RECENT NEWS

Haden Freeman, a process engineering design consultant, has announced a three-year alliance with Bio Products Laboratory (BPL), the Elstree-based producer of human plasma products. Wayne Baxter, Haden Freeman managing director, commented: “We’ve enjoyed a very good long-term relationship with BPL over many years and this three-year alliance is the latest stage.”

Institute member Becky Haywood volunteered to work in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis and is now raising money for children orphaned by the disease. She said: “Over Christmas and the New Year I spent five weeks in Sierra Leone, volunteering as part of the UK response to the crisis in West Africa. I was assigned to the Public Health England laboratory based in Makeni, Sierra Leone’s fourth largest city.

University of Southampton scientists have discovered a link between coronary heart disease and osteoporosis, suggesting that both conditions could have similar causes. In one of the first studies of its kind to use a special scanning technique, researchers found that people with a history of heart disease had substantially lower cortical volumetric bone mineral density in their wrist bone (the distal radius) than those without.

Recently, Alpha Laboratories celebrated 40 years of providing support to UK and international scientists. The company remains today, as always, a family-run business with the same vision and ethos, while continuing to focus on customer needs and ever-changing technologies.

A new YouTube video published by laboratory information management systems (LIMS) specialist Autoscribe provides a practical demonstration of the ease of configuration of the Matrix Gemini LIMS.

Sysmex Inostics, a subsidiary of Sysmex, has signed an exclusive distributor agreement with IndivuTest and its parent company Indivumed, a cancer research company focused on the development of individualised cancer diagnostics and therapies. This collaboration will offer Sysmex Inostics OncoBEAM laboratory services throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

With funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Eden Project has commissioned artists to bring the invisible world of bacteria to life. Many of them are collaborating with scientists and are busy creating an amazing collection of artwork, installations and interactive pieces, ranging from a sound piece based on DNA, to sculptures and textiles exploring the patterns of bacteria, to a series of portraits depicting bacteria found within the umbilicus.

Following its win in December, Mast Group has succeeded once again, winning the coveted BioHub Birmingham Outstanding Achievement Award at the Medilink UK Awards. Mast Group has been a market-leading manufacturer of in vitro diagnostic products, specialising in microbiology, for over 60 years and continues to be at the forefront of development in this field.

Dr Graham Rideal, CEO of Chester-based calibration standards company Whitehouse Scientific, serenaded patients, visitors and staff at the Countess of Chester Hospital by playing the saxophone and clarinet to raise funds for the trust's Relative Comfort Appeal.

John (Ian) Cowie, an IBMS Fellow and managing director of Point Of Care Testing, attended a reception for Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellows at Buckingham Palace, hosted by Her Majesty the Queen on 18 March. Ian went on his Fellowship in 1976 to the USA to investigate the running of clinical pharmacology laboratories.

Michael Wren MBE FIBMS has been appointed by Council as the Institute’s new Honorary Librarian for a period of three years.The Honorary Librarian maintains the Institute’s Mercer Collection, a library housed at 12 Coldbath Square containing more than 1500 titles, including many rare first editions.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics is tackling challenges faced by point-of-care (POC) coordinators in the laboratory with an innovative ecosystem approach. The Ecosystem solution was launched recently as an integrated component of the RAPIDComm data management system, an informatics solution that centrally manages Siemens in vitro diagnostics analysers and operators.

The successful development of a new platform technology for the rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of influenza and other respiratory conditions has widespread potential for the detection of a wide range of other infectious diseases.

UK-based molecular diagnostics company Biofortuna has appointed a new chairman to lead the next phase of growth. Life sciences expert Ian Johnson will take on the role at Biofortuna, with previous chairman Mark Hurley remaining on the board as a non-executive director.

Beckman Coulter has a new leadership team in place for 2015, with the recent appointment of the new general manager, Anthony Doyle, and Ibti Rashid (pictured) as senior marketing manager, diagnostics.

The purpose of Biomedical Laboratory Science (BLS) Day is to increase the awareness of the role that biomedical scientists play in providing healthcare, as they have an important role in diagnosis, quality development and assurance, treatment, research, development, and public health. International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day, to be held this year on 15 April, gives the profession the opportunity to promote and celebrate its successes and achievements.

Malvern Instruments offers an application note that examines the use its NanoSight nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) technology in the study of extracellular vesicles (exosomes), where ensuring the stability of sample preparations is essential to more detailed research work. Measuring exosome stability with nanoparticle tracking analysis describes the use of this technology for size and concentration measurements of exosomes stored at 4oC and at room temperature for up to five days.

Engaging in unprotected sex with multiple partners increases the risk of contracting multiple strains of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Once inside a host, these strains can recombine into a new variant of the virus. One such recombinant variant observed in patients in Cuba appears to be much more aggressive than other known forms of HIV. Patients progress to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) within three years of infection – so rapidly that they may not even realise they are infected.

myHCPC is a new application (app) delivering the latest information, guidance and news updates from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) straight to a mobile device.

The successful development of new platform technology for the rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of influenza and other respiratory conditions has widespread potential for the detection of a wide range of infectious diseases. Supported by Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst Fund, OJ Bio has now successfully completed the prototype development of a new wireless POC diagnosis system that accurately and quickly identifies the presence of various disease types in a range of patient samples.