RECENT NEWS

Artist Cordelia Spalding is seeking stories about laboratory glassware items for a science/art installation piece entitled ‘Cupboard of Windows’. The installation aims to record moments of exploration, discovery, inspiration and disappointment that scientists have experienced when working with laboratory glassware. Cordelia is looking for observations and anecdotes about the different moments members have experienced using laboratory glassware.

Institute Fellow Sally J Cutler was recently appointed to a professorship at the University of East London. Sally, whose laboratory career started as a Junior B MLSO in microbiology at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, said: Some might say that now having a ‘chair’ means that the next milestone might be the couch! What this journey demonstrates is that there are multiple ways in which a biomedical scientist can progress their careers.

The National Society of Histotechnology (NSH) meeting is the largest such event in the world, and this year it was held in Washington DC at the end of August. This year’s meeting was remarkable in that it saw two British histopathology biomedical scientists acknowledged for their individual contributions to the discipline.

Herolab of Wiesloch in Germany manufactures products for life science research and diagnostics, and has now opened a UK-based office in Cambridge. This will help to service the growing number of users in the UK and well as offering sales and support for a number of International dealers and customers.

Medical Wire & Equipment (MWE) is a UK-based manufacturer of specimen collection devices that has been trading for over 60 years. It is now 40 years since MWE pioneered Transwab (pictured), the first commercially available gel transport swab. This year, MWE will celebrate 40 years of Transwab with a series of exhibitions events, during which MWE will also be promoting its new liquid swab, the Sigma Transwab.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is receding, but the Public Health England (PHE)-run diagnostic laboratories in Sierra Leone is playing an important part in bringing it to an end. There are still opportunities for volunteers to work in the laboratories during this critical phase. Full training and support will be provided, and most people who have gone have found it an immensely rewarding experience.

The University of Brighton is sharing in a €5.9m EU grant to support the development of a new treatment for chronic liver disease as part of a European consortium led by University College London. Cirrhosis of the liver affects 29 million Europeans, claims 170,000 lives every year and costs the EU almost €16 billion. There are several causes of liver disease but the increasing incidence of obesity and excessive alcohol consumption is causing a rapid rise in the number of cases seen across Europe.

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) has announced a strategic realignment of its commercial operations to fuel further growth in its high-value genomics products portfolio. As part of this realignment, OGT will transfer its next-generation sequencing services business to Source BioScience.

A state-of-the-art NHS laboratory has been officially opened by one of the country’s best-known athletes in a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. The new £12 million facility will provide clinical testing to patients across Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside, bringing world-class technology to hospitals and GPs across the region.

Renishaw recently reported on the use of its SEM-SCA interface at the Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility of the University of Sydney, a professional services unit that houses one of the largest concentrations of state-of-the-art Raman and FT-IR spectrometers in Australia.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics is set to showcase its next generation of chemistry and immunoassay systems for central laboratory testing at the IBMS Congress in Birmingham. Building on its heritage of high-throughput ‘automation ready’ analysers, theADVIA Chemistry XPT and ADVIA Centaur XPT Immunoassay systems providesignificant software and hardware enhancements to increase reliability and reduce operator hands on time.

Cepheid has updated its Xpert Carba-R test with the addition of two emerging carbapenemase genes, OXA-181 and OXA-232. The on-demand molecular test also detects and differentiates between the five most prevalent mechanisms of carbapenem resistance, namely KPC, NDM, VIM, IMP-1 and OXA-48.

Aplegen is a new face on the gel documentation market and has introduced Omega Lum W for multicolour R, G, B and chemiluminescence imaging. This small-footprint system breaks the mould of traditional heavy and cumbersome gel documentation systems by utilising innovative design and incorporating an integral tablet for control. This compact package sits neatly on any laboratory bench ready to image gels, Western blots or multiplexing multi-coloured blots at the click of a button.

InterSystems, the developer of the TrakCare unified healthcare information system and other software for connected care, will preview its laboratory business management system (LBMS) at the IBMS Biomedical Science Congress in Birmingham.

Scientists are adding new DNA to the cells of patients in a world-first treatment to attack and kill melanoma skin cancers. The new cell and gene therapy clinical trials have commenced in Adelaide, South Australia, led by Professor Michael Brown, Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Research Officer Dr Tessa Gargett.

National Cancer Institute/Dr Lance Liotta Laboratory

AvantiCell Science, the Scottish-based life sciences company, has gained the backing of a major European funding source to build on its ground-breaking work in cell-based analysis. It beat competition from all over the continent to be chosen for Phase 1 of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument project. AvantiCell Science was one of only four UK companies chosen out of 310 EU applicants for the funding, which for the first time allocates money to individual businesses.

Scientists at the University of Southampton are set to analyse research investments into infectious disease research, particularly pneumonia and maternal and neonatal infections, after receiving over £370,000 in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

CDC/Dr H Craig Lyeria

Analysis indicates that rates of high-grade cervical lesions decreased in young US women after vaccines were made available to protect against human papillomavirus (HPV), but the trend may be due in part to changes in cervical cancer screening recommendations.

CDC/Judy Schmidt; James Gathany

Microscopy technology supplied by Preston-based Image Solutions (Imsol) has been at the heart of efforts being made at the University of Dundee to understand better human health issues such as cancer, ageing and congential disorders.

The industry-standard SCAN range of colony counters has been given a number of new features to make all three models the unit of choice when making the decision to go for automated counting. The level of automatic control has been increased, giving the user an ever greater feel of user comfort. Now you can customise as many parameters as required, which eliminates complicated batch settings and user input needed.