RECENT PRODUCT NEWS

Siemens has launched the DCA Vantage analyser, a point-of-care (POC) diabetes patient management platform that provides glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), microalbumin/creatinine and albumin to creatinine tests for diabetes management.

RTS Life Science has unveiled its revolutionary automated blood fractionation (ABF) system to the US market. This high-throughput blood fractionation system is used to extract the buffy coat (white blood cells) from whole blood samples.

The new Labcold-ITV icemakers offer optimum performance with a practical and stylish design. Both the Ice Maker 'flake' and Ice Maker 'cube' versions are low-maintenance and available in a variety of sizes for use in laboratories and medical facilities.

GRI can now supply the FluorChem Q system from Alpha Innotech. The FluorChem Q is a fully quantitative imaging system for fluorescent and chemiluminescent Western blots, which offers ultimate flexibility for visualising and quantifying samples from a wide variety of sources.

Camlab and Shellab have introduced the Bactron anaerobic chamber to the UK. Already an established technology in the USA, these units are already being used in various UK research facilities.

The ScreenTape system, developed by Lab90 and distributed by Anachem, employs a special microscale polymer tape that contains all the reagents required for DNA electrophoresis. It brings convenience, ease of use and safety to molecular biology, as no handling of gels and buffers is required.

Carl Zeiss has introduced the SlideCollector 48 for its laser microdissection systems. This new instrument has been developed specifically for expression analyses and applications in immunobiology, stem cell research and forensic science.

With their opaque white wells, twin.tec real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) plates from Eppendorf permit detection of significantly lower levels of fluorescence and also enhance the reproducibility of real-time PCR data.

TomKey is an innovative USB key for recording and displaying temperature, now available from UK distributor Don Whitley Scientific. Manufactured by AES Chemunex, the device is designed to monitor the transportation of heat-sensitive clinical and medical samples.

Thermo Fisher Scientific can now offer ABgene Ultra Clear Cap Strips for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) and other fluorescence detection applications.

Oxford Expression Technologies (OET) has introduced baculoQUANT, a new one-step virus titration kit that can give an accurate result within two hours, without the need for plaque assays or immunoassays.

Through the acquisition of Matritech, Inverness Medical can now offer the NMP22 BladderChek test and the NMP22 test kit for the rapid diagnosis and monitoring of early-stage bladder cancer. More commonly seen in men than women, bladder cancer is linked to smoking and exposure to industrial chemicals, with approximately 356,600 new cases reported worldwide each year.

Applied Biosystems has released TissueView software to improve mass spectrometry imaging by making data processing more intuitive. The delivery of easier-to-interpret research results provides a deeper understanding of how drugs and proteins are distributed within biological tissue.

Roche Diagnostics has announced that the Elecsys anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) assay has received regulatory approval in Europe for the E170 analyser for modular analytics and the e601 module for the Cobas 6000 platform. The Elecsys anti-HCV assay is already available on the Elecsys 2010 and the Cobas e411 instruments.

In the news recently as a contaminant in an Irish community’s water supply, Clostridium perfringens is widely distributed in the environment and is part of the normal flora in the human and animal intestine. As its spores can survive cooking and subsequently germinate to form vegetative cells, it is also an important cause of food poisoning.

The Brady Freezerbondz labelling system ensures secure labelling in low-temperature storage conditions. To lose positive sample identification is equivalent to losing the sample itself, and in certain circumstances could even lead to prosecution under the Human Tissue Act.

New 4titude FRAMEstar polymerase chain reaction (PCR) plates, now available from Anachem, have a special twocomponent design that combines the advantages of a rigid skirt and deck for reliable robotic handling with thin-walled wells for optimum PCR results. The wells are constructed from virgin polypropylene, which allows efficient heat transfer and provides an inert surface with low binding capabilities for nucleic acids, proteins and other molecules.

The QuickGene Mini80 from FujiFilm Life Science is a compact nucleic acid extraction device developed by the company. It is simple to use and eliminates the need for centrifugation in the extraction process.

Mast has announced a new version of the innovative GenoQuick methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) kit from Hain LifeSciences, which offers rapid and cost-effective results directly from a patient’s specimen in just two and a half hours.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics has launched the Clinitek Advantus urine chemistry analyser, the latest member of the Clinitek family of urine analysers. The Clinitek Advantus analyser enables automated reading of the Siemens’ Multistix family of urinalysis testing strips in medium- to high-throughput settings.