Laboratory product news in brief

LabTechnologist.com presents a round-up of new products that have been introduced to the laboratory equipment market of late, including items from Matrical, Millrock Technology, AnaSpec, Lab M and ibidi. Matrical triple product launch for labs ​ Matrical open up with the first of a trio of offerings. SQUIRT is the company's, new benchtop plate washer technology licensed from Nuvogen Research. The patent pending SQUIRT utilises a unique slit manifold design that ensures gentle washing of cellular monolayer without cell removal associated with conventional probe-based washers. User intervention for fitting and re-alignment between microplate format changes is no longer necessary as SQUIRT accommodates all SBS formatted plates (96, 384, and 1536). Variable wash angle, dispense speed, and pressure settings allow for optimising cell-based or ELISA assays, with wash times under 10 seconds in all formats. Complimentary to the SQUIRT technology is its new automated cell culture system, MACCS that offers a cost effective solution for a variety of applications including drug discovery research. The system offers a modular, expandable design compatible with labware including Roboflasks, T-flasks, shaker and spinner flasks, microtiter plates and roller bottles. When used with the MatriMix Spinner Flask, the MACCS is able to monitor cell supply via on-line cell monitoring. Vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP) sterilisation and Hepa filtration ensures a continuously sterile environment. In addition, a six-axis robotic arm provides high throughput, and motion control for gentle processing of cell cultures and various consumables. The incubator module design ensures uniform temperature, CO2, and humidity control. And finally Matrical have come up with its attempt to enhance throughput and reduce risk of contamination with the MatriMix. The MatriMix Spinner Flask is a patent pending disposable one-litre flask moulded from virgin polycarbonate. The automation friendly flask is fitted with a central magnetic stir paddle that maximises nutrient flow and dead volume. It boasts a tear-drop shape that breaks up laminar flow and allows for uninterrupted aspiration while spinning. MatriMix enhances throughput reducing the risk of contamination by eliminating the multiple wash steps between culture transfers. The flask offers media capacity of 75uL - 1000mL (2.5 - 32oz). Hydrogen Peroxide Freeze Dryer ​​Millrock Technology has also put their name in the hat, offering freeze dryers that are able to be sterilised with Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). H2O2 provides a validatable sterilisation method that is less expensive than steam sterilisation. In addition, it is much faster than steam sterilisation providing faster system turn-around. The Revo and Max Series freeze dryer lines offer shelf areas up to 20 sq ft and condensing capacity to 30 litres with features such as full PC/PLC control and optional 21CFRPart11 software. Labelled and unlabeled anti-Actin antibodies ​ Proteomics solution provider AnaSpec add to its core antibody and dye technologies, introducing a suite of labelled and unlabeled anti-Actin antibodies. The company have made headway in recent months with a focus on three core technologies: peptides, detection reagents (dyes, assay kits, & antibodies), and combinatorial chemistry. AnaSpec have included a number of labelling options that include biotin, conventional fluorescent dyes, and AnaSpec's proprietary line of HiLyte dyes. Actin is a highly conserved protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. Actin filaments are constituents of the cytoskeleton and play essential roles in regulating cell shape, cell division, cell junctions, cell signalling, and movement. Actins are divided into three classes - alpha, beta and gamma. At least six Actin isotypes have been identified in mammalian cells. Alpha Actins are found in muscle (a-skeletal, a-aortic smooth, a-cardiac, and ?2-enteric smooth). Beta and gamma isoforms are prominent in non-muscle cells. Smooth muscle a-Actin is important because its expression is mostly detected in vascular smooth muscle cells. Anti-Actin antibodies stain smooth muscle cells in vessel walls, gut wall, myometrium, myoepithelial cells, and is reactive with tumours arising from smooth muscles and myoepithelial cells. Microbiology in colour Lab M's efforts to improve the isolation and identification of a variety of micro-organisms have resulted in its Harlequin chromogenic media, designed to help eliminate or reduce the need for subculture and confirmatory biochemical tests. The Harlequin range now includes media for Listeria monocytogenes isolation, the enumeration of coliforms, and E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella species isolation. Chromogenic media represent a significant advance in microbiological culture in recent years. They provide a rapid, accurate means of isolating and enumerating target micro-organisms based on the detection of specific enzyme activities. Lab M's Harlequin Listeria Chromogenic Agar (Agosti & Ottaviani formulation) was the first chromogenic dehydrated Listeria medium as specified by ISO 11290. Designed for food industry applications, it can be used as the primary isolation medium for L. monocytogenes in foodstuffs and related materials. Similarly, Harlequin Salmonella ABC (Freeman Formulation) aids the isolation of Salmonella spp. from both food and clinical samples. Harlequin mLGA (membrane Lactose Glucuronide Agar) is used to isolate coliforms from water potentially contaminated with sewage. The medium helps reduce the number of filters used per test sample, and aids the recovery and identification of coliforms and E. coli. When isolating E. coli O157:H7 amongst other non-sorbitol fermenting E. coli, Harlequin SMAC-BCIG (Sorbitol MacConkey Agar with BCIG) helps reduce 'false-positive' results, while Harlequin TBGA (Tryptone Bile Glucuronide Agar) was developed for the simple enumeration of E. coli without the need for membranes or pre-incubation. Angiogenesis assays in slide format ​ And finally, solutions supplier for bio-microscopy ibidi GmbH, has released a new carrier for angiogenesis assays, the µ-Slide Angiogenesis. The µ-Slides represent a new family of flow-through devices for the functional analysis of living cells and consisting of different slide types for cell-culture and high-end optical microscopy. Angiogenesis remains one of the fastest growing research fields, as the formation of new blood vessels plays a crucial role in the developmental biology of embryos as well as in cancer research. The most established assays used to analyze new vessel formation in vitro are the 'tube formation' and the 'sprouting assay'. In both cases, the formation of new blood vessels is simulated on a gel matrix. "We have developed a 'well-in-a-well' structure, which drastically reduces the amount of matrix material and solves the classic meniscus problems," said Roman Zantl, head of R&D at ibidi. "Via the miniaturised system of the inner well, the required amount of matrix is reduced to a value of 10 µl. The unique geometry of the slide places the cells that need to be imaged in the same focal plane, which strongly improves the imaging quality of the assays."