RECENT PRODUCT NEWS

Millipore has announced the availability of the new Elix Advantage water purification system, which provides highquality pure water from the tap. Featuring Millipore’s patented Elix electrodeionisation technology, coupled with a ‘green’ design philosophy, the Elix Advantage system offers users the best in pure water, quality and convenience.

Inverness Medical has introduced its new TECHLAB C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE rapid test as an in vitro diagnostic aid for Clostridium difficileassociated disease (CDAD).

Thermo Fisher Scientific now offers indelible black alphanumeric grid referencing as a standard feature on the ABgene 96-well non-skirted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) plate (AB-0600-L). This makes it easier for users to identify individual wells by eye. The raised black letters are an integral part of the plate and are unaffected by rubbing or temperature changes during processing, ensuring that the lettering remains clearly visible at all times.

Starna has introduced a new DNA quality control standard in an easy-to-use liquid vial (1.5 mL) that provides Starna’s DNACON 260/280 reference material in a consumable format suitable for use in ‘drop technology’ systems.

Nikon Instruments’ A1 series of confocal laser scanner systems is now enhanced by the launch of the A1Si spectral detector option, which provides fast 32-channel spectral imaging with speeds of up to 16 fps at 512 x 64 pixels and real-time spectral unmixing. This cell-friendly system offers the ultimate solution for reducing light exposure during multiprobe studies, capturing full spectral data in just one fast scan.

Cisbio Bioassays has launched Chromoa, its chromogranin A enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) diagnostic tool. The new kit complements Cisbio’s existing chromogranin A radioimmunoassay (RIACT) kit and can be used by all laboratories for the detection and monitoring of neuroendocrine tumours.

Cellular studies have been revolutionised with the launch of new software from Carl Zeiss that automatically extracts biologically relevant data from micrographs by combining high-resolution fluorescence imaging and complex image analysis. Developed with the high-content screening specialist Cellomics, the AxioVision ASSAYbuilder module inherits 15 years of experience in the field of high-content analysis (HCA).

Sterilin has introduced BenchGuard, a highly absorbent paper ideal for protecting benches and surfaces against liquid spills.

RanplexCRC from Randox Laboratories is a diagnostic test that can detect 28 polymorphisms associated with colorectal cancer in a single stool sample. It does not require a hospital visit or dietary restrictions, and shows greater sensitivity than the faecal occult blood screening test.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has added colour to a range of its high-performance Thermo Scientific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) master mixes, PCR plates and PCR master mixes to optimise reproducibility, sensitivity and accuracy.

Ensuring the quality of reagents and other temperature-sensitive materials stored in refrigerators and freezers is now possible with the Dickson Alarm Thermometer. Featuring tamper-resistant audible and visual alarms, the Dickson Alarm Thermometer is also the most cost-effective tool available to scientists using temperature-sensitive materials for research.

One of the major problems inherent in the gene expression analysis of single cells is the large amount of sample handling involved and the subsequent high risk of contamination as cells isolated and harvested using laser microdissection are transferred manually to an assay plate for expression analysis. Until now, the only way to safeguard the genetic data collected from cells of interest and not from surrounding tissue has been to perform numerous repeat experiments.

JPK has launched a new Petri dish heater solution for live cell imaging that is fully compatible with JPK’s range of NanoWizard AFM and CellHesion systems.

New from Eppendorf, Mastercycler pro introduces highly innovative vapo.protect technology to stop evaporation during polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. This claims unparalleled reproducibility, specificity and speed for any PCR application in the fields of molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, biochemistry and cell biology.

Oxford Expression Technologies (OET) has released flashBACULTRA, its latest addition to the flashBAC stable.

Applied Biosystems has developed a sequencing-based molecular tool for the genomic analysis of whole transcriptomes, the vast collection of RNAs transcribed from a genome. This technology, which provides detailed characterisation of expressed protein-encoding genes, identifies many non-coding RNAs and includes sample multiplexing capability, is expected to be available for limited release through an early access programme that will begin in November 2008.

Olympus has launched highly sensitive and precise prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and free PSA (fPSA) assays for the Olympus AU3000i immunoassay analyser. The use of PSA and fPSA is well established in the screening and management of prostate cancer, and the PSA assay has a functional sensitivity of 0.015 ìg/L.

Sebia has launched its new Hydrasys 2 system, an automated agarose gel electrophoresis system that builds on the success of the previous Hydrasys instrument. Powered by Sebia’s well-established Phoresis software, the system has a new on-board scanner option for efficient quantification of completed gels following visual interpretation.

Sterilin has introduced the Iwaki range of tissue culture products. Iwaki-branded tissue culture products claim an incomparable level of product quality, service and support, and comprise standard non-treated and tissue culturetreated ware, and an extensive range of substrate-coated products to combat problems associated with in vitro cell culture.

A new specialised membrane for one-step separation of plasma from whole blood, without the use of centrifugation, has been introduced by Pall Life Sciences. The Pall Vivid plasma separation membrane is specifically engineered for the generation of plasma from whole blood.