Lab Bulletin

Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons in the brain.

For the first time, scientists at Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry have been able to map in detail the pathway that generates “aberrant” forms of proteins which are at the root of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. They believe the breakthrough is a vital step closer to increased capabilities for earlier diagnosis of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and opens up possibilities for a new generation of targeted drugs, as scientists say they have uncovered the earliest stages of the development of Alzheimer’s that drugs could possibly target....

The Pittcon Program Committee is pleased to announce that Steven Carr, director of proteomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, will deliver the Wallace H. Coulter Plenary Lecture at PIttcon 2014.

Qualoupe LIMS from Two Fold Software includes specific features to fit with the dynamic needs of contract testing laboratories. As well as providing core LIMS functionalities to support day to day laboratory work, Qualoupe software helps labs meet the challenges of providing analytical testing to clients while still growing and supporting their business.

By creating a secure, reliable interface between laboratories and their clients, Qualoupe’s user-friendly system saves businesses time and money. The software automatically provides fast and accurate production of invoices and estimates for improved, more streamlined cash flows, while the flexibility of the system means laboratories have control over pricing plans. Customers can log in to Qualoupe remotely to view results and book in their own samples....

Harvard Apparatus, the world leader in syringe pumps, announces its new 2013 Catalog of Syringe and Peristaltic Pumps.

Included in this catalog are a number of new products, including;

• A constant pressure syringe pump, The PHD ULTRA CP
• The PHD ULTRA XF, delivering forces greater than 1,000 lbs. for high pressure applications
• The all new Harvard Peristaltic Pump series

METTLER TOLEDO provides a new, compact and affordable family of titrators The EasyPlus™

The leading provider of precision instruments has created a compact and simple titrator specifically designed for basic requirements and first time users of automatic titrators in the food and chemical industries. Drawing upon extensive knowledge and experience of hard- and software engineering has produced a small, affordable and reliable instrument....

Since the dawn of modern medicine, human biological material has been collected, stored, and used for a variety of purposes with biological integrity ensured by cryopreservation at temperatures below -137°C. These samples are almost always unique and irreplaceable but, until now, it has been impossible to quality assure the material before use to check that thermal damage has not occurred.

TAP Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and consumables for life science applications, today announced its advanced micro bioreactor system (ambr™) is in use at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, one of the world’s leading structural biology research institutes, for rapid small-scale parallel expression of human multi-protein complexes using baculovirus.

The ambr micro bioreactor system at EMBL, which was funded by the French Investissement d'Avenir Initiative is being used by EMBL scientists in the Eukaryotic Expression Facility (EEF) for culturing insect cells containing baculovirus expression systems to produce differently engineered human multi-protein complexes for crystallography studies....

BioSentinel has selected Tecan’s Infinite^® F500 as the reader of choice for its high sensitivity botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) assays.