Analytical Instruments
Robotic instruments provide real-time data on Maine red tide
May 8, 2013 12:36 pm | News | Comments
A robotic sensor that won an R&D 100 Award in 2009 has been put to use by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Gulf of Maine coastal waters to monitor the way red tides behave. These harmful algal blooms, which generate a potentially fatal toxin, can be a challenge to track or predict. The Environmental Sample Processors have been remotely deployed and should simplify and enhance this effort.
Research identifies scent of melanoma
June 13, 2013 6:00 pm | News | Comments
Melanoma is a tumor that is responsible for approximately 75% of skin cancer deaths....
Agilent demonstrates new generation of ion mobility technology
June 11, 2013 7:40 am | News | Comments
At the American Society of Mass Spectroscopy conference in Minneapolis this week,...
New single virus detection technique yields faster diagnosis
May 30, 2013 2:29 pm | News | Comments
To test the severity of a viral infection, clinicians try to gauge how many viruses are packed...
Imaging technique captures ever-changing world of metabolites
June 13, 2013 7:38 am | News | CommentsWhat would you do with a camera that can take a picture of something and tell you how new it is? If you’re a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist, you use it to gain a better understanding of the ever-changing world of metabolites. A team of researchers has developed a mass spectrometry imaging technique that not only maps the whereabouts of individual metabolites in a biological sample, but how new the metabolites are too.
Agilent introduces advanced mass spec software
June 11, 2013 4:15 pm | News | CommentsAgilent Technologies Inc. has introduced two applications that further enhance its MassHunter Workstation software and LC-MS, GC-MS and ICP-MS instruments. These new applications empower users to rapidly create targeted screening methods for food safety and forensic analysis, and to characterize intact proteins and biosimilars for biopharmaceutical research.
Recent Advancements in Polymer Characterization
June 6, 2013 12:17 pm | by Ed Bouvier, Manager, Advanced Materials Research Group, Mia Summers, Principal Applications Chemist, and Michael O’Leary, Principal Scientist, Chemical Materials Business Operations, Waters Corp., Milford, Mass. | Articles | CommentsInnovation in liquid chromatography instrument design and column technology over the last decade has led to substantial improvements in chromatographic throughput and resolution. This has been achieved by enabling the system to achieve pressures up to 15,000 psi, reducing the system contributions to peak broadening, and utilizing well-packed columns containing sub-2-micron particles.
Innovation in spectroscopy could improve greenhouse gas detection
May 15, 2013 8:37 am | News | CommentsDetecting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could soon become far easier with the help of an innovative technique developed by a team at NIST, where scientists have overcome an issue preventing the effective use of lasers to rapidly scan samples. The team says the technique also could work for other jobs that require gas detection, including the search for hidden explosives and monitoring chemical processes in industry and the environment.
Hubble finds dead stars “polluted” with planet debris
May 10, 2013 9:24 am | News | CommentsNASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found the building blocks for Earth-sized planets in an unlikely place—the atmospheres of a pair of burned-out stars called white dwarfs. Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph observed silicon and only low levels of carbon in the white dwarfs' atmospheres. Silicon is a major ingredient of the rocky material that constitutes Earth and other solid planets in our solar system.
An electronic nose can tell pears and apples apart
May 8, 2013 12:13 pm | News | CommentsSwedish and Spanish engineers have created a system of sensors that detects fruit odors more effectively than the human sense of smell. For now, the device, which has 32 sensors and can process scent data in real time, can distinguish between the odorous compounds emitted by pears and apples, but the system can be tailored to other applications.
New imaging technique visualizes bio-metals and molecules simultaneously
May 2, 2013 2:25 pm | by Juliette Savin, RIKEN | News | CommentsMetal elements and molecules interact in the body, but visualizing them together has always been a challenge. Researchers at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new molecular imaging technology that enables them to image bio-metals and bio-molecules at the same time in a live mouse. This new technology will enable researchers to study the complex interactions between metal elements and molecules in living organisms.
Thermo to acquire Life Technologies
April 16, 2013 7:30 am | News | CommentsThermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Life Technologies Corporation have signed a definitive agreement under which Thermo Fisher will acquire Life Technologies for $76.00 in cash per fully diluted common share, or approximately $13.6 billion, plus the assumption of net debt at close ($2.2 billion as of year end 2012).
AB SCIEX enhances software to drive micro LC
March 20, 2013 10:10 am | News | CommentsNew software and service offerings to simplify and accelerate the integration of micro liquid chromatography (LC) technology into regulated bioanalytical laboratories was introduced this week by AB SCIEX. The new software module supports 21CFR Part 11 and the new IQ/OQ/PQ service to the Eksigent line of LC solutions gives research organizations a new validated approach to micro LC
Team achieves tenfold boost in ability to find proteins in cancer cells
March 19, 2013 3:59 pm | by Michelle Ma, University of Washington | News | CommentsNew research offers a more comprehensive way of analyzing one cell’s unique behavior, using an array of colors to show patterns that could indicate why a cell will or won’t become cancerous. A University of Washington team has developed a new method for color-coding cells that allows them to illuminate 100 biomarkers, a ten-time increase from the current research standard
Wyss Institute, Sony DADC collaborate on Organs-on-Chips
March 19, 2013 8:01 am | News | CommentsThis week, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Sony DADC announced a collaboration that will harness Sony DADC's global manufacturing expertise to further advance the Institute's Organs-on-Chips technologies. Human Organs-on-Chips are research tools composed of a clear, flexible polymer about the size of a computer memory stick, and contain hollow microfluidic channels lined by living human cells
High-resolution endoscope is as thin as a human hair
March 13, 2013 10:09 am | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsEngineers at Stanford have developed a prototype single-fiber endoscope that improves the resolution of these much-sought-after instruments fourfold over existing designs. This so-called micro-endoscope can resolve objects just 2.5 micrometers in size and could lead to an era of needle-thin, minimally invasive endoscopes able to view features out of reach of today’s instruments.
