News
Our latest press releases and news events.
Posted on Thu, 2 Sep 2010
The Regional Molecular Genetics Service (RMGS) at St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, is using a Freedom EVO® liquid handling workstation in combination with chemagen’s proven nucleic isolation technology to perform fully automated DNA extraction. Supplied by chemagen’s UK distributor, Auto Q Biosciences, this integrated system is housed within a Class 1 biological safety cabinet and provides walkaway processing of up to 24 samples in a single run. Kudrat Rahman, Business Development Director at Auto Q Biosciences, explained why the Company chose to work with Tecan: “The RMGS required a robust solution capable of fully automating its DNA extraction process. Although several other manufacturers were able to provide this, the RMGS needed a very reliable system capable of performing the extraction with minimal alteration to its existing protocols. We were aware that Tecan workstations had already been successfully combined with chemagic instruments at other sites across Europe, and Tecan’s open software architecture and excellent reputation for reliability made the Freedom EVO an obvious choice.”
Stuart Bayliss, RMGS Project Manager, added: “The system runs for eight hours a day, five days a week, and is proving to be very reliable. It has certainly exceeded our expectations in terms of efficiency, and is a significant step forward from our previous method. We are currently processing approximately 6,000 whole blood samples a year using the platform, and are now looking into automation of DNA extraction processes for saliva and cell culture samples to further increase our productivity.”
To find out more on Tecan’s Freedom EVO workstations, visit www.tecan.com/freedomevo
For more information please contact
Tecan Trading AG
Tanja Kaiser
Seestrasse 103, CH-8708 Männedorf
Tel +41 (0)44 922 81 11, Fax +41 (0)44 922 81 12
info@tecan.com www.tecan.com
About Tecan
Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics, and clinical diagnostics. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of instruments and automated workflow solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. As an original equipment manufacturer, Tecan is also a leader in developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components that are then distributed by partner companies. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both Europe and North America and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2009, Tecan generated sales of CHF 392 million (USD 361.2 million; EUR 259.6 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN/Reuters: TECZn.S/ ISIN CH0012100191).
Posted on Thu, 2 Sep 2010
The portability of SonoSite’s MicroMaxx® point-of-care ultrasound system is crucial for Dr Nick Webborn, founder of the SPORTSWISE clinic for sport and exercise medicine, providing valuable additional information during assessment and treatment of patients. Dr Webborn explained: “SPORTSWISE is a multidisciplinary practice specialising in the treatment of sports injuries from grass roots to elite level. As such, my practice takes me to a wide variety of sporting events, from professional tennis tournaments to amateur swimming championships, as well as running up to five half-day clinics a week at our University of Brighton Campus centre in Eastbourne. Ultrasound imaging is a really valuable tool, supplementing physical examination and patient history to provide a more complete diagnosis. I also use ultrasound needle guidance during treatments, improving the accuracy of injection for better patient outcomes.”
“I have been using SonoSite instruments for over eight years, and the MicroMaxx system is perfect for my needs. It offers a combination of good image quality and ease-of-use, and is robust and portable enough to be taken to the patient; something professional sportsmen really appreciate. I specialise in tendon problems, and the colour power Doppler is particularly useful for observing neovascularisation to indicate the severity of tendon injury. The ability to store and download images is also very useful, allowing copies of each scan to be kept with the patient’s electronic record for future reference.”
For more information about SonoSite products, please contact:
Alexander House, 40A Wilbury Way, Hitchin SG4 0AP
T +44 (0)1462 444 800, F +44 (0)1462 444 801
ukresponse@sonosite.com www.sonosite.com
About SonoSite
SonoSite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com) is the innovator and world leader in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound and an industry leader in ultra high-frequency micro-ultrasound technology and impedance cardiography equipment. Headquartered near Seattle, the company is represented by fourteen subsidiaries and a global distribution network in over 100 countries. SonoSite's small, lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high-performance ultrasound to the point of patient care.
SonoSite, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of SonoSite, Inc. based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, oversees a direct sales distribution network in the UK and provides sales and marketing support for SonoSite's European offices.
Posted on Thu, 2 Sep 2010
St. Louis, MO. – September 2, 2010 – Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and research services business of Sigma-Aldrich® Corporation (Nasdaq:SIAL), today announced the global release of a pioneering range of engineered mammalian cell lines. This new product range combines Sigma’s proprietary CompoZr zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology with the Company’s extensive experience in gene silencing, to offer innovative tools for drug discovery, compound screening and fundamental research applications.
This new range of products includes immortalized cell lines for a broad spectrum of applications, each precisely engineered to help scientists answer specific biological questions. By exploiting the revolutionary genomic editing capabilities of ZFNs, Sigma’s scientists can rapidly manufacture stable cell lines with precise, well characterized genetic manipulations. “CompoZr ZFN technology is a significant breakthrough for cell-based research. It enables scientists to generate precisely controlled additions, deletions and modifications to the genome of a living cell,” said Dr. Supriya Shivakumar, Global Commercial Marketing Manager for Functional Genomics at Sigma Life Science. “Leveraging this innovative and powerful technology to develop ready-to-use, validated cell lines is part of Sigma’s ongoing commitment to furthering our understanding of biology.”
