VIROSTAT has released several new monoclonal antibodies to the NS1 of Dengue virus. These antibodies recognise the NS1 protein of all four Dengue serotypes and are, says the company, powerful tools for researchers and developers of rapid detection methods. Dengue…
Keeping cool in crystallisation studies
CRYSTALLISATION studies and screening of polymorphs needs stable sub-ambient temperatures, traditionally provided by ice baths and jacketed reaction vessels. This approach can be messy in the laboratory, requires a supply of ice, and is limited to temperatures around freezing (0C).…
Exploring particle physics through the medium of interpretive dance
THIS is one of those stories that makes you check the date on the press release, just in case it’s a spoof. As unlikely as it seems, though, this one is real: CERN, the European central laboratory for particle physics,…
Reagents promise more detection stability in LC/MS
THREE new liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) grade reagents from Thermo Fisher are said to exhibit the lowest ionic metal content, in order to minimise background noise and enhance MS detection. The new additions to the Optima range are acetic acid,…
Biobanking is now realistic even in smaller laboratories
AUTOMATED sample management has often been thought of as the preserve of the larger better-equipped laboratory, but TTP Labtech says this is no longer the case. Its new Arktic biobank stores up to 95,000 individual samples in 0.5ml tubes at…
Weekly news: Most scientific research is wrong
SCIENCE is an iterative process, a steady march away from ignorance and towards enlightenment, a gradual unveiling of the hidden truth of why things are the way they are. There are some mistakes along the way, and a lot of…
Custom heating block boosts lab productivity
THE ADOPTION of a custom UPLC heating block has improved productivity as well as producing more accurate and repeatable thermal stability measurements at a leading European contract research organisation (CRO), reports Asynt. The organisation had previously used an offline source…
Encyclopedia of Life passes half-way point: one million species down, one million to go
A RECENT surge in content from the Smithsonian Institution has seen the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) break through the one million page milestone and sets it firmly on course to catalogue every known species on Earth. Established in 2007 with…
For microplate reader intelligence, don’t get in a bind – get a binder
BMG LABTECH is making a binder stuffed full of application notes on its microplate readers available to LabHomepage readers. The company says that having a “perfectly engineered microplate reader” is of little uise if the operator doesn’t know how to…
Tissue Studio now detects spot-like signals from in situ hybridisation
DEFINIENS Tissue Studio 3.5 now supports automatic analysis of in situ hybridisation assays, including SISH, CISH, FISH and dual-ISH, the company reports. The software facilitates the detection of spot-like signals from gene probes, or other stain with spot-like appearance, on…
Spectrophotometers now equipped with USB
DIRECT PC control of Cecil Instruments spectrophotometers is now possible, thanks to the incorporation of USB ports. The company’s single- and double-beam spectrophotometers now include these as standard, allowing data to be viewed, manipulated, processed, and saved via DataStream software.…
Biomimetic 3D models of the human central nervous system
TAP Biosystems is collaborating with scientists at the Open University (OU), in Milton Keynes, UK to produce robust 3D human central nervous system (CNS) tissue models for use in drug discovery and pre-clinical testing. The collaboration will run for three…
Mittermaier scores Agilent early career award
AGILENT Technologies has named Anthony Mittermaier, associate professor of chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, as the winner of its fourth annual Early Career Professor Award. This year’s award focused on the field of structural biology using nuclear magnetic…
Laboratory chillers provide temperature control with flexibility
DELIVERING quick ramp-up and cool-down, Cole-Parmer’s Polystat lab chillers are available in two power ratings (250 or 500 Watts) and in a choice of force or force/suction pump models. The 500 watt model can cool a 2.8 litre reservoir from…
The ultimate scientist’s business card?
