RECENT PRODUCT NEWS

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.

GRI, an independent supplier of molecular biology solutions, has announced the launch of red, the personal imaging system from Alpha Innotech. red is a compact standalone system for gel documentation and fluorescence imaging. With a small footprint, red requires minimal bench space and houses a scientific-grade camera that provides quality imaging from motorised optics.

Simple and rapid measurement of osmolality in body fluids and aqueous samples is provided by the Type 15 Micro digital osmometer from Camlab. This simple-to-use instrument, which handles small sample volumes of 50 ìL, provides a graphic display with menu-led operation and error messages in six selectable languages.

Following the success of the company’s 10–100 micron polydisperse clear glass standards, Whitehouse Scientific has prepared an opaque version of the glass beads.

Applied Biosystems has developed a new small RNA expression analysis solution optimised for the SOLiD system, the company’s ultra-high-throughput platform for DNA sequencing and genomic analysis. This solution includes a new multiplexing technology (also known as barcoding) that enables the simultaneous analysis of up to 256 biological samples in a single sequencing run.

The 4titude Vision Plate 384, now available from Anachem, claims the best signal-to-noise ratio in detection systems and optimum conditions for cell adherence and cell growth.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced its ABgene EasyStrip Snap Tubes, a new range of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strip tubes with individually attached caps. The strip tubes are designed to simplify the set-up of PCR and quantitative PCR (QPCR) reactions, enhance QPCR results and allow easier and safer access to samples after amplification.

Stratophase has launched a new technology to measures changes in the refractive index of liquids. It is capable of detecting all classes of biological targets, including proteins, viruses and bacteria, as well as changes in the chemical composition of liquids.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched ABsolute Fast QPCR master mixes for the rapid and reliable probe-based detection of DNA and complementary DNA (cDNA) targets. ABsolute Fast QPCR master mixes have been developed especially for fast quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) protocols to deliver highperformance QPCR results, on all major QPCR platforms, in a fraction of the time required previously.