News Archive
Latest 50 news articles
Bringing the Pieces Together
Sample management software provider, Titian Software, has announced that Mosaic™, the premier sample management software, can now integrate with Matrical Biosciences automated stores. This development means that Mosaic is capable of interfacing with all industry accepted compound stores. Well-known for delivering fast, efficient and fully traceable workflows for storing and preparing samples ready for use, Mosaic has applications in any laboratory setting, from enterprise-wide sample management...
Molecular marker could predict tumor progression
A team of scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have developed a method that can predict tumour progression by tracking a molecular marker in tissue samples. The molecular marker has been linked with better survival rates, and closely monitoring the marker could provide a more effective way for doctors to track their patients' recovery after surgery. This can determine how aggressive the follow-up treatment will be. The chemical, called 2-HG, is linked to mutations...
Transforming Old into New FRITSCH Relaunch of the Homepage
During the times of the Web 2.0 era, today is yesterday and a constant optimization of an internet presence is a must. Besides “visible” constant updates and optimizations, we worked simultaneously on the relaunch of our homepage. Now it is comprehensively designed and revised and this in multiple regards: the tried and proven was upgraded and new features implemented. User friendliness was a must: a noticeable improved navigation immediately of the entry page assists visitors and new customers...
New insights into the brain's network being discovered
Scientists have used new methods and analytical techniques to better understand magnetoencephalography (MEG) results, creating the first map of the dynamically changing network of the brain. MEG is a non-invasive diagnostic tool, and therefore is of significant use to neuroscientists. However, the data is often difficult to understand because the neuromagnetic signal varies fast and the signal to noise ratio is low. The new analysis techniques have allowed researchers to better interpret results...
New Informatics Solution for Water and Environmental Testing Laboratories
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc announced a new informatics solution specifically developed for laboratory professionals working in water and environmental testing laboratories. The Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS is preconfigured to enable customers to comply with water and environmental regulatory guidelines and requirements, and it is built on the comprehensive functionality provided by the company’s flagship laboratory information management system, Thermo Scientific SampleMan...
Delivering Enhanced Functionality to Guide Decisions in All Stages of Drug Discovery
Optibrium launches StarDrop 5.1, an upgraded version of its innovative support tool that helps drug discovery scientists to guide key decisions in drug discovery and quickly achieve successful project outcomes. As a result of this upgrade, StarDrop’s unique capabilities to guide the design and selection of high quality, novel compounds are now available on the Apple Mac, a reflection of the increasing popularity of Macs within the industry. The revolutionary StarDrop 5.1 is a powerful yet user f...
New Software Package Marks Sea Change in Image and Spectral Acquisition Software
Princeton Instruments is pleased to introduce LightField 4.0, a new 64-bit image and spectral acquisition software package that provides a cuttingedge user interface and the powerful functionality needed to set up and perform complex optical diagnostic experiments. This unique and revolutionary software puts hundreds of useful features at researchers’ fingertips. LightField fully supports Princeton Instruments PIXIS, PI-MAX® 3, ProEM, PyLoN, and Quad-RO cameras as well as Acton Series spectrogra...
New System for Automated Culturing of Cell Lines
The Automation Partnership (TAP) is delighted to announce its CompacT SelecT™ system for automated culturing of cell lines in T-flasks, is now available with an integrated Beckman Coulter Vi-CELL® XR Cell Viability Analyser, making controlling consistent cell growth easier and more convenient. This new option on the CompacT SelecT, which is already being utilised by one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, features a fully integrated Vi-CELL XR Cell Viability Analyser to automate on-...
Free Spectrometer Operating Software
Ocean Optics has expanded its software offerings with the launch of Overture, a free spectrometer operating platform for simple data and spectral collection. This more basic software is geared to users new to spectroscopy or those who do not require the more advanced features of Ocean Optics’ sophisticated SpectraSuite software. For use with most all Ocean Optics spectrometers, Overture’s standard functions include absorbance, transmission and intensity modes. Integration time and other spectr...
Computers can now recognise emotion
Scientists have created a computer system that is able to recognise human emotions, just by hearing a person's voice. David Grill, a professor in Universidad Carlos III de Madrid's Computer Science Department and one of its creators, explained that the machine can adapt dialogue and responses to a person's emotional state. He said the development was prompted by emotions that people commonly feel when talking to a machine, namely anger, boredom and doubt, so that these problems could be alleviat...
