RECENT NEWS

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.

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.