BioTek Instruments, an Agilent Technologies, Inc., company, announces that it was granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the Automated Media Exchange (AMX) module for the MultiFlo FXMulti-Mode Dispenser. In cell biology workflows, the automated MultiFlo FX with AMX module enables hands-free, gentle, and highly consistent media exchanges and washing in 96- and 384-well microplate formats without disturbing sensitive cells....
A non-invasive test for COVID-19 with instant results would be a gamechanger in the efforts against COVID-19. Breath analysis shows a great potential for a rapid, non-invasive detection of COVID-19 infections. Follow our journey around the world, where we shine a light on current research projects where IONICON PTR-TOF instruments are deployed fighting this global pandemic by testing breath for COVID-19 in real-time....
Academics at Northumbria University, Newcastle, have been backed by the Government’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to develop an antiviral coating suitable for use on everyday surfaces. DASA, part of the Ministry of Defence, has commissioned a research team from Northumbria to develop a new type of multifunctional antiviral coating which could form part of the country’s biodefence - crucial to combatting public health crises such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic....
Markes International Ltd has announced the appointment of Dr Klaus-Peter Sandow as General Manager of Markes International GmbH. Sandow joins Markes on the back of a highly successful, two-decade-long career within the analytical chemistry world, encompassing both technical and commercial roles in global, blue chip electronic technology companies....
FairJourney Biologics (FJB) and IONTAS, leaders in the discovery and optimization of antibodies, have announced the launch of a new protein sciences division, Flow Eighteen38. The new business unit has been introduced to accelerate customer antibody research projects, by delivering reagents, purified proteins, and characterization data on antibody panels and leads....
Labs are increasingly choosing INTEGRA Biosciences’ liquid handling instruments to help them address growing workloads associated with Human papilloma virus (HPV) screening. Several studies have recently suggested that PCR-based screening is more accurate and offers earlier detection of pre-cancerous growths than the conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) test and liquid-based cytology, leading to a gradual shift towards molecular diagnostics approaches....
Illumina, Inc. has selected nine new genomics companies to join the second global funding cycle of Illumina Accelerator in the U.S. and UK. The global company creation engine, focused on partnering with entrepreneurs to build breakthrough genomics startups, invested in four companies for the second funding cycle of Illumina Accelerator Cambridge, UK and five companies for the twelfth funding cycle of Illumina Accelerator San Francisco Bay Area....
To take AI development in pathology to the next level, a European consortium combining leading European research centres, hospitals as well as major pharmaceutical industries, is going to develop a repository for the sharing of pathology data. The 6-year, €70 million project called BIGPICTURE, will herald a new era in pathology. Sectra engages in the new EU Innovative Medicines Initiative project BIGPICTURE to construct a large-scale database of pathology images....
Testa Analytical Solutions e.K reports on the development and OEM supply of a novel combination refractive index / viscometry detector for Brookhaven Instruments Corporation (Holtsville, NY, USA). Polymer and plastics manufacturers offer very many different grades of commodity polymers such as poly(vinyl chloride), polyethylenes and polystyrenes. The Molecular Weight Distribution (MWD) of such polymers is a key item of information in tailoring their implementation for different end uses...
EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces that it has expanded into new larger manufacturing facilities at Llandough Trading Estate, Cardiff, to increase production of PrimeStore® MTM viral transport media, a key component for the COVID-19 testing regime. The new facility is over 600 sq. metres, representing a 100% increase in manufacturing area. This enables EKF to fill 36,000 PrimeStore MTM tubes daily and meet growing UK and EU demand for this...
Ahead of the upcoming missions to search for evidence of life on Mars, researchers used Linkam’s HFS600 stage in temperature-controlled experiments to study the formation of mixed sulfates – a key indicator of biological processes on the red planet. NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will land on Mars on 18 February 2021, to search for signs of life and explore the planet's geology....
Dotmatics Ltd, a scientific informatics software and services company that is driving the automation of laboratory data workflows for scientific discovery and innovation research, has announced a partnership with HighRes Biosolutions (HighRes), a company that designs and builds innovative robotic systems and laboratory devices. The collaboration combines the high-throughput laboratory automation capability of Dotmatics’ electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) with HighRes’ Cellario instrument control software enabling R&D scientists to plan experiments...
Avacta Group plc, the developer of Affimer® biotherapeutics and reagents, and Mologic Ltd has announced that they have entered into a commercial partnership to accelerate to market Avacta’s AffiDX™ SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow rapid antigen test. Avacta will also support antigen testing in low and middle income countries by providing access to Avacta’s spike antigen test through Mologic....
The cost of library preparation is one of the biggest obstacles to large next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies, slowing down the pace of insights from infectious disease surveillance, cancer research and beyond. At the Festival of Genomics, SPT Labtech announced an initiative with Thermo Fisher Scientific to co-market solutions that will enable variant detection at a fraction of the cost....
To accelerate drug development, MedAI, an expert of AI-assisted R&D research company, announces that it has completed the construction of its Artificial Intelligence Drug Discovery (AIDD) Platform. With this platform, scientists at MedAI are now capable of providing innovative solutions for pharmaceutical companies to push forward their drug discovery projects...
Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. (ATL), a leader in Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), continues the 2021 LIMS Webcast Series on Wednesday, February 17th with LIMS Can Help Your Laboratory Manage COVID Challenges. The webcast will offer guidance on how a LIMS can be utilized to help organizations manage their laboratory operations and support essential workers during the current COVID-19 pandemic....
Porvair Sciences announce the availability of a new guide that makes selection of the optimum Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) microplate for your application both quick and easy. SPE is a widely used method of sample preparation that concentrates and purifies analytes from a solution by means of absorption, followed by the elution of the analyte with a solvent appropriate for instrumental analysis, with techniques such as LC-MS...
INTEGRA’s VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette and VIAFLO lightweight electronic pipette are the perfect lab companions for agricultural research into microbial evolution. Bacterial evolution studies involve analysis of large sample numbers, requiring streamlined, reproducible pipetting processes to effectively characterize the features of different strains. Dr Astrid Altamirano-Junqueira, who completed her doctoral studies into the evolution of bacterial motility in the School of Biological Studies at Reading University, discussed...
Ziath reports how it has worked with the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, Netherlands) which has developed a pioneering automated test robot, called STRIP-1, which can process up to 20,000 samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing in just 24 hours. This makes it much faster than all other automated SARS-CoV-2 testing systems used to date. In addition, all samples can be tracked precisely because they have a 2D-barcode on the bottom of each tube that is scanned multiple times throughout the process....
LGC has expanded its innovative portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 quality solutions with the release of AccuPlex™ SARS-CoV-2 in Synthetic Oral Fluid reference material. The product is designed to support development and testing efforts around novel saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics. It serves as an ideal research tool for assay developers as well as a complete quality solution for clinical laboratories employing such tests....
A UK biotech company developing a novel treatment for Covid-19 has welcomed NHS plans to make Covid-19 treatments available to patients as soon as possible. The CEO of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens, recently highlighted the importance of therapeutic treatments to help the UK return to a more normal way of life, predicting that many of these treatments will be available to Covid-19 patients in 6 – 18 months....
Cherwell Laboratories, specialist supplier of products for environmental monitoring and process validation, has drawn on its extensive pharmaceutical and related industry knowledge to publish an eBook titled, “Growth Promotion Testing: A Guide to Good Practices” which is available to download from Cherwell’s website. The guide is intended for anyone involved in growth promotion testing of microbiological media, providing an overview of key considerations and best practice for this key quality control (QC) test...