Breaking News on Laboratory Equipment

Laboratory suppliers see strong Q2 growth

Laboratory equipment manufacturers have been doing well in the first half of 2007, with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waters, Affymetrix and PerkinElmer all achieving near double digit growth.

The fine line between antibody yield and process throughput

UK researchers have developed a computer simulation to aid researchers find the optimum conditions for purifying polyclonal antibodies on affinity chromatography systems.

Nikon to care for your cells while you study them

Nikon have launched a new 'hands off' system that combines an incubator and inverted microscope to allow automated live-cell culture studies and time-lapse imaging in a controlled environment.

Weekly comment

UK ordered to review animal testing approval system

The UK government has been ordered to review the assessment system it uses to classify and grant permission for animal experiments following a court ruling handed down last week.

Aperio helps speed up tissue microarray analysis

Aperio has released a new software tool that not only speeds up the analysis of tissue microarray (TMA) images but also allows researchers to access images remotely.

SwitchGear screens signalling-pathways

SwitchGear Genomics has launched a new high-throughput tool (HT) that allows researchers to peer into disease-related pathways and study how potential drugs affect disease progression.

Product news in brief - week 30

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round-up of product news from suppliers such as Bruker, Sotax, SP Industries, SUI and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Don't trust 'Old Faithful' when pipetting hot liquids

Artel's extreme pipetting expedition team went to Yellowstone National Park, US, where they found that pipetting hot or cold liquids can cause delivery volume errors of up to 37 per cent.

Taking the labour out of genotoxicity screening

Litron Laboratories is close to releasing an animal-free micronucleus assay that promises to allow genotoxic drug candidates to be weeded out earlier in the development process than ever before.

Industry news in brief - week 30

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round-up of industry news, including new developments at Affymetrix, Bio-Rad, Jeol, Illumina, NuGen, Qiagen, Roche and VWR.

Bio-Rad tackles the 'SELDI biomarker controversy'

Ever since Bio-Rad's acquisition of Ciphergen's SELDI MS (surface enhanced laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry) technology late last year, it has been fighting against the spectre of "controversial" research results obtained using the technology.

ABI launches new miRNA expression arrays

Applied Biosystems (ABI) has launched its TaqMan microRNA (miRNA) assays in array format to help researchers search for miRNA biomarkers more efficiently from smaller samples.

Codexis expands portfolio with BioCatalytics buyout

Biocatalysis expert Codexis has acquired BioCatalytics for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its off-the-shelf biocatalyst portfolio and give itself a larger 'window to the market'.

How flow rate can affect microfluidic cellular assays

UK researchers have shown that high fluid flow rates in microfluidic devices used for cellular assays can affect cell signalling channels and potentially interfere with drug screening results.

Product news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round-up of new product releases, with new offerings from ADInstruments,Corning, FEI, Supelco, Tecan, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Waters.

Carl Zeiss ships first helium ion microscope

Microscopy expert, Carl Zeiss has shipped the world's first commercial helium ion microscope that promises to allow researchers to view objects at higher resolutions than ever before.

Luminex to increase assay speeds and efficiency

Luminex has unveiled its new bead-based assay system, the FlexMAP 3D that can measure up to 500 analytes from a single sample and increase productivity in clinical and pharmaceutical laboratories.

IDT simplifies miRNA discovery with miRCat launch

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) has launched a new kit for cloning libraries of small RNAs from any primary RNA source to enable the discovery of new small RNA molecules.

Weekly Comment

Informed consent 'not up to scratch'

A recent survey of clinical trial participants in the US has revealed worrying signs that the informed consent process is 'not up to scratch'.

Industry news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of industry news with developments at Affymetrix, Agilent, Ciphergen, Eksigent, GE Healthcare, Horiba, Qiagen and Tepnel.

deltaDOT selected to aid 'the accelerated manufacture of pharmaceuticals'

UK-based deltaDOT has been given a key role providing analytical technologies to a consortium aiming to increase the efficiency of vaccine and biological drug production.

'Stretching' DNA could unravel drug interactions

US researchers have used atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques to study the interactions within DNA strands as a first step to understanding how drugs interact with DNA.

New test machines have the X factor

Productivity bottlenecks will be a thing of the past thanks to the new 'X' range of automated drug delivery testing machinery from UK-based firm Astech Projects.

