AGILENT has expanded its portfolio of purification systems with the launch of the new 218 and SD1. These systems enable users to pure compounds in the range from micrograms to hundreds of grams. At the lower end of this scale…
Symposium expounds potential of digital pathology
DEFINIENS invites pathology and biomarker development professionals to its 3rd International Symposium, to be held at its Munich headquarters on 14-16 June 2012. It describes this annual event is the premier forum for trends in histology, tissue-based biomarker development, and…
LGC opens new Boston lab
LGC Genomics has launched a new genomics services laboratory at the Cummings Centre near Boston, USA. The company, which merged with KBioscience in July 2011, has grown from just one to 20 US employees in the last year, so this…
Nanoparticle tracking for biomedical nanoconstructs
NANOPARTICLE Tracking Analysis (NTA) is being employed by the Vo-Dinh lab at Duke University’s department of biomedical engineering, to help characterise metal nanoparticle construct materials for use in biosensing, imaging, and cancer therapy, reports Nanosight. The main research goal of…
Plate reader helps researchers unwind the genetic clock
A MICROPLATE reader incorporating a luminescence module has played a key role in a study of circadian rhythms in insects. Researchers at the Institute of Entomology (ENTU) in the Czech Republic used an Infinite M1000 from Tecan in their research…
New mass spec proteomics technique is ‘breakthrough’
A ‘GROUNDBREAKING’ new proteomics technique now available quantifies nearly all peptides and proteins in a single analysis, says AB Sciex. The mass spectrometry-based method was published recently in the journal Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spec…
Automating stem cell handling in Parisian labs
TAP Biosystems reports that I-Stem, the Institute for Stem cell Therapy and Exploration of Monogenic diseases, has selected two of its lab automation systems for installation at its headquarters at Evry, on the southern edge of Paris. The Tap CompacT…
Better temperature control for rheometry and viscometry
AVAILABLE for use with Brookfield viscometers and rheometers, the new TC series circulating water baths offer a number of improvements over earlier models. All four models in the range offer a choice of digital or programmable controllers, boasting control heads…
Benchtop 454 sequencer gets software upgrade
A SOFTWARE upgrade for Roche’s 454 GS Junior benchtop next-generation genomic sequencing system promises better sequencing consistency. The 454 GS Junior is a benchtop version of the Genome Sequencer FLX, and says Roche has become well established in a number…
Weekly news: Left-handed asteroids and dinosaurs on other planets
IF YOU ever wonder how some of the more ludicrous science stories get into the press, this week has provided an excellent example. Every week or so the American Chemical Society puts out a press pack, mostly of worthy-but-dull items…
Elisa kits measure anti-KLH antibodies
THE FIRST Elisa kit to exploit Stellar Biotechnologies’s Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin (KLH) protiens is now available. This research-use-only (RUO) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) is available in six different kits to kits to measure either immunoglobulin G (IgG) or immunoglobulin M…
Free download of data acquisition handbook
THE NEWLY-released third edition of the Signal Conditioning and PC-Based Data Acquisition Handbook is available as a free download from Adept Scientific. The handbook, published by Measurement Computing, runs to 133 pages and includes practical data aquisition (DAQ) applications as…
Workstation is configurable to automate routine tasks
MANY laboratory protocols are time consuming and laborious, but may not lend themselves to lab automation because they combine functions on several channels. Aurora Instruments says its new Versa 10 automated liquid handling workstation goes some way to solving this…
Heating block is ‘student proof’
ASYNT says that the motivation behind the new, more robust, version of its DrySyn heating block system was ‘widespread demand’. We think that means that science students are clumsy, careless, and prone to break any item of laboratory equipment they…
Research projects target sepsis
SEPSIS is the target of the latest development in the UK’s Detection and Identification of Infectious Agents (DIIA) programme, which manages a number of government-backed projects to develop technologies to reduce the impact of infectious agent. Sepsis is the result…
Microplate seals are gas permeable for extended cell life
