RECENT NEWS

Beckman Coulter has been awarded a grant to develop quality assurance and quality control materials to be used to verify the accuracy of a planned point-of-care human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) test for resource-poor countries. The grant was awarded by Imperial College LondonÆs CD4 Initiative, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

ESA Biosciences has opened an expanded service and support centre in St Neots to provide an enhanced level of customer service and support throughout Europe for its expanding base of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) detectors, including the popular Corona charged aerosol detector (CAD).

John Merry (pictured) has been appointed business development manager for CamlabÆs LabService.

Integra Biosciences has produced a video that demonstrates how its DOSE IT programmable peristaltic pump makes the dispensing of culture media, buffers and other solutions easy and efficient.

QSI has introduced new customer support services for WinLIMS Rental, a product that has proved particularly popular with smaller laboratories and businesses for which the outright purchase of an information management system would be out of the question.

Linda Satterley has joined Medical Solutions as its new cytology support manager.

Oxoid has announced that first prize in its 2005/2006 Infection Control Team of the Year Awards has been awarded to Craigavon Area Hospital Group Trust, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Students from the Biology Department at Hull University have helped to launch the new DVD from the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS), following a series of presentations charting their own experiences of completing a UAS module.

The UK's eight Research Councils have begun an initiative to assess the efficiency and value for money of their grant peer review process.

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) has issued its first licences under the Human Tissue Act. These licences will ensure that tissue such as heart valves, corneas and skin are stored in a safe way for the treatment of patients.

Researchers at Hammersmith Hospital in London have developed new drug, PEGylated-interferon, to treat hepatitis C patients that will save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds a year. It costs just a fraction of that spent on current treatment and will make therapy affordable for millions of sufferers worldwide.

Beckman Coulter UK has announced the appointment of Peter Frost as its new customer support manager, based at its High Wycombe offices.

The International Tandem Repeat Consortium (ITRC) has announced the public launch of a powerful new genetic database aimed at generating a new focus in genetic research.

Information on the health and lifestyle of over half a million volunteers aged between 40 and 69 will be gathered by UK Biobank.

Synoptics, a leader in the development and manufacture of innovative digital imaging systems, has recently been listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 (DTF50) as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in eastern England.

Recently, Genevac shipped its 2000th centrifugal evaporator.

Thermo Electron has published a new brochure for its DFS, the new high-resolution GC/MS for trace and target compound analysis launched in Canada last year.

Sterilin has launched its most comprehensive disposable plastics catalogue to date.

The National Horseracing Authority of Southern Africa is using the Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex Q TRAP LC/MS/MS system to screen racehorse urine and blood for prohibited substances used to influence the outcome of races.

Following the devastation caused to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, Abbott sent its three Architour trucks to the area.