Market leaders in temperature controlled microscopy, Linkam Scientific Instruments report on the use of their innovative CMS196 cryo stage for the study of mammalian cells at the London Research Institute, Cancer Research UK.

For mammalian cells to remain in a healthy state, they require constant renewal of their components. The process of disposing of old components is known as 'autophagy', which stems from the Greek words auto "self" and phagein "eat". This process involves the formation of a double-membrane structure called an autophagosome, which engulfs old or dysfunctional organelles and then fuses with lysosomes, where they are broken down to recycle the constituent molecules....

The partnership will develop new molecules for the treatment of brain diseases

Vect-Horus, a French company specialized in the development of vector molecules for the central nervous system, announces today it has signed a scientific collaboration agreement with Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), a fast growing international player in Molecular Nuclear Medicine (MNM). The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. This agreement is part of Vect-Horus’ strategy to....

Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova and IMEM-CNR have used the FLS920 photoluminescence spectrometer from Edinburgh Instruments to measure the photoluminescence (PL) spectral properties.

Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova and IMEM-CNR, Parma in Italy have used the FLS920 photoluminescence spectrometer from Edinburgh Instruments to measure the photoluminescence (PL) spectral properties, quantum efficiencies and lifetimes of novel CdTe semiconductor quantum disks, synthesized from disk-shaped Cu2Te nanocrystals. Fluorescent nanocrystals are currently being applied in lasers or displays, and offer exciting prospects for future photonics such as quantum emitters. The nanocrystal shape plays an important role in these applications...

Genia Geo, based in Montevideo, Uruguay, has chosen Tecan’s HID EVOlution™ system as part of its comprehensive forensic identification services for governments around the world.

This one-stop solution encompasses everything from designing and building laboratories to training crime scene investigators and judges, and revolves around Tecan and Life Technologies’ fully validated, walkaway set­up for robust genetic identification. Dr Carlos Azambuja, President of Genia Geo, explained: “Genia Geo was set up to provide government entities, such as Ministries of the Interior or of Justice, with everything necessary to implement a national system for DNA-based forensic identification...

BMG LABTECH and InvivoSciences announced today a strategic collaboration to market the time-dependent fluorescent assessment of engineered 3D heart tissues using advanced microplate reader technologies.

BMG Labtech, Inc. - the Microplate Reader Company - and InvivoSciences, Inc. - a leader in stem cell tissue engineering providing a novel solution in first-in-class drug discovery - announced today a strategic collaboration to market the time-dependent fluorescent assessment of engineered 3D heart tissues using advanced microplate reader technologies. Employing an automated system, 3D heart tissues are fabricated with cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells....

Markel UK, the specialist insurer, has launched a new liability product designed to meet the specific needs of the rapidly growing UK biomedical and life sciences sector.

Markel UK, the specialist insurer, has launched a new liability product designed to meet the specific needs of the rapidly growing UK biomedical and life sciences sector. The sector, which is well established in the UK, is expected to see strong growth, with £5bn being invested annually in pharmaceutical research and development alone. Although London and the South East remain important clusters for a wide range of life science companies, the industry is increasingly broadly based throughout the country....

Live Cell CCD Camera Alternative Captures Frame Rates 10 Times Faster

eduPERT is an open community created by GÉANT, the high-speed research and education network, to help scientists and researchers troubleshoot poor network performance themselves.

With research and education more and more reliant on high-speed networks to share and store data across campuses and even continents - poor network performance can drastically impinge output and drain resources.  Yet issues such as slow connectivity and latency are often experienced and even considered an unavoidable annoyance. Most network issues happen in the ‘last mile’. Nearly all degradations in network performance can be narrowed down to the end of chain, occurring within the university or laboratory and often on the laptop or computer itself...

New Candida QuickFISH BC Rapid Molecular Diagnostic Test Now Available

The new Candida QuickFISH BC Rapid Molecular Diagnostic Test can positively identify C. albicans, C. glabrata, and C. parapsilosis, directly from yeast-positive blood cultures in just 20 minutes. The CE marked, nucleic acid based test enables the microbiologist to report pathogen-identification results 2 to 5 days earlier than conventional methods. This enables clinicians, consultant microbiologists and hospital pharmacists to better optimise therapy for patients with fungaemia....

Already popular in private healthcare, increasing global acceptance of refurbished equipment encourages uptake in the public sector.

Analytik, leading suppliers of innovative analytical instrumentation, report on the use of the GeSiM Nano-Plotter™ system being used at the University of Greenwich to study polymeric coatings for medical devices.

