Albuquerque team designs unique, high-speed hyperspectral microscope to visualise membrane receptor dynamics at the molecular level in living cells                                                     

A unique hyperspectral microscope (HSM) designed specifically to visualise molecular-level protein-protein interactions in living cells has been unveiled recently by the University of Albuquerque. Designed around an Andor iXon 860 high-speed EMCCD detection system to record these profoundly challenging nanometer-scale events, the microscope delivers an unprecedented combination of speed, sensitivity and spectral detection. The novel design of the HSM provides acquisition rates of 27 fps over a 28 square micrometre field of view with each pixel collecting 128 spectral channels, allowing the determination of stoichiometry and dynamics of small oligomers unmeasurable by any other technique...

A customer application note from FLIR Systems describes how BP Chemicals is using its Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) cameras for the visualisation and documentation of gas leaks.

Effective leak detection is a priority at BP Chemicals manufacturing sites and is one of a number of procedures used for ensuring safe operation. This application note describes the experiences of technologists at BP Chemicals flagship manufacturing and process research site at Saltend, UK. Three FLIR Systems OGI cameras were employed to check plant integrity at the Saltend site.  Designed for outdoor use - the FLIR OGI camera was used to detect a range of gases including methane and methanol that are both predominant at the UK plant...

Optical Surfaces Ltd. has been selected by a leading spectrophotometer manufacturer to supply ultra high precision matched beamsplitter / compensator optics for the interferometer that lies at the heart of its High Resolution FT-IR system.

To achieve this outstanding performance Optical Surfaces is manufacturing the 100mm diameter OA grade fused silica beamsplitter and compensator optics with a surface accuracy of lambda / 20 (p-v) and wavefront error in transmission of lambda / 20 (p-v) at 633nm.  Further each beamsplitter / compensator pair is tightly matched in thickness and wedge angle. Dr. Aris Kouris, sales and marketing manager at Optical Surfaces Ltd. commented "High resolution spectroscopy places great demands on being able to achieve leading edge specifications with the interferometer optics...

Kromek announces that it has secured $845,000 of new orders to supply radiation detectors and integrated electronic components to a globally leading Original Equipment Manufacturer

Kromek, a supplier of patented radiation detection technologies to the medical, security and nuclear markets, announces that it has secured $845,000 of new orders to supply radiation detectors and integrated electronic components to a globally leading Original Equipment Manufacturer (‘OEM’) operating in the Dual Energy X-ray Bone Mineral Densitometry (‘DEXA BMD’) market. The total booking this fiscal year from this customer now exceeds $1.25 million...

The RISE Microscope enables for the first time the acquisition of SEM and Raman images from the same sample area and the correlation of ultra-structural and chemical information with one microscope system

In the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical dosage forms are getting increasingly important as a basis for making more effective drugs. In the successful development of a new dosage form, formulation development typically plays a crucial role in the introduction and application of state of-the-art pharmaceutical technology.

The manufacturability and/or bioavailability of many of these dosage forms regularly depend on the characteristics of the individual ingredients. It is for this reason, that it is extremely important that the bulk characteristics of so-called particulate systems such as powders and suspensions can be accurately monitored....

Stakeholder collaboration will be crucial to convert these developments into clinically meaningful tests

Easily Connect Material Laboratories with ZEISS Primotech

Super resolution microscopy has the ability to produce biological images that show molecular level structures.

Although the technique is limited when it comes to looking at live cells a number of research groups from around the world are working on overcoming these limitations, including a team led by Dr Ann Wheeler, Head of Imaging at the Queen Mary University of London’s Blizard Institute*, and Professor Martin Knight of Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science. When Dr Wheeler, Prof Knight and their team needed improved stability for their new spinning disk super resolution imaging (SDSI) microscope, they turned to precision positioning specialists, PI Ltd for help...

Scientific Digital Imaging’s [SDI’s] Syngene Division, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions is delighted to introduce the new high sensitivity G:BOX Chemi XX6 and XX9 image analysis systems.

Utilizing the power of  the latest CCD camera technology, these systems are suitable for scientists needing a versatile system capable of exceptional imaging of 1D and 2D gels, as well as chemi and fluorescent  blots. The G:BOX Chemi XX6 and XX9 feature high resolution, high quantum efficiency (73% quantum efficiency at 425nm) low noise CCD cameras with the highest level (f0.95) auto-focus lens and 6 and 9 megapixel resolution respectively....

High-speed imaging of neuronal activity across entire Brain for the first time 

Although the entire nervous system connectivity map of the nematode model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, has been known for more than 25 years, it has not been possible to predict all functional connections underlying behaviour. Now, the Vaziri and Zimmer research groups in Vienna, Austria, have demonstrated a high-speed imaging technique that allows neuronal activity across the entire brain to be recorded simultaneously. Publishing in Nature Methods, Professor Alipasha Vaziri ascribes two key breakthroughs for their success in being the first to implement brain-wide imaging...

BioTek Instruments, Inc., received Thermo Fisher Scientific's "Extraordinary New Product Line" award for their Cytation 3 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader.

The award was presented at the Fisher Scientific North America Sales Meeting, held February 24-26, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. Cytation 3 was recognized by Fisher Scientific's product management team for its innovative technology and successful sales performance. "We're proud to have Fisher Scientific as a strong partner, and honored to receive this award," noted Gary Barush, Director of Marketing and Sales at BioTek Instruments. "Together, and with Cytation 3's combination of cellular imaging and multi-mode microplate detection, we can continue to provide unique workflow solutions to any laboratory...

