RECENT NEWS

Sepsis kills five million people per year. Although it has many symptoms, they can be difficult to detect, so identifying it is very challenging. Cases can go undetected until more extreme symptoms are noticeable, by which time it is often too late to save the patient’s life.

Samplix has announced the commercial launch of its Xdrop sample preparation products for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-free target enrichment, yet maintaining PCR-level specificity. Xdrop enables single-molecule resolution and bias-free enrichment of genomic regions longer than 100 kb from as little as 1-ng genomic DNA.

Oncimmune, a global immunodiagnostics group, has welcomed the presentation of data by Professor Frank Sullivan (Chief Investigator on the ECLS trial) which has demonstrated the potential of Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT Lung test to reduce the incidence of patients with late-stage lung cancer at diagnosis, compared with standard clinical diagnosis.

Dr George Frodsham, founder and CEO at MediSieve, the medical device company developing ‘magnetic blood filtration’, has won the Early Career Impact Award at the BBSRC Innovator of the Year Awards 2019.

Over 400 delegates attended the UK NEQAS for Blood Coagulation (UK NEQAS BC) annual scientific and participants’ meeting, Clinical and Laboratory Haemostasis 2019, which was held in June at The Atrium Conference Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield.

A tiny laboratory the size of a postage stamp could be the next big thing in the search for safer anti-clotting drugs to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The effectiveness of current anti-clotting medication can be limited due to the risk of complications, driving a need for alternatives that can both prevent the formation of blood clots and reduce the risk of excessive and life-threatening bleeding.

A new test that predicts with almost 100% accuracy that a pregnant woman will not develop pre-eclampsia within the following seven days is being fast-tracked for use across the NHS, sparing thousands of women nationwide a stressful hospital admission.

HORIBA UK, Medical has announced the publication of scientific studies which demonstrate the excellent performance of its new HELO high-throughput, fully automated haematology platform on body fluid and pathological samples.

The Eastern Pathology Alliance (EPA) has announced that it is to offer hepatitis C genotyping testing to the wider NHS nationally, leveraging its investment in next-generation sequencing assays.

Global diagnostics firm Randox will showcase its unique life science capabilities in areas including stroke differentiation and quality control for a range of infectious diseases, at the world’s largest laboratory medicine conference – the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo – in California. The 71st event from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) is set to highlight the best in the industry on the world stage once again as clinicians, companies and customers from all over the world flock to the Californian Anaheim Convention Centre.

When INTEGRA Biosciences launched the PIPETGIRL in 2015, the company pledged to donate 10€ / US$15 from every sale to internationally renowned research institutes dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer. This limited edition version of the PIPETBOY acu 2 pipetting controller is still available today, and the company’s latest donation of 20,000 CHF has been awarded to the Swiss Cancer League (Krebsliga Schweiz).

The Know Now Testing Program, a Novartis initiative in collaboration with Quest Diagnostics, offers genetic mutation testing at no cost for all patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma. Melanoma is an aggressive and often deadly form of skin cancer. Nearly 100,000 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma this year and approximately seven percent will die from melanoma.

Olympus’ Image of the Year Award recognizes the best in life science imaging worldwide. Participants can win a CX43 microscope with a DP27 digital camera, X Line objectives, or an OM-D E-M5 Mark II camera. Those interested in participating can enter until 31 January 2020 by uploading images to the website below.

Science is not static, it is dynamic, evolving and subtly changing how we think and work. This is why the IBMS Congress is such an important opportunity for our profession, says Deputy Chief Executive Sarah May. I would go further than that famous lager advert and say Congress is not probably the best biomedical science conference in the world, I think is it is the best.

Worldwide, Campylobacter species are the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, with 400–500 million cases of diarrhoea each year. The current standard for identification of Campylobacter is bacterial culture followed by microscopic examination of the organisms, which has two major limitations.

Since 2014, Sysmex UK has been the exclusive distributor in UK for 3DHISTECH digital pathology solutions. These innovative and high-quality products offer a valuable option for cellular pathology service in the NHS as they seek to overcome issues such as shortage of reporting staff, the need for second opinion, pressure on turnaround times, and increasing workloads.

Agar Scientific has announced the successful purchase of the EM resin manufacturer London Resin Company, which has developed and supplied acrylic resins for microscopists since 1980, and this acquisition will ensure continued manufacture and supply of the complete product range.

The IBMS Biomedical Science Congress would be impossible to stage without the support of the commercial companies which comprise the vast exhibition that is an integral part of the four-day event held at the ICC in Birmingham (22–25 September).

An experimental new urine test can reveal if men with early prostate cancer will need aggressive therapy or can be left untreated but monitored, UK researchers say. Current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood tests cannot do this, meaning many men experience unnecessary worry, investigations and treatment.

The Atellica Solution's revolutionary sample management and short turnaround time (STAT) capabilities provide fast, actionable, reliable procalcitonin (PCT) results that laboratories and clinicians can count upon.