Detecting Sub-Nanometre Molecules at Low Concentrations
Avid Nano have issued a new technical note demonstrating the excellent performance of its W130i Dynamic Light Scattering System for detecting and precisely measuring subnanometre particles and molecules. The new technical note describes the ease with which a very small molecule with a low molecular weight (caffeine, MW 194.2 g/mol) was accurately measured at only 1.4% concentration in aqueous solution. The results using the W130i DLS demonstrate that the light scattering signal from the dissolv...
New Data Acquisition Software for Laboratory Instruments
Windmill Software are pleased to announce a new version of the ComDebug data logging and com port trouble-shooting software. What's more, it is free to every subscriber to their Monitor newsletter. The new version: logs data from serial instruments - balances, GPS receivers, RFID readers, pH transmitters, titrators, particle analysers, data loggers and so on; works with Windmill 7 64-bit, as well as other versions of Windows; and lets users enter and record data in Hexadecimal, ASCII or binary f...
Science software can map typhoid outbreaks
New science software has been created to help researchers accurately map typhoid outbreaks and spread.Scientists have been struggling to accurately track the spread of typhoid and identify its source as measuring mutations in the pathogen's DNA when the DNA replicates has been thwarted by the small number of mutations, with many not detectable by most techniques, a study in the journal Open Biology revealed.The team from the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Vietnam and the Oxford Unive...
New LIMS transforms Nova Biologicals
A new laboratory information management system/data management system (LIMS/DMS) has created numerous benefits for a water testing company.Nova Biologicals, a firm which provides testing and consulting services to the water, medical device, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and food industries globally, claims that the new LIMS has transformed data management, making the company more efficient and refined.The change has allowed Nova to significantly decrease the amount of paperwork used in processes...
Gamers solve decade-long mystery
A group of online gamers have succeeded where teams of dedicated scientists have failed. Research, undertaken by the University of Washington and published by the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, revealed that gamers were capable of solving the structure of a retrovirus enzyme, despite the configuration baffling scientists for over a decade. Furthermore, the gamers achieved the feat in just three weeks. The gamers made the discovery playing Foldit, an online game that allows pla...
New Software Puts Particles in a Different Light
Malvern Instruments has released a new version of software for the company’s Morphologi G3 particle characterisation system. This fully automated image analysis-based system delivers particle size and shape information for wet and dry samples, and for the analysis of foreign particulate matter collected on filters. Among the new applications in the version 7.40 software are facilities for user-defined light settings and automated dark-field measurements, further extending the range of applicatio...
Computational model forecasts cholera outbreaks
Scientists have created a new computational model that could forecast where outbreaks of cholera are likely to occur.Researchers from Ohio State University are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the project, with the aim of tackling the deadly disease in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.Ohio State researcher Marisa Eisenberg said that the initial findings show that cholera is spread through both contaminated environmental water and human contact.As the data is processed...
New Flexibility in Laboratory Monitoring
Monitoring the storage and security of precious and vulnerable samples is an essential part of Good Laboratory Practice, often requiring a solution unique to the individual laboratory. IKS International have developed two new communications modules to make their marketleading Xiltrix® monitoring system even more flexible, reliable and easier to install. The new multifunctional Calypso module provides the central link between the controlling webserver and the monitoring system. Communication wi...
Thermal Imaging Camera App for the iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone
FLIR have just released FLIR Viewer, an app that uses a thermal imaging camera’s built-in Wi-Fi capability to enable it to easily connect it to an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone. Once connected a FLIR thermal imaging camera can send images and other data to an Apple mobile device wirelessly. The free version of FLIR Viewer is now available to download from the Apple iTunes Store. FLIR Viewer lets users download images from their camera, change colour palettes, analyse the images, add data, create...
Rogue online pharmacies aiding rise in drug abuse, scientists claim
The number of cases of prescription drug abuse is rising, and this is being aided by rogue online pharmacies, according to research by scientists.A report published online by Health Affairs from experts at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California (USC), found that the expansion of high-speed internet between 2000 and 2007 saw a large increase in admissions for treatment for prescription drug abuse.Dana Goldman, director of the Schaeffer Center for Health Polic...
