THE FIRST in a new line of cancer research microarrays from Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) promises confident detection of copy number variation (CNV) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on a single chip. The CytoSure Haematological Cancer +SNP array is used…
Month: March 2012
Weekly newsletter: blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the micropledge
IN THESE times of austerity, raising funds for scientific research is becoming quite a challenge. The regular channels – public agencies, universities, and private sector sponsors – are all having to trim their spending, and meanwhile the shortage of commercial…
Viewing cabinet looks like USS Enterprise prop
IT’S NOT exactly a case of life imitating art, but this laboratory viewing cabinet looks just like the thing Mr Spock spent many hours peering into. A couple of weeks ago we made a light-hearted photomontage of the life of…
Acronym of the week
WE’RE all used to seeing acronyms and abbreviations used – and sometimes abused – in the names of items of lab equipment and the names of scientific instrument companies. Sometimes these are quite clever, and make us smile. Sometimes they…
Centrifuge tubes for one-handed operation
THE HUMBLE centrifuge tube has to be strong enough to withstand the high g-forces it is subject to, while remaining resistant to the chemicals it holds and being able to be effectively sterilised. Now Porvair has introduced a new range…
Transilluminator for safe blue light imaging of fluorescent DNA gels
SYNGENE’s latest gel transilluminator is equipped with two banks of LEDs to provide excitation at the mid-blue wavelength of 470nm, making it suitable for use with the latest non-toxic DNA stains. The UltraBright-LED is described as a new generation of…
A new biomedical picture, every day
WE’VE been watching with interest since the new Biomedical Picture of the Day website went live (in beta testing, strictly speaking) a couple of months ago. Known as BPoD, the site is managed by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC)…
Confocal scope has evolved for live cell imaging
SINCE launching its C2 entry-level confocal microscope last year, Nikon reports increasing demand from users for a live-cell imaging version. This it has now provided, in the form of the C2 plus. This enhanced instrument has scanning speeds more than…
Elisa screens meat samples for colistin
COLISTIN, or polymyxin E, is a cationic lipopeptide antibiotic which is effective against most Gram-negative bacilli, but its use is restricted in the EU and Japan and therefore food of animal origin should normally be tested for colistin residues. The…
LC detector delivers thirty times the range and sensitivity
THE LATEST diode array detector for liquid chromatography from Agilent delivers 30 times more sensitivity and 30 times more range in linear UV than previous detectors, the company says. This makes 1200 Infinity Series equipped with the high dynamic range diode…