Students learn to create tissue
In September 2015, Utrecht University and University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht will begin offering a two-year Biofabrication research master’s program in partnership with three foreign universities.
Microbiology
Article • Organ donation
The liquid biopsy
Donor transplant rejection and cancer relapse have two things in common: early recognition is vital and monitoring is hugely challenged.
Article • From lab to POCT
DNA sequencing shift to point-of-care testing
Health analysts have predicted that DNA sequencing will shift from a laboratory-based setup to point of care testing within the next five years.
Redefining diagnostics
New molecular technologies to screen drug-resistant TB are replacing, for example, culture-based tests that are slow, require experienced personnel, and need stringent microbiological safety precautions.
Same-day diagnosis from hand-held device
Scientists in the UK are working to develop a hand-held testing device to provide same day diagnosis from a patient’s bedside. The device will use disposable cartridges and utilise printed circuit board technology (PCB) that will allow a fast and low-cost diagnosis.
GE to expand in fast-growing Life Sciences sectors
GE and Thermo Fisher Scientific announced yesterday that they have entered into an agreement for GE Healthcare to acquire Thermo Fisher’s HyClone cell culture media and sera, and gene modulation and magnetic beads businesses for approximately $1.06 billion.
Article • MEDICA 2013
Two sides of the coin
A one-day course on Infection Prevention and Control (20 November. 9.30 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.) will focus on a vital issue at the Medica Education Conference 2013.
French bio-terrorism network of labs
Born in the USA out of the anthrax scare that followed the 9/11 attacks, the formation of a network of laboratories kept on 24/7 alert against potential bio-terrorism was introduced in France at the end of 2001.
European nanomedicine research
Cancer diagnostics - Nanotechnology is currently being used in oncology to improve early tumour detection, imaging procedures and targeting of cancer therapies. Cancer biomarkers, indicators that are being produced by the body in spreading tumour cells, play an important role in cancer detection, Dr. Jörg Raach reports
Is copper preventing nosocomial infections?
The properties of copper in helping prevent nosocomial infections were debated this October at the Infection Prevention 2013 conference, when Professor Tom Elliott, Consultant Microbiologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, addressed the question: ‘Can the use of copper help prevent infection?’
C.diff associated diarrhoea
Diarrhoea caused by Clostridium difficile, which remains an issue in hospital settings, has been the focus of Cochrane Collaboration scientists, who now suggest that taking probiotics at the same time as antibiotics could help to maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut, particularly as antibiotics can disturb the ecosystem of organisms normally present in the digestive system.
Combating surgical infection risks
Shocking: Air quality checks are infrequent and insufficient in operating theatres. The good news: a new device can now measure pathogens circulating during surgical procedures, John Brosky reports
Do-it-yourself scientific testing
A British teenager, 17-year-old Fred Turner, has won a major accolade for building a DNA testing analyser in his own home for a few hundred euros.
Faster sample analysis for UK and EU hospitals
Run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the new automated Medical Laboratory at the Northern General Hospital has drawn a previously fragmented service into a purpose-built centre.
New cooperation in research on ovarian cancer
Sanofi and the Curie Institute, through its Curie-Cancer partnership under the Institut Carnot label, today announce the establishment of a three-year research collaboration to identify new therapeutic targets for the development of treatments for ovarian cancer.
The Robert Koch Foundation announces the 2013 laureates
Robert Koch Award 2013 goes to Jeffrey I. Gordon for pioneering studies of the human microbiome; Anthony S. Fauci receives the Robert Koch Gold Medal 2013 for outstanding scientific contributions to HIV research
German Cancer Research Center to broaden strategic alliance with Bayer HealthCare
The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Bayer HealthCare (Bayer) will extend their successful strategic research alliance in search of novel cancer therapeutics by focusing their activities also on the field of immunotherapy.
Epigenetic drugs
‘All human body cells contain the same DNA, but every type of cell – for example a muscle cell compared to that of a nerve – has a different gene expression pattern’, said Dr Sonja Stadler, speaking at the 2012 congress of DGKL (German Society for Clinical Chemistry).
DNA sequencing tackles MRSA outbreak
‘This is a dramatic demonstration that medical genomics is no longer a technology of the future – it is a technology of the here and now' Report: Mark Nicholls
A link between adult neurogenesis and memory recovery
The brain of mammals produces new neurons for the whole of their lives. This process, called neurogenesis, enables cognitive functions such as memory or learning, and its decrease is linked to some neuro-psychiatric pathologies and intellectual disabilities.
Instantaneous imaging, without the need for a computer
Olympus has released a new standalone controller for the 5 megapixel DP26 camera. Using the controller, it is possible to view samples and capture images directly on a monitor screen with no need for a dedicated computer.
Promise for controlling'blood-brain barrier'
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have shed light on the activity of a protein pair found in cells that form the walls of blood vessels in the brain and retina, experiments that could lead to therapeutic control of the blood-brain barrier and of blood vessel growth in the eye.
Smartphones and high-tech laboratories to reveal health effects
New technologies for sensing chemicals that people are exposed to and their effects in the body will help scientists work towards a complete picture of how environmental pollutants influence health in a major EU initiative being launched yesterday.
Gene therapy restores sense of smell in mice
A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions report that restoring tiny, hair-like structures to defective cells in the olfactory system of mice is enough to restore a lost sense of smell.
Molecular diagnostics
Research in the field is booming thanks to newly arriving methods to identify gene sequences. Scientists are interested in a wide range of issues from disease-relevant variations of human genetic information to the detection of viral genetic material that supports therapies. Several highlights of current research were presented this spring at the 9th International Symposium on Molecular…