Breaking News on Laboratory Equipment

'Technology Pioneers' elected to World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has announced this year's 'Technology Pioneers', firms which have developed a life-changing technology innovation that has the potential for long-term impact on both business and society.

Asylum Research in the dock over Veeco's patent claims

Veeco's patent infringement case against Asylum Research is set to go to court after a US Court ruled that three of Veeco's atomic force microscopy (AFM) patents were potentially being breached.

Product news in brief - week 48

LabTechnologist.com brings you a round up of recent product releases, with new offering from Agilent, Applied Biosystems, Grabner, Jeol USA and Velocity11.

Nano-flares light the way for in-cell mRNA detection

Researchers have developed a nanoparticle signalling system that can be used as cellular 'nano-flares' that enable the visualisation and quantification of RNA in living cells.

Chromatide wins GRAND grant for enzyme-catalysis development

Chromatide has been awarded a grant to help it develop an enzyme immobilisation method using its unique polymer systems that should enable them to be used in flow-chemistry systems.

Industry news in brief - week 48

LabTechnologist.com brings you a review of the latest industry news, with developments at Arrayjet, Celera, Inverness, Plasticell, Qiagen and ThalesNano.

ERC to provide 4bn Euros for 'far-reaching research'

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced it will fund Europe's very best research projects to the tune of €4bn in a bid to improve Europe's position at the frontiers of research.

Exploring protein interactions in 'technicolour'

A triple-colour bioluminescent assay has been developed that promises to speed-up high content screening (HCS) analysis by enabling multiple-target monitoring.

Weekly Comment

Paediatric drugs and testing highlighted

The importance of paediatric drug formulations and clinical trials in children was highlighted at this month's American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) conference in San Diego.

Mr Gene designs and orders constructs in minutes

Geneart has launched the first fully on-line gene construct design and ordering system, dubbed Mr Gene, which is targeting the emerging 'low-price' segment of the synthetic biology market.

Termites suggest route to new biofuel bioreactors

The quest for more efficient methods of generating biofuels has been boosted by a metagenomic study of the gut bacteria that enable termites to digest wood.

Product news in brief - week 47

LabTechnologist.com brings you a round up of the latest product releases, with new offerings from Bio-Rad, KD Scientific, Micronic, Millipore, Q Chip, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Warner Instruments.

Weekly Comment

No embryo required: human stem cells from the skin

A startling breakthrough has allowed scientists to create human stem cells from just reprogrammed skin cells, with no embryo and thus, perhaps no ethical dilemma.

Cisbio licenses 'universal' kinase assay platform

Cisbio has licensed BellBrook Labs' ADP immunodetection technology for use in its HTRF screening system that will enable researchers to study the activity of any protein kinase.

Industry news in brief - week 47

LabTechnologist.com brings you a round up of recent industry news, with developments at Advanced Instruments, Aperio, Applied Biosystems, Beckman Coulter, Bruker, Invitrogen, Roche, TCS Cellworks and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Simultaneous measurement of multiple cytokines

Researchers at Randox, UK, have developed a biochip that enables the simultaneous measurement of 12 human cytokines from human serum samples enabling cytokine studies to be conducted faster.

NanoSight sizes up to nanotoxicology challenges

NanoSight's particle size analysers have found in a new home in the laboratories of 'nanotoxicologists' due to their ease of use and rapid ability to size and count individual nanoparticles.

Researcher recognised for studies in drug delivery

Dr Mitsuru Hashida is hoping his studies into drug delivery will be useful for the pharmaceutical industry.

Caliper launches combo drug testing services

Caliper Life Sciences has launched new testing services that will help researchers weed out unsuitable combination drug therapies in the preclinic.

Product news in brief - week 46

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic update of new product releases, with offerings from Bio-Rad, BTX, Hitachi, Mettler Toledo, Syrris, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Tripos Intl., Warner and Whitehouse.

Stem cell breakthrough avoids the embryo controversy

US researchers have developed a way of creating primate embryonic stem cells that avoids the need to use fertilised embryos, potentially leading to more ethical ways of curing degenerative diseases.

Fluorotechnics buys into electrophoresis market

Australian proteomics fluorescence expert Fluorotechnics has acquired ETC Elektrophorese-Technik to gain access to the company's electrophoresis expertise and product lines.

Ventana reluctantly opens up to Roche in a bid to boost offer

In the latest twist in Roche's fight to acquire diagnostics expert Ventana, the companies have signed a confidentiality agreement that will enable the pharma giant access to Ventana's books.

