gemini. Autoscribe celebrates 40 years in business this year, making it one of the earliest suppliers of LIMS. Founded in 1981, Autoscribe Ltd is a privately owned UK Company. Over the years it has expanded to have staff and offices in USA and Australia as well as a network of distributors worldwide....
CrestOptics S.p.A., a manufacturer of high-end microscopy solutions and advanced systems for fluorescence microscopy and diagnostic applications, announce that it has been selected by Akoya Biosciences Inc., (Nasdaq: AKYA) The Spatial Biology Company®, as a premier microscope provider to jointly develop new spatial biology and spatial phenotyping applications....
The Royal Society of Chemistry has bestowed a second major honour on a Northumbria University academic. Just 12 months after the Royal Society of Chemistry honoured Professor John Dean with an Inspirational Member Award, his outstanding service to the Society has won further recognition. Professor Dean, of the Department of Applied Sciences, has now been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Award for Exceptional Service for the support he has shown for the analytical science community...
MIMETAS, a leader in organ-on-chip-based disease models and technology, and Roche, a world-leading pharmaceutical company, announce that they have entered into a collaboration to develop human disease models to characterize novel compounds in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and hepatitis B virus infections (HBV). Under the terms of the agreement, MIMETAS is eligible to receive an upfront payment and milestone payments from Roche...
The Center of Excellence in Clinical Metabolomics, based on the UC Davis Sacramento campus, will enable targeted and untargeted metabolic profiling for large-scale population-based cohorts across translational research and precision medicine. The Center will develop standardized processes for the research community, including end-to-end metabolic profiling workflows; optimized liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods, protocols...
Tumor fragments in the lab are able to predict whether the corresponding real-life patients will benefit from immunotherapy. “We’ve solved a major problem many scientists had been facing: preserving a tumors original composition and structure outside of the patient in the lab”, says cancer researcher Daniela Thommen from the Netherlands Cancer Institute. On 8 July, the results of her study are published in Nature Medicine....
Tecan has announced a highly anticipated software upgrade for one of its flagship products, the Fluent® Automation Workstation. The new FluentControl Scheduler offers a number of features designed to simplify day-to-day laboratory automation for significantly increased throughput and workflow efficiency. This software has been developed in response to customer feedback and an in-depth understanding of future market needs, with intelligent and user-friendly features that help labs heighten productivity...
The life science group Sartorius, through its subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech, has acquired a majority stake in the reagent manufacturer CellGenix GmbH. The company based in Freiburg, Germany, and with a sales subsidiary near the biotechnology hub in Boston, Massachusetts USA, produces and markets cell culture components, such as growth factors, cytokines and media in GMP quality for manufacturing cell and gene therapy products....
Scitara Corporation, an innovator in digital transformation and an emerging leader in delivering data connectivity to scientific laboratories, continues to deliver new releases in the Scitara Digital Lab Exchange (DLX™) cloud platform to bring next generation data connectivity and automation to scientific laboratories. Combining the benefits of modern cloud-based architecture with a vendor-neutral peer-to-peer platform with robust security...
VectorBuilder – a global leader in vector design, optimization and GMP manufacturing – has formed a worldwide strategic partnership with Univercells Technologies, a provider of novel biomanufacturing technologies for flexible and scalable viral vector production. VectorBuilder’s manufacturing center in Guangzhou, China, will work with Univercells Technologies to develop and optimize platform processes for the production of custom viral vectors for cell and gene therapies, as well as vaccine applications....
Avacta Group plc, the developer of diagnostics and innovative cancer therapies based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Calibre Scientific Inc. (“Calibre”), a global provider of life science products, for Avacta’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test for professional use in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA)...
Illumina, Inc. has announced an agreement with the Belgian Genetic Centers to evaluate whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for the diagnosis of patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) and/or developmental disorders (DD) in routine care. The study, run by the Belgian Resolve Rare Diseases group (BeSolveRD), will also assess the health economic impact of WGS versus current standards of care....
The CEO of a British technology training firm and tech think tank has warned of a looming crisis facing UK laboratories – in particular those at the forefront of Covid-19 testing – due to a massive shortage of qualified and skilled lab technicians. Andy Lord, CEO of Manchester head-quartered Credersi, a tech talent training incubator and think tank producing the data scientists, lab technicians and software specialists of tomorrow, believes the skills shortage could severely impact Covid testing laboratories...
Porvair Sciences reports investment in a dedicated clean area for manufacturing Vyon® porous plastic components for healthcare, pharmaceutical and life science products. With the global market searching for high performance solutions for critical filtration, laboratory liquid handling and separation applications - Porvair has experienced a doubling in demand for components and products such as pipette filter tips based upon its Vyon® porous plastics....