RECENT NEWS

As Head of Scientific Training at Health Services Laboratories, Wendy Leversuch consider training to be crucial to pathology. Training is often the solution to so many challenges within the laboratory; it fits into recruitment and retention strategies, career progression, CPD, and at its core it ensures our workforce is highly skilled and able to deliver a high-quality service.

SelectScience has presented Integra Biosciences with the prestigious Reviewers’ Choice Life Sciences Company of the Year award. Integra was chosen in recognition of the quantity of positive feedback it has received from customers sharing their opinions on the SelectScience website over the past year.

Stago UK has launched ExpertCor, a set of fresh frozen plasmas designed to significantly improve laboratory compliance, by simplifying the validation and verification of coagulation analysers. For the first time, UK laboratories will have a method comparison solution which can be used on any manufacturer’s coagulation system. The kits cover all common coagulation parameters (PT, INR, APTT, fibrinogen, D-dimer, UFH and LMWH), with values across the whole working range.

Agendia has announced the publication of study results for BluePrint, its 80-gene proprietary molecular subtyping test, in the journal Nature Breast Cancer.

The 1st International Blizard/QMUL Tuberculosis Symposium is to be held on 26– 27 June 2019 in Whitechapel, London. The event offers a really impressive programme supported by national and international speakers.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is warning against complacency in the fight to maintain the successes of the UK’s vaccination programme, in the wake of new findings from Unicef that 527,000 children in the UK missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017. According to analysis released last month by Unicef, the UK has the third highest number of children unvaccinated for measles among all high-income countries, behind France and the United States.

Beckman Coulter is launching the ClearLLab 10C System for the clinical flow cytometry laboratory. The new system is the first 10-colour in vitro diagnostic (IVD) panel of immunophenotyping reagents cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for both lymphoid and myeloid lineages. The four dry pre-mixed antibody tubes use the company’s DURA Innovations technology, eliminating the need to pipette antibodies, improving efficiency while reducing potential for human error.

The Academy of Medical Sciences has elected 50 of the UK’s leading figures in biomedical and health sciences to Fellowship. The new Fellows have been selected for their outstanding contributions to advancing medical science, cutting-edge research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and wider society.

The next British Society for Microbial Technology (BSMT) Annual Scientific Conference, entitled Respiratory Microbiology – A Day of Inspiration, is just a few weeks away (Thursday 16 May 2019) and will be held at the RAF Museum Hendon.

Syngene has announced that its G:BOX Chemi XRQ multi-application imager is being used at Anglia Ruskin University as both a teaching tool and as part of research to analyse genes and proteins associated with diseases.

Lab Innovations, the UK’s only trade show dedicated to the laboratory industry, has won the prestigious ‘Best Trade Show’ Exhibition News award. One of the key awards of the exhibition industry, recognition by the Exhibition News (EN) Awards underscores the quality and value of attending Lab Innovations for visitors and exhibitors alike. Lab Innovations beat a strong field of 12 shortlisted shows, including the Farnborough International Airshow.

A new research study indicates that the global demand for loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technology reached around US$85 million in 2018. Estimated to observe stable growth in revenue over the coming years, the LAMP market will witness dominance of DNA polymerase among the various product types.

A new computational approach has been developed to reduce variability in common research biomarker tests, a promising step in improving the ability of biomedical researchers and basic scientists to reproduce data and facilitate more consistent results across laboratories and long-term projects. Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), developed a new software program, ELISAtools, which provides a stable platform to

CYCLERtest has introduced self-service calibration tools and support. Even small variations in the performance of qualitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) cyclers can damage their operation and reputation; therefore, it is a necessity to calibrate cyclers regularly.

Sysmex continues to move from strength to strength in the fields of haemostasis and haematology, not forgetting urinalysis and histopathology, offering robust service delivery, reliability, advanced clinical and scientific parameters, efficient automation solutions and intelligent data management solutions.

Cherwell Laboratories has appointed Hamish Hogg as Microbiology Product Specialist. This appointment reflects the company’s continued focus on providing high-quality and bespoke cleanroom microbiology products, always supported by excellent customer service.

Researchers at TauRx Therapeutics are using the automation capabilities of the Syrris Atlas HD reactor systems to simplify and accelerate process development for its product pipeline. Based at the company’s primary research facilities at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, the Syrris equipment is an integral part of the quality by design (QBD) process optimisation workflow.

Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) or Shiga-toxigenic E. coli are a group of the bacteria that produce a powerful toxin to cause foodborne illness in humans, particularly the serotype E. coli O157 (pictured). It is transmitted via the faecal-oral route when food becomes contaminated with the faeces of infected animals, predominantly cattle.

Integra’s innovative ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot has scooped the SelectScience Scientists’ Choice Award for Best New General Laboratory Product of 2018. These prestigious awards highlight the best laboratory technologies to emerge over the last year, and are nominated and voted for by laboratory scientists.

Dolomite Bio’s Nadia instrument is helping researchers to gain a deeper understanding of motor neuron disease through the use of single nuclei RNA sequencing (sNuc-Seq). This automated, microfluidic droplet-based platform allows flexible encapsulation of up to eight samples in parallel in under 20 minutes, helping to accelerate studies and generate high quality data.