Article Archive
Latest 38 news articles
Rocky Mountain High - and Getting Higher by the Day
Report on the 59th ASMS Conference, Denver, Colarado, USA, June 5th - 9th Once again the mighty ASMS Conference flexes its muscles and heads into town, on this occasion Denver, Colorado, even allowing for the fact that it was only a few years ago when the city last hosted the event. For a change this year in the review we invited three, past and current, committee members from the British Mass Spec Society (BMSS), all of whom have visited the event several times before, to give their opinions o...
Recession effects: some companies see value decline - International Labmate
194 companies in the UK Scientific & Laboratory Equipment industry are worth a third less than they were a year ago in the clearest indication yet of the damage the recession has wreaked on the market. However, in a sign that the recovery is gaining traction, 332 companies in the market have actually increased in value, according to business analysts Plimsoll. David Pattison, author of a special report valuing the top 678 companies in the market, describes how values are changing in the market:...
Marine Scientists Return with Rare Creatures from the Deep - Aberdeen University
Scientists have just returned from a voyage with samples of rare animals and more than 10 possible new species in a trip which they say has revolutionised their thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean. One group of creatures they observed - and captured - during their six weeks in the Atlantic aboard the RRS James Cook is believed to be close to the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals. Scientists were completing the last leg of MARECO - an internatio...
WWEM2010 10th - 11th November 2010 Show Preview - Gwyneth Astles
WWEM 2010 Will Be The Most Exciting Ever The organisers of WWEM 2010 have announced that this year’s event will be even larger than its predecessors. Taking place over two days (10th and 11th November) at the Telford International Centre, there are a host of new features that will attract visitors from a broader section of the monitoring community. WWEM 2010 will retain its focus on environmental monitoring, providing the latest information on regulations, methods and technologies. However, th...
Industry reports - Heather Hobbs
Growing performance gap in the UK Scientific & Laboratory Equipment industry There is a real mixed bag of company performance in the UK Scientific & Laboratory Equipment industry at the moment. New research from market analysts Plimsoll indicates that with 80 companies in trouble, 377 others powering ahead and a further 102 set to be taken over, the market has never been more fragmented. David Pattison, author of the new Plimsoll Analysis - Scientific & Laboratory Equipment explains, “Having r...
Microscience 2010 – A Strong Platform for 2012
Microscience 2010, the Royal Microscopical Society’s flagship meeting held at ExCeL London at the end of June, attracted 519 conference delegates - the first time that the 500-barrier has been broken. And, the overall visitor-target of 2,000 was also reached. The international conference featured three parallel themes containing eighteen symposia devoted to Life, Materials, and New Frontiers. They struck a balance between biological and physical sciences, and light, electron and other microscop...
All-Round Solution for Analysis, Biotechnology and Laboratory Technology
Analytica China is the Chinese market’s spin off event of analytica, the world’s largest trade show and networking platform for analysis, laboratory technology and biotechnology where business is initiated and advanced. Every two years analytica China is held in Shanghai, where the market leaders and innovative startups present the entire range of solutions. That makes analytica China a key source of momentum for exhibitors and trade visitors alike. Together with the analytica China Conference,...
Pittcon Show Review - TROUBLE AHEAD?
The 61st Pittsburgh Conference & Expo took place at the Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando, Florida, between 28-5 March and International Labmate was there in full force to bring our readers the latest product launches from the show floor, the all important stats, hot topics of discussion and debate and award presentations. Plus our visits to exhibitors stands provided valuable feedback on show success (pages 28,29,30 and 32). Pittcon prides itself on being the leading showcase for s...
Fifteen years in the Asian market – Lab Asia
Lab Asia, launched in 1994, extended the portfolio of International Labmate Ltd (ILM) and set about with a clear purpose to produce a no nonsense product orientated journal to be distributed free of charge to South Asia and Australia. Advertisers were able to enter markets that had been previously inaccessible and readers were exposed to products that they had not read about before. The two 1994 launch year issues followed an A4 format consisting almost solely of advertisement cards with...
