Heather Hobbs Research & events news


Cellular Magic on Show in Times Square GE Healthcare’s IN Cell Image Competition illuminates the beauty of science


The winning images from GE Healthcare’s annual IN Cell Image Competition lit up the night on NBC’s high-definition screen in Times Square, New York City, on 5-7 March


This year’s competition saw over 70 incredible images generated by scientists in nine countries around the world using the IN Cell Analyzer system. The images were shortlisted by a scientific panel and the winners determined through a public vote.


“It’s a privilege to have a great opportunity to show once more the beauty of science to people in a multicultural place such as Times Square,” said the twice European Winner, Dr Miriam Ascagni from DIBIT-San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Italy. “My image shows bone marrow derived cells. The final goal is to use them to generate replacements for muscle cells that are lost because of injury or disease.”


Keiko Suzuki, the winner for Asia, from Showa University, Japan, said: “The IN Cell Analyser’s ability to take so many pictures in a short time allows us to save a lot of time. My image shows how osteoclasts communicate and fuse with each other. This is important, because by knowing the mechanism of fusion we can develop more effective drugs with less adverse effects.”


Panel discussions at ACCSI2010


Left to right: winners of this year’s competition, Keiko Suzuki, Corey Seehus, Miriam Ascagni.


“I love the work I am engaged in right now, and this competition was an awesome bonus,” said North America winner Corey Seehus, of Brain Cells, Inc. “We’re trying to find a different way of finding small molecules that will work to induce differentiation in the neurons in the human brain.”


The 4th Annual Conference of China Scientific Instruments（ACCSI 2010), one of the country’s highest level scientific industry events, was successfully held on 9th April 2010 in Beijing. Hosted by China Instruments Manufacturers Association, China Instrument Society Analytical Instrument Society and Instrument.com, co-organised by China Association for Instrument Analysis, ACCSI 2010 attracted over 500 government officials, well-known experts, lab leaders, and managers from major instrument manufacturers, as well as research and development organisations.


Keiko Suzuki, Showa University, Japan: Winner Asia


Multinucleated osteoclasts produced from bone marrow macrophages stained for actin (green) and osteoclast marker cathepsin K (red). Bone Metathesis, Osteporosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Periodontitis


Corey Seehus, Brain Cells Inc. USA: Winner North America


"This image represents human neural stem cells from fetal cortex. Cells are stained for nuclear (Hoechst, blue), neuronal (TUJ-1, green), and astrocyte (GFAP, red) markers.


This image is one of many taken from BCI’s growing platform of human neural stem cell differentiation assays. BCI uses this assay along with several others in its neurogenesis platform to identify clinical-stage compounds, novel targets and compounds optimal for CNS indications.


Miriam Ascagni, DIBIT San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Italy: Winner Europe


Co-culture of murine macrophages and


mesoangioblast stem cells stained for macrophage CD11b (red), mesoangioblast myosin (green) and DNA (blue).


Mr Zengqi Sun, Head of the Ministry of Scientific and Technology, Mr Mingkai Zhu, Vice President of China Instrument and Meters Association presented the current market analysis and future development prospect for industry, following a discussion with major domestic and international key manufacturers and researchers. Mr Peng Han, head of the National Pharmacopoeia Committee and Mr Wei Yong, Head of research of the Inspection and Quarantine Institute also talked about current policy and regulation. There were also several awards namely ‘Most Significant Instruments of the Year 2009’, ‘Most Market Leading Manufacturers of the Year 2009’ and ‘Most Successful Distributor of the Year 2009’ which were announced at the close of the conference.


The Top 10 Significant Instruments of the Year 2009 in China are: Domestic brands: 1. CHI600D Electrochemistry Analyser (Shanghai Chenhua Yi Qi Ltd)


2. FTIR Spectrometer (Tianjin GangDong Scientific & Technical Development Co Ltd)


3. 1901 UV Spectrophotometer (Beijing Purkinje Gerneral Instrument Co Ltd)


4. P1201 High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (Dalian Elite Analytical Instruments Co Ltd)


5. RE-52A/52AA Rotary Evaporators (Shanghai Ya Rong Ltd.) 6. APLE-2000 Accelerated Solvent Extractor (Beijing Titan Instruments Co Ltd)


7. Easysizer20 laser particle analyser (Zhuhai Omec Technology Co Ltd)


8. GC-MS3100 gcms-qp2010 plus (Beijing East & West Analytical Instruments Inc.) 9. GC9710 gas chromatograph


TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO.


Overestimating DNA Amounts by UV Spectrophotometry? Consider the Plastic


Microfuge tubes are one of the most commonly used pieces of labware in molecular biology labs around the globe. While great for holding and storing small samples, the chemicals used in the manufacturing of the plastic could be leading to measurement errors for researchers. Kevin Lewis and his colleagues from Texas State University in San Marcos, TX describe their findings [1] that indicate that UV light–absorbing chemicals are capable of leaching from polypropylene microtubes into samples, leading to erroneous measurements of nucleic acid concentration.


The authors surveyed a series of commercially available polypropylene microfuge tube brands under various experimental conditions and found that leaching occurred among all tubes examined.


Using mass spectrometry they identified a complex mixture of small molecular weight chemicals that absorbed UV light strongly at 220 and 260nm, wavelengths normally used to detect and measure protein and DNA concentrations. The leached chemicals resulted in concentration overestimates up to 300%.


“It was quite surprising that leaching of chemical additives which absorb light at the same wavelengths as DNA and proteins had not been described before because it is so ubiquitous among commercially available plastic tubes and biochemists have been using these small plastic tubes for many decades,” said Lewis.


Although Lewis and his co-author Gary Beall do not have a solution for the problem, they are encouraged by recent trends in microtube manufacturing. “Some manufacturers have recently begun offering tubes that contain a reduced number of additives,” noted Lewis. For studies involving analysis of biological samples by absorbance spectroscopy, Beall and Lewis conclude that at the moment the use of polypropylene tubes with less additives appears to be the best way to reduce measurement errors due to leaching.


[1]. Interference with spectrophotometric analysis of nucleic acids and proteins by leaching of chemicals from plastic tubes L. Kevin Lewis, Michael H. Robson, Yelena Vecherkina, Chang Ji, and Gary W. Beall BioTechniques, Vol. 48, No. 4, April 2010, pp. 297–302


TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 3 2


(Zhejing Fuli Analytical Instrument Co Ltd) 10. GDYN-106SD Pesticide Analyser


(Changchun Jilin Little Swan Instruments Co Ltd)


Overseas brands: 1. Agilent 7890A gas chromatograph 2. Agilent 7890A/5975C G-C MS 3. PerkinElmer Atomic Absorption Spectrometer 4. Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser particle analyser 5. Pynnco CEM MARS microwave digestion system 6. Anton Paar DMA digital densitometer 7. Foss Kjeltec 8400 Kjeldahl apparatus 8. Thermo Fisher iCAP 6000 ICP-OES 9. Shimadzu UV-3600 10. Shimadzu LC-20A Prominence


The Top 10 Market Leading Manufacturers of the Year 2009 in China are: 1. Thermo Fisher 2. Agilent Technology 3. Shimadzu 4. PerkinElmer 5. Varian Technology 6. Mettler-Toledo 7. Anton Paar 8. Dionex 9. Analytik Jena AG 10.Waters


The most successful distributor in China is Tianjing Techcomp Ltd. For more information please email cindy@intlabmate.com


2009 China Scientific Instruments Annual Conference and Awards


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