Life Sciences
UK Based $100 Million Life Sciences Group Created with more Acquisitions Planned
Concept Life Sciences, a newly formed international scientific laboratory and consultancy business, has made three acquisitions with a combined enterprise value approaching $100 million. The companies the group has acquired are Peakdale Molecular Ltd, Resource & Environmental Consultants Ltd and Scientific Analysis Laboratories Ltd. Concept Life Sciences is led by Executive Chairman Michael Fort and Chief Executive Officer Alan Morgan.
Michael Fort has significant experience in the life sciences field having most recently held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Synexus Clinical Research where he worked for over 11 years. Michael has been involved in more than five M&A deals with a track record of building substantial value in the SME sector.
Alan Morgan has held a number of senior leadership positions in large global contract research organisations - Covance, ICON and RPS - including managing large laboratory networks across the world. He has particular experience in leading complex teams across multiple countries in highly regulated environments, and has built and developed long term client partnerships encompassing multiple service offerings in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Concept Life Sciences is supported by Equistone Partners Europe. This is the 21st investment from Equistone’s £1.5 billion Fund IV, which sees the mid-market private equity firm secure a majority stake in the newly formed business. The new group is currently focused on laboratory based analytical testing and complex chemistry synthesis and will be accelerating its investment in biological sciences, cell based ADME services, biostorage and stability testing.
Executive Chairman, Michael Fort commented: “Each of the companies we have acquired is a recognised leader in its field with an established client base. We are delighted to have successfully completed the acquisitions and believe, together, these companies will experience growth at an even greater pace and see genuine benefit from being part of Concept Life Sciences. The UK is a leader in life sciences and an excellent base from which to expand an international science group.”
Chief Executive Alan Morgan continued: “These transactions are the first steps in building a comprehensive platform of services for our clients requiring science based innovative solutions. Our objective is to expand our capacity across a broad range of services adjacent to our current capabilities in life, food, and environmental sciences. We have an outstanding management team and substantial financial support to expand through a mix of organic growth and targeted acquisitions. “
Equistone Partners Director, Steve O’Hare commented: “We’ve worked closely with the management team to develop the new group, whilst simultaneously making the foundation acquisitions, which have given entry into high growth markets. The company has established a strong presence nationally and created a platform to target international growth and expand its service offering to existing clients. We also look forward to developing the business further through the execution of its buy-and-build strategy.”
The group currently has over 500 staff in ten core locations, with advanced plans to expand into continental Europe and the USA.
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Consistent and Effi cient Purifi cation of NGS Library Reactions
Amsbio announces MagSi-NGSPREP- a magnetic bead based tool that offers an efficient solution for DNA clean-up and size selection in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) applications. MagSi-NGSPREP supports all standard DNA clean-up protocols encountered during Next-Gen library preparation, including the classical one-sided and two-sided ‘solid phase reversible immobilisation’ (SPRI) size selection protocols.
The simple and flexible protocols employed using MagSi-NGSPREP can be adjusted to your specific application and NGS platform. MagSi-NGSPREP can be
used manually but is also easy to automate for high-throughput processing.
Using MagSi-NGSPREP, DNA fragments are bound directly onto the surface of the magnetic beads, leaving unincorporated nucleotides, primers, primer dimers, and other contaminants in solution. Following this the DNA fragments are eluted with low salt buffer or reagent grade water. The technology for binding of DNA fragments onto the applied magnetic nanoparticle surface does not require use of any hazardous chaotropic buffers. The purification protocols are optimised to provide high yield and purity of the recovered DNA fragments.
MagSi-NGSPREP allows selective binding of DNA with a size cut-off between 100bp and 1kb with specific reagent volume: sample volume ratios. By increasing the volume of MagSi-NGSPREP, the efficiency of binding smaller fragments increases. This enables the user to selectively keep or discard undesired fragment sizes. Depending on which protocol is used, total preparation time using MagSi-NGSPREP is only 20-30 minutes and the hands-on time necessary for the whole procedure is reduced to a minimum. The kit is stable for 1 year when stored at 2-8°C.
30729pr@reply-direct.com New Instrument Measures Cells and Particles as Small as 0.2 Microns
The latest Multisizer 4e from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences features a new 10-micron aperture that enables users to obtain accurate count, size and mass distribution for particles and cells ranging from 0.2 to 1,600 microns. Digital Pulse Processing provides high-resolution analysis in as many as 400 channels for unparalleled performance in pharmaceutical quality control, bioprocessing and industrial applications.
Incorporating the latest technology and software advances, the Multisizer 4e with unique Digital Pulse Processing delivers dynamic size measurements in real time. High-speed signal digitalisation allows the use of various pulse parameters for more accurate cell and particle characterisation. Response is unaffected by particle colour, shape, composition or refractive index. Biotech applications include monitoring of transfection, counting mitochondria, organelles and other intracellular components, and characterising changes in cell size when changes are made to cultures. In these applications the volumetric analysis of the Multisizer 4e provides a more accurate and informative measurement than measuring size alone.
“Counting sub-visible particles, measuring volume as well as count and size, monitoring hundreds of channels at once - all of these features provide analysts with a highly useful and versatile instrument,” said Matthew Rhyner, PhD, Particle Characterisation Senior Global Business Manager at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences.
Sub-visible particle capability means that pharmaceuticals can be analysed for compliance with USP 788 guidelines, to ensure product cleanliness. Multisizer 4e is also compliant with 21 CFR Part 11. Industrial applications range from ink toners to cosmetics, from environmental studies to the monitoring of filter efficiency, and many others.
Instrument operation is completely computer controlled, and intuitive software with wizards and menu driven set-up assists both beginners and experienced users. Sample management system using Smart Technology provides consistency from one analysis to the next. The Multisizer 4e is the newest member of the COULTER COUNTER product family and the latest advancement in a long line of cell counting and sizing instruments.
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Scientific Specialties, Inc, an American manufacturer of consumable plastics for laboratory researchers for over 24 years, has launched a new, comprehensive family of pipette tips designed to provide researchers with the highest level of liquid handling performance.
The Vertex™ Pipette Tips were developed following extensive research to provide users with the highest degree of fluid confidence and control while pipetting. SSI internal studies have indicated their tips provide less fluid retention and less sample loss. All Vertex™ tips are manufactured using SSI’s specially formulated NoStick™ resin.
Through use of this resin, the inner surface of the tip is considerably more hydrophobic than standard industry tips enabling viscous fluids in particular to be dispensed more completely. The finely tapered tip construction and thinner walls eliminate the need for users to touch off their pipettor. Researchers maintain more pipetting control in general, but especially when working with smaller volumes.
SSI has produced a short video detailing their new Vertex™ Pipette Tips. Visit the Vertex™ Pipette Tips microsite at vertextips to watch the video and obtain tip/ pipettor compatibility information.
The new range of tips includes bulk, racked, sterile, and EcoPac® (refill insert) options. They are producing Un-Filtered and Filtered varieties in 10µl, 10µl XL, 200µl, 300µl, 1mL and 1250µl sizes.
The Vertex™ line also includes a time-saving EcoPac® Refill System. The new system does not require any tools or special instructions to enable users to move from an empty insert to a fresh set of 96 tips. The Vertex™ racks were uniquely designed for one-hand operation. A simple press on the front of the lid releases it from the rack; otherwise the lid sits securely closed. The EcoPac® refills provide over a 70% savings in total materials (including products and packaging).
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New Low-Retention Pipette Tips for Life Science Researchers Launched
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