Appointments

Dr. Brian H. Rowe, a University of Alberta clinician-scientist, is the new scientific director of CIHR’s Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. Dr. Rowe is a professor of Emergency Medicine and an adjunct member of the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, a practicing emergency physician and a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Evidence-based Emergency Medicine. He is also the scientific director of

Dr. Brian H. Rowe

the Alberta Health Services’ Emergency Strategic Clinical Network, as well as the former Associate Dean (Clinical Research) and co-director of the Evidence-based Practice Centre in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He obtained his medical degree and received training in emergency medicine at the University of Ottawa; he completed his graduate research training at McMaster University. He is the author of over 440 peer-reviewed publications and 30 book chapters.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has hired James R. Empfield as its new senior vice president, Drug Discovery. Reporting to Dr. Simon Pimstone, president and CEO, Dr. Empfield will be responsible for leading drug discovery chemistry, manufacturing, and other preclinical activities that support the growth of Xenon’s discovery and development pipeline. Prior to joining Xenon, Dr. Empfield served as vice president, Drug Discovery and Chemistry; co-head of Research, Boston at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. from 2011 until August 2015. From 2006 to 2011, he was director, CNS Chemistry Department at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and held various other positions at AstraZeneca from 1990 to 2006. Dr. Empfield has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, a M.S. in Chemistry from Bucknell University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Lebanon Valley College.

The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance has named Martin Yuill as its new director, Incubation Services. Yuill is an experienced executive who has led business startups, turnarounds, and restructurings for companies in diverse industries, including: consulting, technology, innovation management, veterinary pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, industrial products, pet consumables, and value-added timber products. He has also launched and built several public private partnerships, non-profits, and business incubation programs. Martin most recently served as both president, CEO and director of Incubation and Acceleration at the Greater Peterborough DNA Cluster, and director of Client Services at the Peterborough Region Angel Network (PRAN). In 2008, he launched the ORIC Kelowna Innovation Centre as the first best practice knowledge economy business incubator in the interior of British Columbia, and, in 2013, launched The Cube as the first technology incubation program in eastern Ontario.

RepliCel Life Sciences Inc. has promoted Lee Buckler to the position of CEO and president, effective immediately. Buckler has served as RepliCel’s VP of business and corporate development since October 2014. He holds a Bachelors of Education and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. Since 2000, he has been an executive in the cell therapy industry first spending six years in the Stem Cell Technologies group of companies with Malachite Management and then over two years with Progenitor Cell Therapy. In 2008, he started the Cell Therapy Group, a business development consultancy focused exclusively on the cell therapy industry. Buckler is a frequently invited speaker at industry conferences and an oft-quoted commentator on industry events. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed Lee Buckler

journals and trade publications. He is also on the editorial advisory board for the journals, Regenerative Medicine, Cell and Gene Therapy Insights and BioProcess International. Buckler succeeds David Hall, who has retired after five years leading the company. However, Hall will replace Peter Jensen as chairman of the board, while Jensen will remain with the company as a director. Mr. Hall will also continue in an advisory capacity to the company. The board also appointed Lee Buckler as a director, replacing the company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Rolf Hoffmann. This change in directorship enables Dr. Hoffmann to refocus his time on the advancement of RepliCel’s clinical trials and the commercialization of its dermal injector device.

Dr. Julie Ducharme has joined Purdue Pharma Canada as its new vice president, R&D. Fluently bilingual, Dr. Ducharme brings to Purdue almost 20 years industry experience in drug discovery and early drug development, including 16 years at AstraZeneca, where she held roles of increasing accountability, culminating as the lead for the company’s R&D strategy for their analgesia portfolio. Most recently, she was general manager of Human Health Therapeutics at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Under her leadership, Human Health Therapeutics became a leading portfolio at NRC, working with biotech firms in the development of biologics, vaccines, and delivery of large molecules to the brain. An expert in the fields of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, Dr. Ducharme is also an adjunct professor of pharmacy at the Université de Montréal and sits on several scientific advisory boards.

ESSA Pharma Inc. reports that Dr. David Parkinson has stepped in as company president and CEO. He replaces Bob Rieder who announced his departure from the company and resignation from its board of directors. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Parkinson was serving as a director of the company and he will continue acting in that capacity. Dr. Parkinson past roles include: vice president, Global Clinical Oncology for Novartis; vice president, Oncology Development at Amgen; Sr. vice president, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec and as the CEO of the diagnostics company Nodality. Most recently he has been serving as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA). Prior to joining industry, Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, serving as chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as acting associate director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program. He is a past chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics advisory committee, a past member of the FDA’s Science Board, and is a recipient of numerous awards including the FDA’s Cody Medal.

