EDITOR’S PAGE continued
Employees at donating companies benefit as well, and often become involved as volunteers. According to Dudnik, “There is something incredibly powerful about knowing that you’ve contributed to the research of somebody in another part of the world. We even had ex- change programs where we’ve sent folks from some of the labs here in Boston to some of the sites in Africa that we’ve equipped. And getting to meet colleagues in other parts of the world who you will probably not meet at the conferences you attend in the U.S.—they’re working on incredibly interesting projects and problems that you otherwise might not have gotten a window into and we’ve seen that turn into, in some cases, long-term relationships.”
Equipment has a catalyzing effect for scientists in the developing world. One recent project involved a scientist named Fabrice Fekam Boyom, who is studying anti-malarials at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon. “A lot of scientists we are talking with are essentially doing early-stage drug discovery. They have access to all of this indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants; they do natural products chemistry, take these medicinal plants in the labs and use modern analytical sci- ence to identify what compounds in the plants are efficacious against disease and identify potential drug candidates,” Dudnik says.
Boyom received Instrumental Access equipment in early 2014. “We just got some reporting back from him,” says Dudnik. “He was awarded a $100,000 grant, a lot of funding for someone in Cameroon. He is using some key pieces of equipment that he received from Seeding Labs—in particular a spectrofluorimeter and cell culture incubator. Those two items alone could have used up a significant portion of the grant. Because he got them from Seeding Labs, he can use all of the funding for the reagents and chemicals and supplies that he needs and to sup- port his students and his lab.”
Current funding for Seeding Labs comes through a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Development Lab and from many companies in the scientific sector. Donations from individu- als and foundations also provide important and needed support. A “rolling list” of equipment that is currently needed is available at http://
seedinglabs.org/equipment-wish-list-labs/.
Steve Ernst is editor and general manager, American Laboratory/Labcompare;
sernst@americanlaboratory.com
AL | Science News
Science and Industry Converge at analytica 2016
Users, manufacturers and researchers will have the opportunity to interact at analytica 2016. The analytica 2016 conference will be held at the ICM–Internationales Congress Center in Munich, Germany, May 10–13, 2016. As part of the international trade fair analytica, the meeting covers analytical chemistry and bioanalysis—from nano, food and environmental analysis to imaging, ’omics and trends in chromatography, spectroscopy and other instrumental techniques.
Focusing on energy and raw materials, the conference does more than provide a comprehensive overview of modern analysis— it also focuses on socially relevant topics in which analysis techniques play a key role.
This year’s program of events includes two symposia on strategically important raw materials—“Resource Analysis,” which will center on the analysis of high-tech metals and
other inorganic raw materials, and “Energy and Fuel.”
Visit
www.analytica.de/en/conference for more information.
MRS Fellows Recognized for Advancements in Materials Research
Fourteen members of the Materials Research Society (MRS;
www.mrs.org) have been named fellows for their contributions to the field of materials research. The offerings include: development and applications of nanostructured and nanoengineered materials, in particular, carbon nanotubes, graphene and other 2-D materials; discovery and development of responsive soft matter electrooptical and photosensitive molecular architectures based on polymer and/or liquid crystalline materials; contributions to nanoscale materials design for energy conversion, storage and efficiency; and
AMERICAN LABORATORY 6 APRIL 2016
pioneering and fundamental study of the theory of low-dimensional semiconductor structures, including establishing the basic theoretical concepts commonly used today for describing their electronic and optical properties.
Quantitative RNA Test is First to be Approved for Use in Diagnosis of Active HCV
The U.S. FDA has approved use of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) quantitative RNA test to aid in the diagnosis of HCV infection for certain patient populations. Results from the Roche COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HCV test, version 2.0, can now be used to confirm an active hepatitis infection in addition to providing an accurate measurement of how much virus is in a patient’s blood, to help physicians determine the best course of treatment. This expanded use for the test saves
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