UK Food Standards Agency report demonstrates risk of Campylobacter contamination in all chilled chickens at retail sale

Seward Ltd., manufacturer of the world leading range of original Stomacher^® paddle blenders and accessories used in sample preparation for microbiological analysis, announces the use of its Stomacher^® technology for the preparation of samples for a UK-wide Campylobacter study.  Foodborne Campylobacter makes over 280,000 people ill each year in the UK alone and is one of the main bacterial causes of food poisoning globally...

The product finder on the JULABO website will find the correct solution for your temperature control application.

A rough pre-selection is presented after defining only a few criteria. Further filters refine the selection. At any time the user can activate a direct comparison which displays a clearly arranged, comfortable overview of the possibilities of temperature control with JULABO instruments....

The Pipetting Cycle is part of a series of tutorial videos; this first tutorial demonstrates the five distinct steps of pipetting and how to do them correctly. These have been created as part of Anachem's Good Pipetting Practice Programme (GPP).

The majority of scientists will agree that pipetting is normally the most frequently practiced activity in the lab. The accuracy and precision of pipettes is vital for producing good quality results. However it is not just the pipette that needs to be considered when evaluating the accuracy of experimental data. There are a number of factors that can influence the accuracy, quality and reproducibility of the generated data, including pipetting skill, pipette maintenance and calibration....

Discover a unique and engaging approach to training for the chance to win a free e-learning course

Pharmaceutical Training International (PTI), the leading supplier of online and public, event-based training courses for the pharma, biotech and medical device sectors, has launched a range of game-based e-learning courses. PTI’s unique game-based modules offer new interactive approaches using both 2D and 3D interactive environments. Users will benefit from a more engaging, entertaining and cost-saving method of acquiring...

Metrohm USA and Metrohm Canada are pleased to announce the winner of the 2015 Young Chemist Award, Chad Atkins.

Chad is completing his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia where he works under the supervision of Robin Turner and Michael Blades. Chad’s research uses Raman spectroscopy to assess the degradation of stored red blood cells to measure age-related changes in stored cell breakdown. By measuring samples through the storage bag the possibility of contamination is reduced. Confirming the viability of stored red blood cells...

Tecan has created a range of Cavro Disposable Tips for use with the Company’s popular Cavro brand OEM components.

Renishaw, a world leader in metrology and spectroscopy technologies, has teamed up with Bruker's Nano Surfaces Division to host a series of workshops on TERS and co-localised AFM Raman.

The latest workshop took place at the end of January at Renishaw's headquarters at New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge, UK. Other workshops are planned to take place throughout the world. An audience of spectroscopists and microscopists recently attended the joint workshop designed to illustrate how to make tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy more accessible to users. Four talks on the techniques, backed by various applications examples...

Close competition encourages established manufacturers to broaden the drug pipeline for targeted therapies, finds Frost & Sullivan

Although lung cancer is the third most prevalent cancer type in the world, there are only 18 drugs in the market for its treatment. Further, popular drugs such as Almita and Avastin are nearing their patent expiry in 2015 and 2017 respectively. As such, the lung cancer therapeutics market offers vast potential that drug manufacturers are vying to tap into. Approximately 130 drugs for the treatment of small cell lung cancer...

Scientists have developed a new test which can predict the survival chances of women with breast cancer by analysing images of ‘hotspots’ where there has been a fierce immune reaction to a tumour.

Researchers used statistical software previously used in criminology studies of crime hotspots to track the extent to which the immune system was homing in and attacking breast cancer cells. The test, described today (Friday) in the journal Modern Pathology, could assess whether a woman’s immune system is holding a cancer at bay – and pick out those who will need intensive treatment to combat their more aggressive disease...

Sculpture symbolising healing and medicine to be unveiled on Tuesday 3 March at 6pm

A sculpture by an internationally recognised artist is set to be unveiled by the University of Leicester at Highcross next week as the symbol for the University’s Centre for Medicine Appeal. ‘Renewal’, which will be unveiled on Tuesday 3 March, will be hosted by Highcross as the University of Leicester continues to fundraise for a new state-of-the-art Centre for Medicine Building. The £42 million Centre, which represents the...

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has published Mass Spectrometry for Androgen and Estrogen Measurements in Serum (C57-Ed1).

This document is intended to aid the laboratorian in developing appropriate procedures for the use of mass spectrometry in the measurement of androgens and estrogens. C57 provides details specific to androgen and estrogen measurement procedures with respect to preexamination (preanalytical) considerations, mass spectrometry (MS) technologies, measurement procedure and run validation, as well as postexamination...