BioAmber Inc. announces that George F.J. Gosbee is joining its board of directors replacing Henry “Pete” Linsert, Jr. who resigned his board seat for personal reasons. George Gosbee brings extensive capital markets experience and deep knowledge of the oil and gas industry. Gosbee has been elected a Class 2 director, to hold office until the 2018 annual meeting of stockholders. He will serve on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Compensation Committee. His career spans over 20 years in corporate finance, investment banking, global capital markets and advisory. Prior to founding AltaCorp Capital in 2010, he was chairman, president and CEO of Tristone Capital Global Inc., a global energy investment firm which he founded.

feature

by sini suomalainen

Improve Nucleic Acid Extraction

using an Adjustable Tip spacing Pipette

The Thermo Scientific™ KingFisher™ Duo Prime automated purification system offers a fast way to extract high quality nucleic acids in low- to medium-throughput labs. With the Thermo Scientific™ E1-ClipTip™ Adjustable Tip Spacing Equalizer Multichannel Electronic Pipette it is possible to enhance the extraction process by using only one tool to do all of the pipetting - adding samples, reagents and magnetic beads on the deep-well 96-plate or 12-well elution strip can be done entirely using one pipette.

The E1-ClipTip Equalizer 6-channel, 15-1250 μL pipette will save valuable lab time and reduce the risk of incurring injuries related to the repetitive motions required in the process.

Introduction

The samples for DNA extraction with the KingFisher Duo Prime purification system may vary from plant leaves to mouse ears, or any organism of interest. The sample can be extracted using a variety of sample vessels available; e.g. blood tubes of different sizes, 15 mL/50 mL conical tubes, microcentrifuge tubes or microplate formats.

The KingFisher Duo Prime purification system works in standard 24- and 96-plate formats and typically there is a need to use several pipettes of different volume settings to fill the reagents on the plate and the elution strip. However, the need to switch between pipettes has been removed.

Thermo Scientific KingFisher deepwell 96-plate and KingFisher Duo Prime elution strips can easily be filled using the E1-ClipTip Equalizer pipette. The adjustable tip spacing feature makes it possible to transfer samples from tubes to plates, and dispense magnetic particles and buffers effortlessly with multi-dispensing pipetting functionality. It is also easy to program, save and name a ready-to-use protocol to fill a plate for routine applications in the Programs mode. E1-ClipTip pipettes feature a unique Matrix function that utilizes step-based programming which allows the creation of fully customized pipetting protocols. As such, this provides an ideal option for users that require a variety of pipetting functions in a unique or specific order to complement different research protocols.

In this article, the simplicity of using the E1-ClipTip Equalizer 6-channel, 15-1250 μL pipette to dispense samples and reagents on the KingFisher Duo Prime is described with an example of DNA extraction from human cells. One pipette is used for all sample and reagent steps with easy access to useful functions such as mixing and multi-dispensing, to increase pipetting efficiency.

table 1 e1-cliptip pipetting function list for dispensing kingfisher cell and tissue dna kit samples and reagents for kingfisher duo Prime.

15-1250 μL pipette was programmed for pipetting all samples and reagents for DNA purification from human cells using the KingFisher Cell and Tissue DNA Kit on the KingFisher Duo Prime purification system. 12 parallel samples of 5 x 105 HeLa cells were used for testing. Cell lysis was performed according to kit instructions and the lysed samples were pipetted from microcentrifuge tubes to the KingFisher deep-well 96-plate using a pre-programmed E1-ClipTip Equalizer 6-channel, 15-1250 μL pipette. Two programs were generated using the Matrix function. One program was created to guide users through the sample row pipetting “KF CT Sample row Duo” and another one for pipetting washing and elution buffers “KF CT Buffers Duo”. Shortcuts can be created for the most commonly used programs on the E1ClipTip main menu for straightforward and quick access in the laboratory.

KingFisher Cell and Tissue DNA Kit instructions were followed to adjust steps and volumes on the E1-ClipTip program according to Table 1. Thermo Scientific ClipTip 1250 pipette tips were used in all pipetting steps. The samples and reagents were pipetted on the KingFisher deep-well 96 plate except for the Elution Buffer, which was pipetted on the KingFisher Duo elution strip.

In order to achieve uniform results, it is extremely important that a homogenous solution of magnetic beads is reached. To ensure this evenness of bead distribution, the magnetic beads are mixed using the pipette, before aspiration of the solution for multiple