NEWS
Eppendorf advancing STEM education
Laboratory consumables firm Eppendorf, through its European outreach activities, is supporting various initiatives dedicated to addressing persistent challenges in STEM education. Demand for talent in strategic
sectors such as digital technologies and healthcare continues to grow, whilst recent data shows that nearly 30% of EU students do not reach minimum proficiency in maths at the age of 15 years. The European Commission’s STEM Education Strategic Plan is intended to help reverse this trend and encourage more young people, especially girls, to pursue further study and careers in STEM. Against this backdrop,
Eppendorf EMEA is supporting various programmes intended to spark scientific curiosity in young people, making science fun and accessible. Through a
long-standing collaboration of
more than 10 years with the Vienna Open Lab, Eppendorf EMEA delivered the annual Eppendorf Kids Academy in April 2026. This year’s week-long course brought together students from local schools for hands-on workshops where they gained experience in laboratory- based experiments. In Cambridgeshire, UK, Eppendorf
EMEA is supporting STEM access through school partnerships and site visits. As part of the Hertfordshire County Council’s Access to All project, the company partnered with schools in Stevenage to welcome students to its UK headquarters, where they toured facilities and saw how Eppendorf’s instruments are used in life science research.
Eppendorf hosts its own Corporate
Kids Day event inviting school children to its laboratories to explore the variety of careers available in the life sciences. As part of this year’s event in April, 25 children were invited to join their parents at the Hamburg HQ and spent time with teams in production, the so- called Future People technical academy, and R&D.
A&E testing finds 2,000 HIV cases
Nearly 2,000 people unknowingly living with HIV have been diagnosed by a pioneering NHS programme, which tests anyone needing a blood test in A&E, saving lives and preventing new infections, new figures show. Under the first of its kind, large-scale
programme, adults in need of a blood test in A&E in 88 areas of England with the highest rates of HIV are routinely tested for the virus alongside hepatitis B and C unless they opt out. Latest NHS data show that 1,900 previously undiagnosed cases of HIV have now been identified by the programme since it began in April 2022. Almost all (93%) individuals diagnosed
by the programme had no record of a prior HIV test – according to research by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – which health chiefs believe shows the initiative is reaching people who are unlikely to be tested routinely through other routes. The data comes as a major new
economic evaluation study, published in The Lancet HIV, estimates that the first 802 new diagnoses from the programme’s initial phase, will prevent around 187 HIV- related deaths and 28 new transmissions over the next 20 years. The research – conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care
Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Evaluation and Behavioural Science at University of Bristol – found the programme is cost- effective and is enabling people to start life-saving treatment sooner, improving health outcomes and reducing onward transmission. The HIV Action Plan 2025-2030,
published by DHSC in collaboration with UKHSA and NHS England, sets out the government’s approach to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030. It will continue the success of the blood-borne virus ED opt-out testing programme, investing £156 million from April 2026 to March 2029 to deliver opt-out HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing in emergency departments in very high and high HIV prevalence areas. Walker JG, Baggaley RF, Myring G, et al. Cost-effectiveness of emergency department opt-out testing for HIV in England: a modelling study. Lancet HIV. Published online June 25, 2026. doi:10.1016/S2352- 3018(26)00109-8
First fully automated diagnostic for HDV
Roche has introduced a new hepatitis D virus (HDV) test, the first fully automated diagnostic solution to identify the most severe form of viral hepatitis. The new HDV test is a diagnostic tool
for the detection and quantification of hepatitis D virus (HDV) RNA, available for use on the cobas 5800/6800/8800 systems, in countries accepting the CE mark. The new diagnostic test aims to help healthcare providers in identifying patients and monitoring their care more effectively alongside newly available treatments. Hepatitis D, which globally affects an
estimated 12 million people, is a unique ‘satellite virus’ that can only infect people who already have the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Because of this relationship, it can occur as a co-infection, that is, being infected with both viruses at once,
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or a super-infection, which is being infected with HDV after already having chronic hepatitis B. Co-infection could explain about 1 in 5 cases of liver disease, and super-infection being particularly dangerous with over 90% of cases becoming chronic and accelerating to liver damage. Despite the severity of the disease,
testing has often been limited to manual methods or laboratory-developed tests that can vary in consistency. The cobas HDV test is the first high-throughput, fully automated HDV assay on the market and addresses the urgent need for a consistent, widely accessible solution. This is particularly important now that specific treatments for HDV are becoming available in many markets, requiring precise monitoring to ensure they are working and to advance patient care.
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