An Important International Event for the Chemical Sector
The chemical world has an important appointment from 25 - 27 November 2009 at fieramilano, Rho: CHEM-MED. The fair responds to the needs and demands of companies, universities and centres of technical innovation of the sector, which have, for some time now, been requesting an important event of this kind in Italy, one of the leading companies in Europe. Italy is the third producer of chemicals in Europe, after Germany and France. In this country, chemicals, with production worth more than EU...
TURBIDITY MEASUREMENT - NOT ONLY NEPHELOMETRIC AT 90°!
In many industries turbidity represents a fundamental and versatile parameter for quality control. In addition to the classic determination of undissolved particles in drinking water, ie. it is also employed for the control and verification of process sequences. Unlike other measurement parameters, not only standardised methods for measurement are generally accepted in the analysis of turbidity, but also empirically established procedures as well as industry and company-specific proc...
PROTEIN PRECIPITATION
The analysis of drug levels in biological fluids is an important part of pre-clinical and clinical trials. Sample preparation by protein precipitation is routinely used for the removal of proteins contained in biological fluids, usually plasma, prior to bioanalysis by LCMS/MS. Protein precipitation is a generic technique applicable to a wide variety of drug types and is the method of choice when other methods e.g. Solid-Phase Extraction, seem too complex or time consuming to develop...
TURBIDITY – A MEANINGFUL PARAMETER FOR DRINKING WATER
Even if turbidity – like no other parameter – is full of diversity and particularities for calibration and measurement procedures, it is nevertheless a helpful factor in the measurement of water quality. But it is essential to know how best to measure and interpret it - especially in the lower measurement range. For this reason, WTW has also placed particularly emphasis on user requirements in the drinking water sector for the Turb 430 turbidity measuring instruments.
PURIFIED LAB WATER
Purite designs, develops and manufactures water purification systems for use in applications in both the healthcare and research sectors and throughout industry. The company specialises in a wide range of technologies, including ion exchange, carbon filtration, reverse osmosis, electrodeionisation and ultrafiltration. Purite solutions can be supplied as standalone units or as fully integrated systems with production capacities up to many thousands of litres per hour. In every case, t...
BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY
Question: What two factors do macromolecular crystallography, microfocus spectroscopy, non-crystalline diffraction, high resolution powder diffraction and surface interface structural analysis have in common? Answer: each has dedicated Diamond beamlines, and each needs ultrapure water.
Phenomenex Honoured by Red Cross
Phenomenex, Inc a leading manufacturer of separation science consumables, was honoured recently at the American Red Cross’ annual Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, where the company received a Platinum Special Recognition Award for its work with the Southern California Chapter of the American Red Cross.
A QUANTUM LEAP IN LIVE CELL IMAGING: Advanced Bio-Luminescence Microscopy
Although the concept of bio-luminescence microscopy (BLM) is not a novel one, the recent advances introduced with new specialised imaging systems have made it a more realistic procedure. BLM represents a quantum leap in microscopy since, as its name suggests, it uses luminescence rather than fluorescence. This may not seem like a big deal initially, but luminescence has a range of benefits over fluorescence. For example luminescence does not bleach the sample and is not toxic either,...
Characterisation of Polymers, Proteins, Biomolecules and Nanoparticulate Materials
Analytica 2008 has been selected by Viscotek as the venue to unveil its latest technological and applications advances for multi-detector characterisation of polymers, proteins, biomolecules and nanoparticulate materials. Visitors to the Viscotek exhibit on Booth 383, Hall A1 will be able to see and discuss, with technical specialists, a new generation of the popular Model 802 Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) instrument - the Model 802DAT. Traditionally laboratories faced with analysing higher...