The program will use ZFNs to incorporate and develop cell lines with a variety of cellular markers expected to aid in compound screening studies and biochemical pathway analysis, as well as specific isogenic lines designed to advance colorectal and breast cancer research. In addition, Sigma offers a custom cell line engineering service, creating bespoke cell lines to perfectly match a researcher’s application. “At Sigma Life Science, we have both the advanced technologies and manufacturing expertise to produce high quality, reliable tools for life science research. By offering complete modified cell lines alongside our portfolio of advanced bioediting technologies, we can provide a complete range of solutions to help accelerate our customers’ research,” Dr. Shivakumar added.
For more information about Sigma Life Science’s cell line products, visit http://www.wherebiobegins.com/biocells.
Cautionary statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “engineered to help,” “expected to aid,” “accelerate” or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that the engineered mammalian cell lines will continue to meet the demands of the marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of the products from the engineered mammalian cell lines will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding the engineered mammalian cell lines could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company’s assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich’s current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Sigma Life Science: Sigma Life Science is a Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the Company’s leadership in innovative biological products and services for the global life science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation. Product areas include biomolecules, genomics and functional genomics, cells and cell-based assays, transgenics, protein assays, stem cell research, epigenetics and custom services/oligonucleotides. Sigma Life Science also provides an extensive range critical bioessentials like biochemicals, antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology and histology, nucleotides, amino acids and their derivatives, and cell culture media.
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company that is committed to enabling science to improve the quality of life. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 40 countries and has 7,600 employees providing excellent service worldwide. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning website at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.
Sigma-Aldrich, Sigma and CompoZr are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co.
Posted on Wed, 1 Sep 2010
The Clinical Microbiology department at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) handles upwards of 150 blood culture bottles a day and has recently upgraded their BacT/ALERT® system with bioMérieux’s OBSERVA data management software.
Dawn Williams, BMS2, said: “OBSERVA has a lot more search facilities than our previous software, which has proved extremely useful. For example, we currently send out a provisional report of no growth at 48 hours, and on the Neonatal Unit wondered if this could be reduced to 36 hours to free up bed time in the unit. We used OBSERVA’s search facility to investigate this to see if all true positives flagged within 36 hours.
“We have also used it to study contamination rates, and identify those areas at greatest risk. At the moment a significant number of our positive cultures are Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), mainly due to contamination, and by identifying the wards at risk, we will be able to carry out specific training to reduce the problem. This will significantly decrease the amount of unnecessary work performed by the laboratory, reducing costs in terms of materials and staff time.”
Dawn concluded: “OBSERVA is very user-friendly, producing comprehensive, reliable data and fast results. It can run searches based on consultant, age, or any other patient demographic in our host computer system, I’ve found it an excellent system to use..”
For more information on OBSERVA data management software, visit http://www.biomerieux.co.uk/
Posted on Tue, 24 Aug 2010
ISIN CH0012100191).
The Landeslabor Berlin-Brandenburg (LLBB) in Frankfurt, Germany, is dedicated to the protection of human and animal safety, health and welfare, and has chosen Tecan’s liquid handling workstations to help monitor diseases in cattle, including an extensive testing program for the eradication of Bovine Herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1). “By using Tecan’s process automation solutions for fully automated sample processing and high throughput ELISA, our laboratory is able to process close to 7,000 samples per day for BHV-1 testing at peak times. This has greatly enhanced the efficacy and reliability of the LLBB’s diagnostic service,” explained Sabine Thalheim at LLBB’s Department of Infectious Disease Testing.
Once samples arrive in the laboratory, they are archived and organized into sample worklists by Tecan Genesis RSP™ platforms. This is aided by direct communication between the laboratory’s LIMS database and the customer-specific DisCo Tool 2 software, using a PosID™ module and barcode scanners for sample identification. Samples are then transferred to a Freedom EVO® 200 workstation for ELISA tests, including the IDEXX HerdChek®* IBR gE Antibody kit for BHV-1 testing. The platform has been specifically configured to meet the laboratory’s high throughput needs, processing up to 70 ELISA plates per day. Five hotels provide loading capacity for 45 plates in one run, and integration of a Sunrise™ microplate absorbance reader and a Power Washer 384™ allow fully automated ELISA processing, increasing the laboratory’s throughput capabilities.
To find out more on Tecan’s Freedom EVO workstations, visit www.tecan.com/freedomevo
*HerdChek is a trademark or a registered trademark of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
For more information please contact
Tecan Trading AG
Tanja Kaiser
Seestrasse 103, CH-8708 Männedorf
Tel +41 (0)44 922 81 11, Fax +41 (0)44 922 81 12
info@tecan.com www.tecan.com
About Tecan
Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics, and clinical diagnostics. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of instruments and automated workflow solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. With its subsidiary REMP (www.remp.com), Tecan is the market leader in automated laboratory storage and logistics systems. Its clients include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments, forensic and diagnostic laboratories. As an original equipment manufacturer, Tecan is also a leader in developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components that are then distributed by partner companies. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both Europe and North America and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2009, Tecan generated sales of CHF 392 million (USD 361.2 million; EUR 259.6 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN/Reuters: TECZn.S/