Scientists discover new laboratory product software
Scientists have discovered new software that will allow researchers to identify crystal structures - and even see individual atoms.The software has been dubbed quantitative electron diffraction (QED) and is expected to offer a wealth of new opportunities in electron crystallography.Released by HREM Research, Max Planck Software has licensed the new development.Enabling scientists to spot individual atoms in each specimen, it can also gather large-angle rocking-beam electron diffraction - also kn...
Fully Automated Quadrupole MS Formula Determination
Cerno Bioscience announces the successful test installation and operation of a new software product, MassWorks AutoID™, at a major pharmaceutical company near Boston, MA. By automating the patented MassWorks calibration and formula ID process on the widely available quadrupole MS systems, AutoID makes the 100x improvement in mass accuracy and the unparallel Spectral Accuracy available seamlessly and at all times. With both accurate mass and high Spectral Accuracy, AutoID allows any user to eithe...
Drug Discovery Product Line Excels
At this year’s LabAutomation, TTP LabTech continued the promotion of its renowned and growing drug discovery product line. This included the mosquito® LCP and HTS, the Mirrorball® and Acumen® imaging cytometers and its modular comPOUND® storage system. However, it was the LAB2LAB automated sample transport and management system that stole the limelight. A poster entitled ‘The LAB2LAB™ Advantage’, detailed the Novartis customer experience with this unique and world leading sample trace and data...
Scientists discover new IT solutions
New IT solutions have been discovered by scientists that could help increase the speed of data processing within laptop and desktop hard drives.The University of York reveals that researchers from the establishment teamed with scientists from Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands to make the discovery.Explaining that the speed of data is dependent on how fast magnetic reversal occurs, the university states that this knowledge was used to develop the increased processing speed.The experiment u...
Ultrasound may solve issues for clinical laboratory IT solutions in Faraday cages
There are a number of reasons why it could be preferable to situate clinical laboratory IT solutions within Faraday cages, but still allow them to transmit data wirelessly to the outside world.A Faraday cage can protect sensitive equipment from electrical interference by cancelling out the formation of fields within its interior.However, this can make it difficult to transmit data and power wirelessly through such structures - including in real-world Faraday cages like submarines - says Renssela...
Robust clinical laboratory IT solutions could arise from plastics research
Plastic plays a crucial role in many clinical laboratory IT solutions, insulating wires from one another when connecting multiple circuit boards together.However, scientists at Duke University have now discovered that the presence of an electrical current itself can break down soft plastic.Xuanhe Zhao, who works in the university's Pratt School of Engineering as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, explains that the phenomenon is not new, but its observation is...
Black holes may serve as model for clinical laboratory IT solutions
The clinical laboratory IT solutions of the future could be built using black holes as inspiration.Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Engineering say the structure of a black hole can serve as a model for the motion of electrons in a superconductor.At present, the physics at work in superconductors during their insulating phase - when they are called Mott insulators - is not fully understood.The theory is that repulsion between electrons is enough to prevent them from flowing t...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions 'could contain virtual limbs with sensation'
Any scientist involved in intricate and delicate laboratory experiments may have wished for an extra arm at times; but now it seems clinical laboratory IT solutions of the future could grant that wish.Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have been investigating human perception with regards to our own bodies, limbs and the general extent of our physical awareness.They were trying to determine how, for example, the perception of a prosthetic limb differs from that of its 'real' pred...
Two-way data could lead to next-gen LIMS
A newly developed system which can both send and receive data at the same time - over a single channel - could lead to the development of more efficient and faster laboratory information management systems (LIMS).Created at Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley, the system overcomes the problem caused on radio frequency networks by what was believed to be an inescapable one-way nature of the traffic carried."Textbooks say you can't do it," says assistant professor of electrical eng...
High-Tc superconductors 'could be the future of clinical laboratory IT solutions'
Superconductors with a high transition temperature (Tc) - such as the relatively recently discovered cuprates - could represent the building blocks of future clinical laboratory IT solutions and long-distance power networks.By operating with very small resistance, superconductors can help to transmit data or power a long way with little attenuation.However, they have historically required materials to be cooled very close to absolute zero, at 0 Kelvin or -273 degrees C.Now scientists at Brookhav...
