MOLECULAR Devices’s SoftMax Pro data acquisition software has been updated to smooth the acquisition and analysis of experimental data from microplate readers, especially in regulated environments. SoftMax Pro 6 GxP is said to make it easy to upgrade from previous…
Month: December 2012
Lonza cell culture media added to Sartorius portfolio
SARTORIUS Stedim Biotech (SSB) is taking over the global sales and marketing of Swiss company Lonza’s cell culture media and buffers used in the manufacture of protein-based therapeutics and vaccines. As part of the same agreement announced today, Lonza is…
Better temperature control means better viscometry results
THE LATEST addition to RheoSense’s VROC (viscometer/rheometer-on-a-chip) family, the Microvisc TC, provides precise temperature control for the handheld Microvisc viscometer. Temperature dependence is one of the most important factors in determining viscosity, and a tiny variation can generate significantly errors…
Detection time for mycoplasma reduced from a month to a day with PCR test
ROCHE reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the use of the Roche MycoTool PCR-based mycoplasma detection test for release testing of one of the company’s biopharmaceutical products. This makes MycoTool the first commercially-available mycoplasma polymerase…
Microscope imaging software ‘breaks the limits’ of resolution
THE LATEST release of MetaMorph software from Molecular Devices enables the online microscopic analysis of cell compartments at nanometre scale, boosting resolution by a factor of more than ten, the company says. In conventional light microscopy, images of biological details…
Nucleation technology can be retrofitted to freeze dryers
SP SCIENTIFIC says that its ControLyo nucleation on-demand technology can now be retrofitted to a wide range of production freeze dryers. The technology was originally developed and patented by Praxair, and licensed by SP for use on development freeze dryers…
Rotifer video scoops Bioscapes microscopy imaging competition
THE 2012 Olympus Bioscapes microphotography competition has been won by a video showing the feeding habits of freshwater rotifers. The video was made by Ralph Grimm, a teacher from Jimboomba, Australia, who beat off stiff competition from over 2000 entries.…
Weekly news: the science of seasonal spending
IT CANNOT have escaped your attention that, here in the western world at least, we are currently in the middle of the annual panic-inducing spendfest we call Christmas. The wallet-emptying season seems to start earlier each year, presaged by the…
Chilling benchtop incubators are vibration-free
AIMED at protein crystallography and other life science laboratory applications, the latest EcoTherm chilling incubators from Torrey Pines Scientific have a larger 100 litre capacity. Exploiting the Peltier effect for heating and chilling, these units require no motors or compressors…
Heating block is safer and faster than oil bath
A SAFER, more productive method of heating samples in a variety of laboratory glassware is the promise of the DrySyn Multi from Asynt. This device converts any standard laboratory hotplate stirrer into a reaction block which can accommodate up to three…