Product news in brief - week 35

Aura Industries​ has introduced a new line of knitted delay tubes​ (KDTs) that aid in mass spectrometry (MS) or UV (ultra violet) directed fractionation of preparative HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) samples. The unique knitting minimises peak broadening while keeping the tube in a compact space. Horiba Jobin Yvon​ has introduced the UVISEL UV​ phase modulated spectroscopic ellipsometer to extend the capabilities of the system down to 140nm. This energy range is becoming increasingly important for the characterisation of extremely thin films used in nanoscale devices with nanobiosensor, nanoelectronic, nanophotonic applications. Integra Biosciences​ has launched a new instrument, the Flameboy, that provides 'intrinsically safe' flame sterilisation. The system comes with three nozzles to ensure optimal operation with propane/butane, natural gas, or town gas. The system has no interfering cables or tubes and the flame size is fully adjustable. Labcyte​'s Potrait 630​​ reagent multi-spotter has been named as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year and been awarded an R&D100 award. The system uses acoustic droplet ejection technology to bring automated reagent deposition to the field of MALDI (matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation) tissue imaging mass spectrometry (IMS). "We are very pleased that the Portrait 630 was chosen for this award,"​ said Dr Elaine Heron, Labcyte's CEO. "Our development team brings tremendous expertise from diverse fields to create innovative products. This instrument will enable important discovery and growth in new markets such as imaging mass spectrometry." ​ Metrohm UK​ has released an improvement to the conventional Karl Fischer drying oven technology - the 832 KF Thermoprep system​. Many substances such as inorganic sales release water only very slowly or at high temperatures making then unsuitable for direct Karl Fischer titration, this new method can be used to determine the water content of tablets made using artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and cyclamate. Because the samples are no longer introduced into the oven in weighing boats, but in their own sealed sample vials the analyses can be performed under strictly reproducible conditions leading to improved precision. Millipore​ has released a full-length mTOR​ (mammalian target of rapamycin) kinase that regulates cell growth, cell proliferation, cell motility, cell survival, protein synthesis, and transcription as part of its KinaseProfiler​ service. According to the company it is the first biologically relevant mTOR to be commercially available and has been linked to many human diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, Promega​ has released the Plexor HY​ system for ultra-sensitive DNA quantitation results on samples as small as 6.4pg of autosomal or Y-chromosomal DNA. The system includes an internal positive control and unique melt curve analysis to guard against false negative an positive results. The system is compatible with a number of qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) instruments including Applied Biosystems' 7500 and 7500 FAST real time PCR systems and Stragene's Mx300P and Mx3005P qPCR systems. Roche Diagnostics'​ West Nile Virus (WNV) blood screening test has received FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approval for the direct detection of the virus from human blood and plasma. The test, dubbed the cobas TaqScreen West Nile Virus Test​, enables the detection of the virus earlier in the infection cycle, even in donors who may show no symptoms of disease. "The Roche test, run under an investigational new drug application by 14 clinical trial sites testing blood from a network of more than a 100 donation centres, helps blood banks streamline workflow and improve test results accuracy with reduced hands-on time, ready-to-use reagents, and full automation of each step,"​ said Daniel O'Day, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics. The approval comes as the FDA is preparing guidance on the use of licensed WNV screening tests for blood donors. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, US, declared a state emergency early this week to try to prevent the spread of the disease in Colusa, Kem, San Joaquin and Glenn counties. Thermo Fisher Scientific​ has released the new ARL 9900 Series X-ray Workstation​ that combines full X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) into a single instrument, reducing the cost of materials characterisation and quality control analyses. Both of the techniques are well established for materials analysis, with XRF mostly utilised for routine elemental analysis and XRD being used for more investigative purposes. Whatman​ has announced that it will provide DNA collection kits based on its FTA Elute​ technology to a large scale pharmaco-genotyping study searching for genetic markers of prostate cancer. The study is part of the Systemic Therapy in Advancing or Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Drug Efficacy (STAMPEDE​) trial and will study over 3,300 patients suffering from advanced prostate cancer. The kits utilise a chemically-treated matrix that lyses cells and immobilises the nucleic acids on contact, enabling scientists to collect, transport, archive and isolate DNA and RNA samples at room temperature in a single step. "Being able to archive samples at room temperature is a real strength of this system. This way, if we need to review DNA for certain SNPs or genes down the road, we'll have everything we need on hand,"​ said Nicholas James, Professor of Clinical Oncology at the University of Birmingham and Chief Investigator of STAMPEDE.