LIMS 'must become more powerful'
Laboratory information management systems (LIMS) must become more powerful if they are to continue to serve the needs of operators, particularly in the healthcare sector, it is suggested.Kalorama Information, a provider of healthcare market research, has published Laboratory Information Systems (LIS/LIMS) Markets, its new forecast of the industry's likely growth in the years to come.This expects a six per cent annual increase in the total market size to be recorded over each of the coming years....
'Electronic paper' could represent future of clinical laboratory IT solutions
Clinical laboratory IT solutions could turn over a new leaf in the years to come, with the development of electronic paper.The innovation is just one of the potential applications for flexible circuitry made by placing carbon nanotubes on plastic substrates.Called "roll-to-roll manufacturing", the process allows thin-film transistors to be created with high levels of flexibility.Scientists at Finland's Aalto University and Japan's Nagoya University have now produced the first working logic circu...
Cold atoms 'ideal' for future of clinical laboratory IT solutions
Future clinical laboratory IT solutions could be built using knowledge gained from studies of cold atoms and the quantum spin Hall effect.The effect occurs in topological insulators, which have spin currents along their edges, unlike ordinary insulators.Non-profit public research network madri+d says the state of matter in these materials is exotic, as it cannot be classified using known phase transitions theory.However, the current flow occurs with very little loss of energy and performs well w...
New transistors herald next generation of clinical laboratory IT solutions
Clinical laboratory IT solutions could be made smaller and more energy efficient thanks to improvements to one of their core components - transistors.The devices act as tiny switches within circuitry, activating different paths depending on the input current they receive.Now a team of researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne claim to have improved the design of the component using molybdenite.At present, molybdenite is commonly used in lubricants and steel alloys, but not widely a...
Science software aims to save the world
A new piece of science software has one ambitious aim - to save the world.SPIRIT has been created in Portugal at Ciencia Viva - Agencia Nacional para a Cultura Cientifica e Tecnologica and tackles the issue of wasted energy in data centres.The principle behind the science software is relatively simple, as its main function is to switch off servers' computers when they are not in use.As a result, energy consumption of idle units is reduced and emissions correspondingly cut.The researchers behind...
Climate reanalysis provides new data for science software
Science software in climatic disciplines could become more fully featured in the future thanks to reanalysis of old weather data.An international team working on the 20th Century Reanalysis Project has recompiled some of the most significant information from the past 140 years.Events like the US Dust Bowl, caused by overuse of water resources from the Colorado River leading up to the 1930s, can now be modelled to determine what went wrong in rainfall estimates.Dr Gil Compo, lead author on the pr...
Scientists develop electron spin technique for carbon computers
Carbon - and in particular graphene - has excited scientists in recent years with its potential applications in computing.The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their contributions to understanding the material.However, it has historically not been associated with a further significant development in computing - quantum calculations based on electron spin.That is because a flat layer of carbon does not appear to exert any aligning force on the elec...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions could gain from 'ingenious' lab on chip approach
An "ingenious" process involving a polymer, a photocopier and transparency film could allow new clinical laboratory IT solutions to be created for microfluidics platforms.Microfluidics relies on liquid samples passed through intricate networks of channels, with the processes involved fed back to clinical laboratory IT solutions for analysis.A high school physics teacher from Cambridge, Massachusetts - home to Harvard University - developed a way of creating these channels on a polymer surface.Jo...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions 'could be made to stretch'
Nanotechnology is unlocking new possibilities in clinical laboratory IT solutions, including flexible circuitry.However, scientists at North Carolina State University have announced a further breakthrough in the form of elastic electronics.Dr Yong Zhu, one of the team of researchers working on the project, stresses that the findings so far relate only to one-dimensional structures such as nanowires.The scientists began by looking at the possibility of laying wires in a wave shape along a substra...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions promise fast and cheap blood tests
Blood tests may be faster and cheaper with a new generation of lab-on-chip clinical laboratory IT solutions.Scientists at the University of Rhode Island have developed the compact system for analysing blood samples in less than half an hour.The process does not need vials of blood to be drawn from the patient; a single pinprick amount is sufficient.Mohammad Faghri, the professor of mechanical engineering who led the project, explains the peace of mind that such clinical laboratory IT solutions c...