Dr Dennis Douroumis is a Reader in pharmaceutical sciences in the Faculty of Engineering and Science at the University of Greenwich. His research covers several areas: from the development of drug delivery systems applying nanotechnology to medical devices where he is working on drug eluting stents with coatings using novel polymers. This latter program employs the GeSiM Nano-Plotter from Analytik...

Winners Recognised at the Economist’s Innovation Awards 2013

Last night a professor from Texas was recognised as the winner of the Bioscience category at The Economist’s Innovation Awards 2013. Professor James Allison was honoured for his life changing contribution to the fight against cancer. James, Professor and Chair at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre Department of Immunology, has spent the majority of his career developing the ground breaking cancer drug, ipilimumab. Ipilimumab is a cancer drug used to treat advanced melanoma....

New Technology Could Be The Greatest Breakthrough In Cancer Treatment 

Merck Millipore Launches CpGenome™ Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit for Simplified One-Step Conversion of Unmethylated Cytosines

The launch of Malvern Instruments’ Viscotek SEC-MALS 20 chromatography detector has triggered record downloads of one of the supporting white papers ‘Static light scattering technologies for GPC/SEC explained’, underlining the enthusiasm amongst users for straightforward information on GPC/SEC analysis.

The recent addition of Viscotek SEC-MALS 20 to Malvern’s range of detectors puts the company in the unique position of being the sole provider of every commercially available light scattering technology for GPC/SEC. Customers can therefore be assured of a truly unbiased choice of detector solutions. The popular white paper is just one of a suite of educational information and application notes provided by Malvern’s specialist team to help users select the right detector for their application...

The Gamma Scientific Laboratory (NVLAP Lab Code 200823-0) has been awarded accreditation by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program for IES LM-80: 2008. 

IES LM-80 is an approved method for measuring lumen depreciation and maintenance of Solid State Lighting (LED) light sources, arrays and modules. The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) developed the standard to provide an objective method to evaluate and compare LED components from different manufacturers. Lumen maintenance is the percentage of initial lumens that a light source maintains over a defined period of time.  LM-80 measures the depreciation of lumens over a specific timeframe to determine the useful life of LED components.

LUSH Cosmetics Awards Group £25,000 for Raising Public Awareness of Cruel Laboratory Experiments

PETA US' Laboratory Investigations Department (LID) received the prestigious LUSH Prize Public Awareness Award in a London ceremony last night. The award recognises PETA US' work to end the abuse of animals in laboratories by educating and mobilising the public through undercover investigations, whistleblower exposés, thought-provoking advertisements, scientific research, company shareholder resolutions, corporate negotiations, online campaigns and colourful protest actions. The LUSH Prize specifically recognised PETA US' recent campaigns to expose and end the use of animals in horrific military training exercises in the US and the EU, convince major airlines to stop transporting primates to laboratories and uncover invasive brain experiments on cats at a major American university...

Advanced antibody production services for exceptional IVD assays

Medix Biochemica, producer of monoclonal antibodies for the global IVD industry and diagnostic rapid tests, presented its MedixMAB™ by Design and MedixMAB™ Manufacturing antibody production services to the European market at MEDICA 2013, Dusseldorf, Germany. With 30 years of antibody expertise, Medix offers customised services for the in vitro generation of high-performance recombinant or monoclonal antibodies and Fab fragments for superior IVD assays

XEI Scientific Inc, manufacturer of the popular EVACTRON^® De-Contaminator™ Plasma Cleaning System for electron microscopes and other vacuum chambers, is pleased to announce the publication of a paper in collaboration with General Electric's Global Research Center on the use of in-situ plasma cleaning.

The paper appears in the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A contamination, even at extremely low levels, can often hide or distort analyses of surfaces that researchers would like to study. Such is the case of many of the samples analysed at General Electric's Global Research Center in New York. Attempts to study "as received" samples by time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) reveal a contamination signature that has come from processing, handling and/or a specific exposure...

Microbiology company Lab M has appointed Wendy Martindale as Director of Sales & Marketing. Wendy joins Lab M from one of Europe’s largest laboratory services companies. She is a scientist by training who has a broad range of commercial experience in scientific and laboratory markets.

Wyatt Technology Instrumentation Employed by the Medical Research Council to Perform Breakthrough Research into Human Health and Disease

Wyatt Technology Corporation, the world leader in absolute macromolecular characterization instrumentation and software, today announced that its technology is being used by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) to make advancements in tackling specific problems in human health and disease such as understanding different biophysical processes, including mechanisms of viral diseases and immunity....

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.