Olympus will showcase its latest innovations at Analytica 2014, including a presentation on the new high-speed multiphoton excitation imaging system. Visitors can also experience the limitless possibilities of ‘open source’ microscopy and advances in live-cell imaging incubation.

Demonstrating the company’s commitment to advancing microscopy, Olympus will display its latest light microscopy systems and accessories at Analytica, hall A2, booth 309, April 1-4 Munich, Germany. The range of cutting-edge systems on show enables a myriad of new, and even unusual, life and materials science applications. Multiphoton microscopy presents a powerful tool within life science research achieving fundamental insights into the intricate and complex workings of biological systems. Pushing technology boundaries, Olympus has developed a new multiphoton excitation system, the FluoView FVMPE-RS....

Pauline Carnell, Senior Application Scientist at Malvern Instruments, will present a paper at ISEV 2014 discussing ‘The practical use of nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) to characterise extracellular vesicles in general and when using fluorescence markers’.

Anasys Instruments reports on the publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters demonstrating the use of AFM-IR used by French researchers to identify best microbes for biofuel production.

While the debate over using crops for fuel continues, scientists are now reporting a new, fast approach to develop biofuel in a way that doesn't require removing valuable farmland from the food production chain. Their work examining the fuel-producing potential of Streptomyces, a soil bacterium known for making antibiotics, appears in ACS' The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (see footnote). The scientists used atomic force microscopy combined with infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) to measure the size and map the distribution of oil inclusions inside of microorganism without staining or other special sample preparation...

Acquisition Of Opus Instruments 

The Board of Scientific Digital Imaging plc, the AIM quoted group focused on the application of digital imaging technology to the needs of the scientific community, announces the acquisition of Opus Instruments Limited (“Opus”) from its founder shareholders for consideration of up to £1,325,000 payable in cash and shares. Opus is the manufacturer of the Osiris camera which the Board of SDI believes is the first camera for infrared reflectography to provide high resolution high speed images in a small portable camera...

BioTek Instruments, Inc., proudly announces that their Cytation™ 3 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader is a finalist in the 2014 Edison Awards^® competition.

The distinguished awards, inspired by Thomas Edison's persistence and inventiveness, recognize innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy. Award winners will be announced April 30, 2014 at the Edison Awards Annual Gala, held in the historic Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco, CA. Cytation 3 is among those finalists recognized by a distinguished panel of senior business executives and academics for innovation and excellence. Patented Cytation 3 combines automated digital microscopy and conventional multi-mode microplate detection to provide both rich phenotypic and well-based quantitative analyses in a streamlined workflow...

Market leaders in temperature controlled microscopy, Linkam Scientific Instruments report on the use of their stages in the study of pharmaceutical processes at the Robert Gordon University, Scotland.

The School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences at the Robert Gordon University have been using Linkam systems to look at the behavior of drugs at varying temperatures. This relatively young university was awarded with the prestigious "The Sunday Times Best Modern University in the UK" in 2012 with the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences being one of the key factors contributing to this recognition...

Andor Technology joins Oxford Instruments to drive growth

Oxford Instruments, a leading provider of high-technology tools for industry and research has recently acquired Andor.  Andor is a market leading supplier of high performance cameras, microscope systems and software for the physical science and life science industries. Andor will continue to focus on growing their existing core markets and will spearhead Oxford Instruments strategic expansion into the Nano-Bio arena. Jonathan Flint, Chief Executive of Oxford Instruments explains, “We want to be part of a future which sees the use of nanotechnology tools in the biological arena, for both analysis and eventually fabrication of bio materials...

FLIR Systems has produced an informative guide entitled '7 Things to Know When Selecting an IR Camera for Research & Development'.

Every day researchers around the world are looking for new methods to help them solve their scientific questions. Infrared thermography has proven to be an invaluable tool in solving a wide variety of scientific problems based on heat and temperature measurement. Because of their non-intrusive analysis capabilities, thermography systems have become the defacto standard methodology for a growing range of Research & Development applications. In Research & Development - thermal imaging cameras are widely used for capturing thermal distribution data and recording temporal variations in real time....

The Phenom in combination with the ParticleMetric software is a powerful analyses tool for the pharmaceutical industry.

With 100,000x magnification, intuitive user interface and never lost navigation, the Phenom removes the difficulties associated with operating a traditional SEM. High resolution images of pharmaceutical particles can be obtained in the lab within seconds. Acquired images can then be analyzed using the ParticleMetric software, giving you visual and statistical data of your particles. The Phenom can help shorten drug development and validation cycles, enabling faster time-to-market for new discoveries and innovations in powder design, development, and quality control.

Optical Surfaces has announced the new OS-Z range of mirror mounts.

OS-Z mirror mounts were developed to support off-axis paraboloid, spherical and flat mirrors in a manner that allows overcoming a number of constrains imposed by general purpose mounts. Two key advantages gained by using an OS-Z mount are rapid alignment using an optional pre-alignment aid and the ability to routinely accommodate wedge back and parallel back mirrors. In addition, in applications where long term stability and stress-free mounting are important, special factory fitted features allow this to be easily achieved. Constructed in black anodized aluminium – six models of OS-Z mount provide a secure, stable and compact platform for mirror diameters ranging from 90mm to 250mm...