Limited access to data 'could increase potential of science software'
A study into how limiting access to data sets for use with science software affects product development has yielded some counter-intuitive results.Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) looked into how restricted access to previous findings for use in modern science software can impact on production costs and time to market.Perhaps intuitively, they found costs are increased when previous research findings are made less available to those working on new pharmaceutical and cli...
Highlighting 'gene promoters' with clinical laboratory IT solutions
"Gene promoters" - sections of DNA that indicate the start of a protein sequence - may be found more easily with clinical laboratory IT solutions thanks to the efforts of The Wistar Institute.Researchers at the facility have created a new tool accessible online which they say can sift through data generated within clinical laboratory IT solutions and help to pick up on any gene promoters present in the dataset.While DNA contains no more than around 20,000 genes capable of encoding proteins, each...
Science software 'helps chart muscle stress'
Following a number of reports about prosthetic limbs, a newly published study looks at how science software can help people during rehabilitation or old age to use their own muscles more effectively.The Economic & Social Research Council, a UK-based research-funding organisation, reports on the creation of science software at the Glasgow School of Art's School of Design.Participants are fitted with sensors to record biomechanics data while they carry out simple tasks of the sort performed every...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions could benefit from 'whispering gallery' laser
A type of laser inspired by the whispering gallery at St Paul's Cathedral could have new applications in clinical laboratory IT solutions.The device is being researched at Harvard University and offers a way to create low-attenuation lasers.It works thanks to a basic principle noticed a century ago - that the laser, like the sound in the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, can skim along the circular outer surface without scattering or being absorbed.However, until now, scientists have found it difficu...
'Breakthrough' reported for clinical laboratory IT solutions for DNA analysis
Clinical laboratory IT solutions for DNA analysis have taken a step forward with the announcement of a move towards lab-on-chip options.The Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has been working with Panasonic on a microfluidic device capable of detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).SNPs consist of a replacement in a DNA sequence of just one nucleotide, but can lead to varied responses both to invading pathogens and to medicines, IMEC says.B...
Clinical laboratory IT solutions may help combat depression
The solution to both preventing and treating depression could lie in more sophisticated clinical laboratory IT solutions.Researchers at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, have been looking into the ways that data mining takes place within clinical laboratory IT solutions.They claim that depression may be treated more effectively - and potentially may be prevented - through better processing of patient information.For instance, a combination of an individual's feelings, bodily f...
Visualisation could help assure quality in dynamic clinical laboratory IT solutions
With clinical laboratory IT solutions handling an increasingly dynamic workload, the Technical Research Centre of Finland has created a means of assessing continual quality.Scientists at the institution explain that 'smart' environments must deal with changing user bases and the addition and removal of devices.As a result, clinical laboratory IT solutions may be faced with multiple pieces of software interacting with one another at any one time.This presents a difficulty in terms of determining...
Collision chemistry yields raw materials for clinical laboratory IT solutions
A novel method of producing zinc oxide (ZnO) for use in clinical laboratory IT solutions could arise from trituration - the process of producing powders by grinding.Scientists at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Chemistry of Warsaw University of Technology have detected an unexpected consequence of colliding compounds which contain ZnO complexes.They heated the material to 35 degrees C, then lowered its atmospheric pressure, leading to deso...
Consumer search engines 'are not LIMS'
Search engines like Google do not operate in the same way as laboratory information management systems (LIMS) or academic libraries, it has been asserted.An article in the International Journal of Cultural Studies authored by Jose van Dijck of the University of Amsterdam explains that, on the surface, search engines on the internet are subject to the same public values which scaffold libraries.However, closer investigation finds a lack of transparency and openness - including in the specifically...
Maintaining security in clinical laboratory IT solutions
Best practice guidance from the MEDEA+ Trusted Secure Computing (TSC) initiative outlines some of the ways in which clinical laboratory IT solutions may be secured as part of day-to-day habits.However, the project also goes further than that, looking at ways in which security can be incorporated into IT equipment at the hardware and even component level."Protection mechanisms must be present in all system layers, from basic hardware to the basic input-output system and including the operating sy...