Rapid cancer detection built on a chip
March 8, 2013 3:39 pm | News | CommentsEarly detection is vital for the effective treatment of cancer. In many cases, tell-tale biomarkers are present in the bloodstream long before outward symptoms become apparent. The development of an inexpensive and rapid point-of-care diagnostic test capable of spotting such early biomarkers of disease could save many lives. A research team in Japan working on developing such a test has now produced their most sensitive microRNA detector yet.
Automating Challenges Associated with Proteomics Workflows
February 26, 2013 4:16 pm | by Brian Field, Life Science Product Manager, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Columbia, Md. | Articles | CommentsSample preparation workflows for mass spectrometric analysis that involve proteolysis are often labor intensive, time consuming, and user dependent. Typical proteomic workflows require enzymatic digestion, solid phase extraction, drying, and resuspension before the reversed phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis.
Rethinking Automation
February 26, 2013 4:11 pm | by Matt Kirtley, Product Manager, Agilent Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. | Articles | CommentsUntil now, life science researchers had a narrow set of expectations for automation systems. The main focus of laboratory automation providers has been to develop liquid handling systems for high-throughput workflows processing very large samples numbers, primarily in screening laboratories.
Analytical trick may accelerate cancer diagnosis
February 25, 2013 7:59 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a new way to accelerate a workhorse instrument that identifies proteins. The high-speed technique could help diagnose cancer sooner and point to new drugs for treating a wide range of conditions.
Explosives vapor detection technology: The new "sniff test"
February 21, 2013 8:35 am | News | CommentsA quick, accurate, and highly sensitive process to reliably detect minute traces of explosives on luggage, cargo, or traveling passengers has been demonstrated by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The vapor detection technology accurately detects and identifies the vapors of even very low-volatility explosives in real time at ambient temperature and without sample pre-concentration.
World's most sensitive plasmon resonance sensor inspired by ancient Roman cup
February 15, 2013 10:07 am | News | CommentsThe Lycurgus cup was created by the Romans in 400 A.D. Made of a dichroic glass, the famous cup exhibits different colors depending on whether or not light is passing through it; red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front. It is also the origin of inspiration for all contemporary nanoplasmonics research—the study of optical phenomena in the nanoscale vicinity of metal surfaces. Scientists have recently used these optical characteristics to create a novel, ultra-sensitive tool for chemical, DNA, and protein analysis.
Why cells stick: Phenomenon extends longevity of bonds between cells
February 15, 2013 8:50 am | News | CommentsResearch carried out by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and The University of Manchester has revealed new insights into how cells stick to each other and to other bodily structures, an essential function in the formation of tissue structures and organs. It's thought that abnormalities in their ability to do so play an important role in a broad range of disorders, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Team creates MRI for the nanoscale
February 14, 2013 11:59 am | News | CommentsMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reveals details of living tissues, diseased organs and tumors inside the body without x-rays or surgery. What if the same technology could peer down to the level of atoms? Physicists in New York and Germany have worked together to make this type of nanoscale MRI possible. To do this, researchers used the tiny imperfections in diamond crystals known as nitrogen-vacancy centers.
Building a biochemistry lab-on-a-chip
February 13, 2013 8:04 am | News | CommentsMiniaturized laboratory-on-chip systems promise rapid, sensitive, and multiplexed detection of biological samples for medical diagnostics, drug discovery, and high-throughput screening. Using microfabrication techniques and incorporating a unique design of transistor-based heating, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are further advancing the use of silicon transistor and electronics into chemistry and biology for point-of-care diagnostics.
Secret of scent lies in molecular vibrations
January 30, 2013 4:25 pm | News | CommentsIn a study designed to find out how smell is written into a molecule’s structure, scientists in England tested whether changing how a molecule vibrates on a nanoscale changes its smell. They found that molecular vibrations, rather than molecular shape, give substances their distinct smell.
CAMS used to determine biological fate of silica nanoparticles
January 4, 2013 9:48 am | News | CommentsIn a study published in Nano Letters, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)'s Mike Malfatti, Heather Palko, Ed Kuhn, and Ken Turteltaub report on accelerator mass spectrometry measurements used to investigate the relationship between administered dose, pharmacokinetics (PK), and long-term biodistribution of carbon 14-labeled silica nanopartocles in vivo.
Improving the accuracy of cancer diagnoses
December 26, 2012 8:41 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsTiny calcium deposits can be a telltale sign of breast cancer. However, in the majority of cases these microcalcifications signal a benign condition. A new diagnostic procedure developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University could help doctors more accurately distinguish between cancerous and noncancerous cases.
Agilent, Spain institute partner on systems biology
October 30, 2012 1:40 pm | News | CommentsAgilent Technologies, Inc.and Spain’s Centre for Omic Sciences this week announced that they will collaborate on mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics, and automation applied to research in integrated systems biology.