SCIENTISTS and others in the laboratory sector might be interested in these unusual business cards, created by an Italian advertising agency. Although a microscope slide might be a little impractical compared to the more usual 350gsm stock most conventional business…
Micro bioreactor ‘is valid’ scale-down model
RESEARCHERS at a leading US biopharma company have concluded that the Ambr micro bioreactor is a realistic scale-down model for conventional two-litre bioreactors, reports Tap Biosystems. Writing in the journal Cytotechnology, the scientists recounted their trials to replicate the characteristics…
Sample tubes are big inside, small outside
CLAIMING a trick worthy of the Tardis, Octygen sample storage tubes offer a useful 475 micolitre storage volume but occupy just 60 percent of the space needed for typical 0.5ml tubes. The secret to this cleverness is the use of…
Workhorse mass spectrometer makes TripleTof technology routine
AB SCIEX describes its new TripleTof 4600, unveiled today at the AOHUPO conference in Beijing, as a workhorse instrument which brings groundbreaking TripleTof technology to routine analysis. TripleTof (Tof meaning time-of-flight) is the company’s platform for simultaneous qualitative and quantitative…
Weekly news: The academic spring – removing the paywall to knowledge
WE ALL love open access, don’t we? The very fact that you are reading this newsletter is testament to the power of the internet in providing free and easy access to huge volumes of information. But what about those who…
Selecting embryos for chromosome numbers boosts IVF success rate
A SIGNIFICANT increase in the success rate of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures is reported today by BlueGnome, with the results of the first randomised study of pre-implantation chromosome analysis. The company’s 24sure array platform was employed in the study, published…
Analyse and sort hiPS clusters automatically
REPROGRAMMING somatic cells into human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPS) clusters brings with it the tantalising potential to create disease-specific and patient-specific human cell products. This in turn creates a need to produce a high number of hiPS cell lines,…
Proliferation assays make for easier 3D cell culture
AMSBIO says its new range of Cultrex 3D proliferation assays make downstream 3D cell culture applications much easier to manage. 3D cell culture is a booming technique, the company notes, with a rapidly-growing library of research papers from researchers exploiting…
Microplate systems at ELA 2012 are automation friendly
A COMPLETE range of automation-friendly microplates and equipment will be shown by Porvair and its local collaborator KBiosystems at European Lab Automation 2012 in Hamburg. Products on show will include the Universal Robotic Manifold, which is easily assembled and disassembled…
Microscopy reveals the inner architecture of cells
A RESEARCH project looking into microtubules in yeast cells has produced ‘stunning’ results, which could change our understanding of cellular misregulation disorders including Down’s, lissencephaly, and some cancers. The team, working at the University of Leicester, UK, has identified for…
Thermo Fisher’s latest invention: water
ULTRA High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) is a powerful separation technique involving high pressure (around 350bar, 5000psi or more) and small stationary phase particles of typically 2um or smaller. It also requires a solvent, of course. Thermo Fisher has introduced…
Film seals microplates without contaminating samples
ANY MICROPLATE sealing film presents an obvious risk of allowing the adhesive to come into contact with the sample. JG Finneran says its new 96-Well PTFE Sealing Film features a patented design to seal samples into microplates without exposing them…
Industrial microscopes promise top results in quality control
OLYMPUS reports that the use of microscopes is expanding in a number of industrial sectors, as the needs of advanced metrology and quality control become more sophisticated. The company also notes that the users of microscopes in these industrial settings…
Abstracts invited for SLAS 2013
THE SOCIETY for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is now accepting abstracts for presentations at SLAS2013, its second annual conference and exhibition. Areas of interest include clinical diagnostics, drug discovery and development, forensics, food and agricultural sciences, and petrochemicals and…
How to double the resolution of FT mass spectrometry
A NEW computational trick developed by researchers at the University of Warwick, UK, is said to double the resolution, sensitivity, and mass accuracy of Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) with no cost penalty. The new approach hinges around the phasing…
Sample preparation products for regenerative medicine shown at Achema 2012
THE LATEST sample preparation products for epigenetics and regenerative medicine will be shown by Porvair Sciences at the forthcoming Achema 2012 exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany. Visitors will be able to see Porvair’s growing range of tissue culture plastics, and the…