Selected issue: 1/2016

Thermo Fisher Scientific is helping to drive biotherapeutic research with the development of innovative sample processing tools designed to simplify and accelerate analytical workflows. Offering automation-friendly affinity purification for proteins and antibodies, this provides a robust solution for high throughput preclinical research and development.

German company ILS designs and builds custom chemical R&D testing units, primarily for customers in the petrochemical industry, integrating robotic components and reaction chambers into glove box set-ups that can withstand temperatures of 400 °C and conditions up to 100 times atmospheric pressure.

US-based PhenoLogix is offering a new paradigm in SPE method development for CROs and diagnostic labs. Combining the Freedom EVO® SPE workstation with the Phenomenex Strata™-X 96-Well SPE Method Development Plates, this approach reduces development time from six to seven days to under two hours.

In his book The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee tells the story of one of the turning points in the history of cancer medicine. A turning point that he dates to May 1947.

Sias – a leading OEM supplier of laboratory automation solutions – has joined the Tecan Group, adding complementary new platforms, capabilities and expertise to customers of Tecan Partnering. A dedicated OEM supplier, Sias is committed to the highest quality standards and building close relationships with its customers to ensure projects are delivered in the shortest possible time.

The new Spark 20M multimode microplate reader* offers tailor-made solutions to suit virtually any drug discovery or advanced life science research application. This freely configurable system gives researchers access to new techniques and features intended to enhance and streamline biochemical and cell-based workflows.

Spend more time doing the things that matter thanks to new Fluent laboratory automation solution* features designed to provide more streamlined and robust walkaway processing**. These latest additions further extend the flexibility of Fluent, maximizing productivity and ensuring a precise match for your laboratory’s automation needs.

Antibody discovery and development company MorphoSys has a wealth of experience in designing novel assays for the screening and characterization of therapeutic antibodies. With active programs in oncology, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, the company’s Discovery, Alliances and TechnologiesDepartment relies on a variety of automated solutions to provide the throughput necessary to support its pipeline.

The University of Salzburg’s Laboratory of Photodynamic Inactivation is exploring potential roles of photosensitizing agents in human health. With possible applications in areas as diverse as food decontamination and therapeutics, the lab is using a variety of photoactive compounds to generate reactive oxygen species which can kill key microbial pathogens or cancerous cells.

Chinese IVD company Dynamiker has developed a range of rapid diagnostic kits to help address the rising problem of invasive fungal diseases in hospitals. Offering results in under two hours, these colorimetric and ELISA assays are designed to address the problems associated with traditional diagnostic techniques – poor sensitivity and slow turnaround times – allowing earlier implementation of antifungal treatments for better patient outcomes.

The Institute for Product Quality, based in Berlin, has grown into a service laboratory that provides virtually any and every test required by the food market, from microbiology to pesticide testing. Using its expertise in food analytics and kit development, and with new, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities in the Berlin-Adlershof science park, ifp provides testing services and kits to the industry and public alike.

Dart NeuroScience specializes in the development of novel therapeutics targeting neurological disorders, with an emphasis on impairment of cognitive functions such as memory.

VolitionRx is using ist proprietary Nucleosomics® technology platform to develop a range of diagnostic assays for cancer and other conditions, creating non-invasive tests that identify disease-specific nucleosome signatures circulating in the blood.

Massively parallel sequencing has rapidly become a must-have tool of the trade in molecular biology and drug discovery research. In recent years, the cost of next generation sequencing (NGS) has declined exponentially, while throughput, accuracy and read lengths have soared, and multiple regulatory-compliant sequencing technologies have now achieved commercial success. Advances in NGS – combined with global efforts to identify and catalog genetic mutations in a range of cancer types and tumors, as well as to implement these discoveries in diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic applications – are driving the adoption and, in the not-too-distant future, even routine use of sequencing and related techniques in clinical laboratories.