Changing the shape of breast cancer cells could make the disease more sensitive to treatments – even driving the body’s own inflammatory response against a tumour – a new study shows.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, showed that the shape of a tumour cell is an important factor in determining its response to inflammatory molecules, which can either promote or inhibit cancer progression. The research used robotic microscopy and automated algorithms, similar to those used by Facebook for facial recognition, to measure the shape of hundreds of thousands of different breast cancer cells...

JPK Instruments, a world-leading manufacturer of nanoanalytic instrumentation for research in life sciences and soft matter, reports on the use of their NanoTracker™ optical tweezers system to study collagen fibrils at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Analytik, leading suppliers of innovative analytical instrumentation, supply the Schmidt + Haensch's market leading polarimeters and refractometers in the UK & Ireland. 

Schmidt + Haensch's automatic digital refractometers, supplied by Analytik, are high performance critical angle refractometers, which feature unique technology and integrated Peltier thermostats for qualitative and quantitative materials analysis for industrial and manufacturing use. Two models are available: ATR-B and ATR-F depending on the users’ requirements.  This series can use S+H's innovative L-Display as well as operating...

All new data analysis software in Malvern MicroCal PEAQ-ITC systems delivers greatest accessibility to life science users at every level 

Malvern Instruments has launched two new-generation isothermal titration calorimeters (ITC), advancing its recently acquired MicroCal range to further support life science researchers studying biomolecular interactions. The new manual Malvern MicroCal PEAQ-ITC and fully automated Malvern MicroCal PEAQ-ITC Automated systems are designed to deliver the enhanced functionality and robust performance now demanded of...

Testing breast cancer cells for how closely they resemble stem cells could identify women with the most aggressive disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that breast cancers with a similar pattern of gene activity to that of adult stem cells had a high chance of spreading to other parts of the body. Assessing a breast cancer’s pattern of activity in these stem cell genes has the potential to identify women who might need intensive treatment to prevent their disease recurring or spreading, the researchers said. Adult stem cells are healthy cells within the body which have not...

Exeter Analytical Inc. has developed proprietary techniques based on their Model 440 CHN analyzer to enable accurate determination of percentage Carbon (C) and Hydrogen (H) in carbon fibre composite materials.

Benefiting from their unique strength to weight ratio and rigidity, the use of carbon fibre reinforced materials (composites) in aerospace, automotive, firearms, marine and sports equipment manufacture has rapidly expanded.  With this rapid growth in use comes the need for accurate carbon fibre composite materials determination. Carbon fibres are extremely difficult to completely combust and therefore analyze due to their very high...

High performance liquid chromatography requires extremely accurate pumping systems delivering an accurate, precise and pulse-free flow of the mobile phase.

An HPLC pump system is a complex device with multiple moving parts subject to wear. Standard operating procedures should be in place to both minimize wear such as caused by particulate matter settling in valves and other components, and having spares on hand to replace components subject to wear (i.e. valves, piston and piston seal components). As one of many maintenance steps it is always a good idea to flush your HPLC system with rinse solvents after analysis with...

Fast-track diagnostics, a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of infectious disease detection kits, will be delivering even more convenience and flexibility to customers in the way its kits are packaged and sold.

From 1st March 2015, all Fast-track diagnostics kits will be sold in sizes of 32 and 64 reactions. The new formats will provide the greatest possible levels of flexibility to customers, as laboratories can aliquot reagents according to their specific needs. The ability to undertake variable run sizes (32 reaction kits allow 1 to 30 patient samples to be tested per run, while 64 reaction kits allow 1 to 62 patient samples to be tested) means all...

Biopharma Process Systems has written a free guide which provides a grounding in the science, tips on avoiding common evaporation mistakes, and a look at the latest developments in evaporation technology.

Solvent removal by evaporation is an essential process for sample preparation. Many sample formats and solvents are used with no single technique providing a universal solutions. Despite the variety if specifics evaporation is well-understood and relatively uncomplicated. But while it’s vital to so many applications it’s rare to find an evaporation expert in a laboratory, and many facilities use systems that are slow and cumbersome simply because they have always been used....

XEI Scientific Inc. reports a new publication from their user group at the Ming Hseih Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Deben, leading providers of in-situ testing stages together with innovative accessories and components for electron microscopy, report on the research of Professors Duncan Bassett and Graham Williams who are applying BSE-SEM imaging to identify genetic determinants of bone and cartilage disorders. 

Professors Duncan Bassett and Graham Williams are Endocrinologists at Imperial College London and Consultant Physicians at the Hammersmith Hospital specialising in Metabolic Bone Disease and Thyroid Disease respectively. They are also the Principal Investigators in the Molecular Endocrinology Laboratory in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London. Their current research focuses on the molecular basis of bone and cartilage disease....