Accelrys offers academics its scientific operating system for free

Accelrys is offering its SciTegic scientific operating system to academics for free to enable them to create software applications and share them with both academic and commercial communities.

Artel finds Death Valley's heat devastates accurate pipetting

Artel's third 'Extreme Pipetting' expedition went to Death Valley, US, to see the size of errors that dry heat would introduce to pipetted volumes and found they could be as high as 35 per cent.

Nanogen scraps microarray business in favour of PCR assays

Nanogen has decided to pull the plug on its microarray business after not finding any 'financially meaningful opportunities' for it, reducing staff by 20 per cent in the process.

Applied Biosystems and BioTrove form HT genotyping alliance

Applied Biosystems and BioTrove have signed a licensing and collaboration agreement to commercialise an analysis platform for high-throughput (HT) genotyping applications.

Industry news in brief - week 46

LabTechnologist.com brings you a round up of the latest industry news, with developments at Abcam, Applied Isotope Technologies, Horiba, Invitrogen, Jasco, NIH, Sloning and VWR.

BAC looks to enhance laboratory purification with new antibody toolkit

Bio Affinity Company (BAC) has launched a new antibody purification toolbox based on its successful industrial-scale technology to provide researchers with a simpler purification route.

New drug safety model unveiled as Merck shells out for Vioxx

A new 3D model of the human liver that even has its own blood supply could pump new life into drug safety tests by predicting problems earlier and cut down on animal experiments.

Tripos lands Schering-Plough deal

Tripos Discovery Research (TDR) has risen from the ashes surrounding the liquidation of its previous owners Tripos, Inc. to land a 'library enrichment' deal with Schering-Plough.

The sweet taste of analysing biological drugs

Researchers from Amgen have published results detailing a method that improves the analysis of the sugar groups attached to monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and proteins.

'World's first' NanoImaging service centre opens

NanoImaging Services has opened what it claims is a first of its kind fee-for-service imaging business to enable structural characterisation and validation of biological drugs throughout the development pipeline.

Product news in brief - week 45

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of product news, with new releases from Affymetrix, Agilent, AnaSpec, Applied Biosystems, Axiom, Bio-Rad, KD Scientific, Millipore and Oxoid.

Agilent buys Velocity11 for the 'ultimate automation experience'

Agilent has signed a definitive agreement to acquire automation expert Velocity11 for an undisclosed amount to enable it to speed up drug discovery and genomics research.

Biomarker market predicted to 'explode'

The global market for biomarkers is expected to more than double over the next 5 years to reach an estimated $12.8bn (€8.7bn), according to a new market research report.

Mass spectrometry weighs in for genotyping applications

Commonly the domain of the microarray, mass spectrometry is becoming an increasingly viable alternative for high throughput genotyping with recent research promising to advance its adoption.

Varian snaps up Analogix in a flash

Scientific instrument and vacuum technology supplier Varian has acquired the assets of US flash chromatography expert Analogix for $11m (€7.6m) cash plus the assumption of its net debt.

Tecan and GE join forces to aid HT protein purification

Tecan and GE Healthcare Life Sciences division are collaborating to simplify high throughput (HT) protein purification by increasing the speed and reliability of expression screening programmes.

Industry news in brief - week 45

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of industry news with developments at Agilent, Bruker Bioscience, Dolomite, Oxford Gene Technology and Roche Applied Science.

Sigma-Aldrich halves miRNA preparation times

Sigma-Aldrich has continued its push into the RNAi field with the launch of its new mirPremier miRNA (microRNA) isolation kit that promises to speed up miRNA preparation while removing all large, unwanted RNA.

Weekly Comment

Pharma must 'reinvent' itself to survive

With IMS Health's annual forecast for the pharma industry predicting slower approvals, more black box warnings and the continuation of the 'wave of genericization,' the shift by pharma firms to refocus and reinvent themselves will need to move on apace in order to secure their position in a changing market.

Cells caught in a 'tractor beam'

US researchers have developed a 'tractor beam' that that can pick up, hold and move individual cells around a microchip surface - paving the way for more sensitive biological devices.

Product news in brief - week 44

LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of product news, with announcements from Air Science, Beckman Coulter, Bio-Rad, Biohit, Carl Zeiss SMT, Proxeon, Shimadzu and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Nikon halves imaging time with new integrated microscope

Nikon has launched a new inverted microscope range that promises to more than half the time of an imaging experiment while enabling more simultaneous applications.

Gene Logic drops genomics and name for drug repositioning

After selling of its genomics business to Ocimum Biosolutions, Gene Logic is to change its name to Ore Pharmaceuticals as it looks to mine out new indications for drugs.