Analytica 2008 Show Preview
Analytica 2008, Munich, 1-4 April, is set to dazzle us in its 21st year with over 800 exhibitors from 25 countries. Many of the world's leading manufacturers, suppliers and scientists in the laboratory technology, instrumental analysis and biotechnology fields will be travelling from all over the globe to take part. In the following pages we take a look at a cross-section of some of the exhibitors and products that will be on display this year. For further information and a full exhibitor lis...
Micro-GC as a Portable Monitor for Dump Gases
The targets of dump monitoring are twofold: O2, CO2 and CH4 to maximise the production of CH4 and amines, mercaptanes, aldehydes, acids to keep the smell under control. The most common instruments are optical or electrochemical: compact, quick and easy to use, but they are poorly selective and subject to interferences. Microgaschromatographs separate the air sample reducing interferences, can measure a wide range of compounds and are quick enough thank to micro instrumental components.
Binder Supports Medical Care in Peru
Binder GmbH has recently donated a temperature chamber to the Diospi Suyana Hospital in Curahuasi, southern Peru, where it will be used for microbiological and serological experiments and for coagulation tests. The charitable Diospi Suyana Organisation was founded by Dr. Martina and Dr. Klaus- Dieter John in August 2002 in order to finance an ecumenical mission hospital. The facility aims to provide better medical care to the people of Peru, by helping to reduce the high infant mortal...
THE FILTRATION SOCIETY TAKES THE ENVIRONMENT SERIOUSLY
The Filtration Society was founded over 40 years ago with the objective of collating existing filtration and separation technologies, actively promoting new developments and providing an important resource centre for all filter related industries. Although in the past the focus has been on novel filtration technologies driven by commercial considerations, the last few years have seen an exponential increase in environmental related issues.
Advanced Routine Method for the Analysis of Pesticide Residues by LV-PTV
The development of advanced methods in pesticide residue screening is an enormous challenge. The scope of pesticides that require monitoring is growing parallel to the scope of matrices that are being investigated. The regulation authorities are continuously lowering the limits of detection whilst the economic pressure for commercial as well as governmental laboratories is increasing. Thus more efficient multi residue methods are essential. However, accuracy and reliability of the analytical res...
A Quantum Leap into the Nano Class
Planetary ball mills have long been a popular tool for the finest comminution of powders down to the micrometer range. In many industry segments, however, this is no longer sufficient. Demand now exists for the creation of nano particles (1nm = 10-9m). For example, the pharmaceutical industry is interested in the production of new medications with active ingredients at the nano scale. Active ingredients at the nano scale are taken up by the human body much more rapidly than conventional preparat...
TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF RICE BY XRF
The analysis of trace elements in rice is a vitally important area of research, given the vast numbers of people who depend on it as a major food source. X-ray florescence (XRF) spectrometry has emerged as an invaluable tool for this application. XRF delivers many advantages over conventional trace element measurement techniques, including rapid, accurate and precise analysis; together with very simple sample preparation. Worldwide, more than 415 million metric tonnes of rice was consumed in 200...
EXPANDING POSSIBILITIES IN LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY - HIGH PERFORMANCE CCC
WITH THE ADVENT OF THE NEW GENERATION OF HPCCC INSTRUMENTS NEW ELUTION MODES IN LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY ARE AVAILABLE FOR SEPARATION SCIENTISTS TO USE
WHAT, NO PHARMA APPLICATIONS AT ALL?
In a refreshing change from the ?how fast is fast? topics that appear to dominate most Separation Science Symposia these days (choose from UPLC/FPLC or UHPLC), this meeting attracted 126 paying delegates being arranged jointly by the Chromatographic Society, the RSC North West Region Analytical Division and RSC Chromatography and Electrophoresis Group showed that the technique of Gas Chromatography is still alive and kicking. The meeting was entitled ?Advances in GC Technology? and certainly liv...
Spotlight Feature: Luminescence, UV and Microplate Readers
Reporter gene assays are used to study the expression of eukaryotic genes. In dual reporter gene assays cells are transfected with two vectors, the first containing an experimental reporter gene coupled to a regulated promoter of interest, and the second containing a control reporter gene coupled to constitutive promoter. Normalising the activity of the experimental reporter to the control reporter minimises experimental variability.