Kinaxo to expand the reach of its proteomics platform

Kinaxo has received a €1m grant to expand the scope of its kinase inhibitor-protein interaction assay to identify interactions between proteins and any small molecule drug.

Company Profile: GE Healthcare Life Sciences

LabTechnologist.com brings you an exclusive interview with Ger Brophy - general manager of Advanced Systems within GE Healthcare's Life Science Division.

Ventana hits back at Roche's 'inadequate' offer

Ventana has hit back at Roche Diagnostic's hostile take over bid two weeks after its 'inadequate' $3bn (€2.2bn) offer for the tissue analysis expert.

AeonClad the way to better drug, particle and device coatings

University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) spin-out has exclusively licensed plasma coating technology that could improve the controlled release of drugs and the biocompatibility of medical implants.

Improved culture media could advance stem cell research

Medicult, a Danish company best known for supplying products for use in fertility clinics, has developed a protein-free cell culture medium that could cut out problems associated with current media.

Separating the DNA from the blood

US researchers have developed a microfluidic device for purifying and concentrating DNA directly from blood samples that could speed up the use of genomics in clinical trials.

Product news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of new product releases, with new offerings from Activotec, Luminex, Nonlinear Dynamics, Oxford Gene Technology, SP Industries, TandD, Thermo Fisher Scientific and VWR.

Sigma-Aldrich to develop zinc finger binding proteins with Sangamo

Sigma-Aldrich is to collaborate with Sangamo BioSciences to develop zinc finger DNA-binding proteins to create knock-out cell lines and cell lines with enhanced protein production performance.

The new 'gold' standard for predicting anticancer activity?

US researchers have designed an assay for determining the relative binding affinities of duplex and triplex binders that have potential use as anticancer agents and gene expression modifiers.

Industry news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of industry news with developments at Affymetrix, Applied Microarrays, Carl Zeiss, Guava Technologies and Tepnel Life Sciences.

GE's online life science shopping mall

GE Healthcare Life Sciences division has launched a free-of-charge one-stop shop for all life science purchases, regardless of supplier, to give customers greater control over the ordering process.

Agilent to 'turn back time' on preserved tumour samples

Agilent has licensed Kreatech's non-enzymatic labelling technology to allow researchers to study preserved tumour samples that would otherwise be too degraded to study on its microarray platform.

Weekly comment

China carries out execution on corrupt drug official

China has wasted no time in executing the first of its convicted corrupt former drug officials after his desperate appeal for life failed.

The future of drug toxicity testing?

UK-based NanoBioDesign has received further investment to aid in its commercialisation of a tool for testing drugs on P450 liver enzymes, which could dramatically speed up drug toxicity testing.

Illumina tool could cut genotyping costs in half

Illumina has started shipping what it boldly claims is "the most powerful DNA analysis tool" on the market, which it claims could cut genotyping study costs in half.

Product news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of new product releases, with new offerings from Jasco, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Shimadzu, Velocity11 and Waters.

Needle safety solution wins coveted packaging prize

German packaging firm Gerresheimer has been awarded another prize for its innovative safety-conscious rigid needle shield, this time winning the World Packaging Organisation's renowned WorldStar award.

Here WEEE go recycling

With the WEEE regulations finally coming into effect in the UK at the start of July, LabTechnologist.com looks into the implications for laboratory users and suppliers.

High-throughput peptide-cell adhesion array

US researchers have developed a high-throughput microfluidic array to aid help discover therapeutic and cell-targeting peptide agents by measuring the interactions between cells and peptides.

Immunoassays for the masses?

US researchers have developed a fast and efficient, label-free method of detecting the presence of antigens and disease biomarkers in clinical samples.

Amaxa drives high-throughput cell transfection

The European Commission (EC) has given a €2.75m grant to a consortium of companies, led by Amaxa, to develop the first ultra high-throughput (UHT) devices for transfecting cells.

Thar expands SFC business with Berger acquisition

Thar Instruments has bought Berger SFC from Mettler Toledo to expand its SFC capabilities and achieve 'critical mass' in a market that is growing as pharma looks for greener separation options.

Industry news in brief

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of industry news with developments at Applied Biosystems, Inverness Medical, Jasco, Shimadzu and VWR.

Invitrogen launches 3D cell scaffold

Invitrogen has launched an animal-free, 3D bioscaffold cell culture system, to allow researchers to study cells in an environment that mimics the conditions of cells in the body.