TRADITIONAL microplate seals create a hermetic seal over each microplate well, cutting it off from the outside world and preventing contamination. Such a complete seal, however, also prevents gas from passing through and can limit the usefulness of live cell…
Human mononuclear cells available off the shelf
SeraCare Life Sciences has expanded its range of mononuclear cells with the launch of off-the-shelf AccuCell human cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMNCs). Viability of these cells after thawing is validated at better than 90%, says SeraCare, making these cryopreserved CBMNCs…
Kit detects histamine in seafood, wine, and milk
A NEW laboratory-free test can detect dangerous levels of histamine in foodstuffs including seafood, fish meal, wine, and milk in just four minutes. The HistaStrip test kit from Bioo Scientific uses a dipstick approach, providing a visual indication of histamine…
Remote control for up to six Obis lasers
COHERENT’s Obis family of laser modules has just been expanded with the addition of Obis six-laser remote, which integrates the control of up to six separate lasers to make the range compliant with the latest CDRH (US Center for Devices and…
New particle exists in two places at once
THE WORLD of quantum physics is, for most people, difficult to grasp at the best of times. The latest research published today from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge is unlikely to change that, invoking a new class of subatomic particle…
Glove bag provides portable protection
AIR SCIENCE says its new Purair Flex provides more working volume in a portable glove bag than its competitors, thanks to its innovative curved design. The device also features a double O-ring design on the standard polyurethane cuffs, which enables…
Tasmanian Devil researcher wins 2012 Eppendorf award
THE 2012 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators has been announced: Dr Elizabeth Murchison of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, takes the prize for her work with Tasmanian Devils. Murchison’s work in Tasmania has focused on…
Maple maths software now ‘easier than ever’
A MAJOR update of Maple, the technical computing software for mathematicians, engineers and scientists, has made the program easier to use and more powerful, says distributor Adept Scientific. Maple 16 introduces new tools and techniques in its Clickable Math collection,…
Vitamin D diluent contains no equine or synthetic plasma
THE LATEST offering in SeraCare Life Sciences’s range, SeraCon Vitamin D Depleted Diluent is a human plasma-based matrix for the development of vitamin D assays. The product is derived entirely from human plasma, with no equine or synthetic plasma, which…
Promotion focuses on bundle savings
THE LATEST in Eppendorf’s regular Advantage promotions focuses its high-speed MixMate benchtop mixer and Research Plus multichannel pipettes, and offers savings of up to 30% until the end of June 2012. MixMate promises efficient mixing of even the smallest samples,…
Hotplate stirrer has independent circuits
TWIN temperature control circuits offer the security of redundancy on the newly designed Asynt hotplate stirrer. In the event of one circuit malfunctioning, the second takes over and the temperature of the sample remains uncompromised, the company says. To launch…
Weekly news: Open source is the real biotech revolution
WE’RE big fans of the wider open source movement, here at the LabHomepage, and are particularly interested to see it developing into the laboratory. Open source is an umbrella term covering everything from the way scientific research is published to…
Mini-stirrer packs a stylish punch
STIRRING volumes of up to one litre at speeds between 350 and 2000rpm, the new SM5 Mini Stirrer from Stuart offers effective magnetic stirring in a small package. Constructed of strong lightweight polypropylene, with a chemically-resistant polycarbonate top, the SM5…
Bringing DNA diagnostics to the point of care
A NEW programme to bring a novel microfluidic DNA-based testing and diagnostics technology to point-of-care settings has been launched by a consortium of LingVitae, Plarion, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The technology, called Discipher, exploits ‘centrifugal microfluidics’. Based on…
Cell monitoring may replace animal tests
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Cosmetics Directive has effectively banned the use of animals for toxicity testing of cosmetic products and ingredients, coming into force in March 2009. However certain exceptions covering repeated-dose toxicity, reproductive toxicity, and toxicokinetics have meant that some…