IT Solutions Focus
Rapid market growth in generic drug manufacture is driving the requirement for fast efficient bioequivalence studies to meet FDA ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application) guidelines. Bioequivalence studies are a critical component of ANDA submissions. The purpose of these studies is to demonstrate pharmaceutical equivalence between a generic drug product and the corresponding reference listed drug. Establishing bioequivalence allows for a regulatory conclusion of therapeutic equivalence [1]. Accor...
Laboratory Products Focus
Mention the word design and you?ll probably think of trendy gadgets, cars and expensive toys for the home. But what about the instruments you or your colleagues are using everyday? Have you noticed that products that might once have been ugly black boxes are starting to feature smooth, ergonomic lines and stylish colours? If you have, you may be wondering why there needs to be a design element for a product that is seemingly all about function. ?Until very recently design played little or no par...
Microscopy & Microtechniques Focus
One of life science’s primary challenges is to understand and define the role of a vast number of proteins in cellular processes associated with health and disease of living organisms. Revolutionising this research is the development of a wide range of fluorescent probes that can be used to non-invasively interrogate living cells, new microscope technologies and powerful computer software and hardware for digital image processing and analysis. These technical innovations in photonics, microscopy...
Spectroscopy Focus
Have you ever used methamphetamines? Has your child ever used them? Are you absolutely certain? You may be surprised to learn that perhaps you BOTH may, unknowingly, have used methamphetamines (for years) through routine self-medication. Typically if someone mentions methamphetamines what comes to mind is the street drug ?crystal meth? and all of the negative connotations of a hyped-up, paranoid, often violent individual who uses it. However, what most people do not know is that there are TWO fo...
Chromatography Focus
Since the introduction of high performance liquid chromatography in the mid 1970?s there has been a continuing gradual shift towards the use of smaller particle size supports. The driving force being the reduction of analysis time through increased plate count and resolution. Recent developments in LC instrumentation capable of operating at elevated pressures have facilitated the development and introduction of small particle (2μm or smaller) stationary phases for HPLC. This trend towards usi...
ArabLab 2007 Show Review
It is fair to say that as soon as you walk in to any hotel, business or conference centre of high repute you will be impressed. However, when you go to a trade show in Dubai, prepared to be impressed and then put a wow factor on top of that. Arablab 2007 in Dubai, UAE has had that wow factor right from the very start.
Industry Flocks to Water/Wastewater Monitoring Event
WWEM 2006 took place in early November and was almost unrecognisable in comparison to the inaugural 2005 event. WWEM was initially created to provide a vehicle for discussing and dispersing information on the Environment Agency?s monitoring certification scheme, MCERTS. However, on the evidence of WWEM 2006, it has become a red letter diary entry for anyone involved with testing or monitoring water. With a choice of conferences, twice as many exhibition stands and four times as many visitors, WW...
Grufac Participation at Achema 2006
Since 1979 the Association of Spanish Manufacturers, Grufac, has participated in the most prestigious laboratory equipment exhibition, ACHEMA, which takes place in Frankfurt every 3 years. This year marked our 10th participation at this event. On this occasion, 17 company members of GRUFAC covered a total of 400 m2, spread over different stands, halls and levels. This was our biggest participation with more stand area occupied than ever before. Due to the feature of the exhibition, each manufact...
ArabLab 2006 - A success in the Middle East
Mid February saw the only annual trade show to cover the Arab and MENA (Middle East, North Africa) region, Arablab, take place in the wonderful city of Dubai, UAE. The show, which started 24 years ago as a bi-annual show and went annual 10 years ago, covers six key areas in the scientific world: Biotechnology, Instrumentation, Laboratory Technology, Automation, Robotics, and Diagnostics. Arablab is growing very quickly, and looking at this years figures, it could well be up there with the likes...