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NOVEMBER 2013 Volume 17, Number 6 R&D News.......................... 1 Pharma Notes..................... 5 Appointments..................... 6 New Products................... 16 App Reviews...................... 18
McMASTER SCIENTISTS UNLOCK SECRETS OF DIABETES DRUG About 120 million people around the world with type 2 diabetes and two million in Canada take the drug metformin to control their disease. While doctors know metformin needs to interact with insulin to be effective, and that it can’t lower blood sugar on its own, no one has been able to explain how and why this happens. Researchers at McMaster University are the first to unlock that mystery with their discovery that metformin works on fat in the liver. Their research was published in the journal Nature Medicine. “The key is that metformin doesn’t work to lower blood glucose by directly working on the glucose. It works on reducing harmful fat molecules in the liver, which then allows insulin to work better and lower blood sugar levels,” said Greg Steinberg, associate professor in the Department of Medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Obesity and is a co-director of the Metabolism and Childhood (MAC)-Obesity Research Program. His research team included scientists in Alberta, Australia and Scotland. Steinberg said that most people taking metformin have a fatty liver, which is frequently caused by obesity. “Fat is likely a key trigger for pre-diabetes, causing blood sugar
to start going up because insulin can’t work as efficiently to stop sugar coming from the liver.” In their detective work to uncover what causes fatty liver, the scientists studied mice that have a “genetic disruption” to a single amino acid in two proteins called acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). These proteins, which are controlled by the metabolic sen-
sor AMP-activated protein kinase, regulate fat production as well as the ability to burn fat. Mice with the mutated proteins developed signs of fatty liver and pre-diabetes even in the absence of obesity. “But what was really surprising was that when obese mutant mice were given metformin, the most common and inexpensive drug prescribed to type 2 diabetics, the drug failed to lower their blood sugar levels,” said Steinberg. “It indicates the way metformin works isn’t by directly reducing sugar metabolism, but instead by acting to reduce fat in the liver, which then allows insulin to work better.” Morgan Fullerton, lead author of the study, added: “Unlike the majority of studies using genetic mouse
models, we haven’t deleted an entire protein; we have only made a very minor genetic mutation, equivalent to what might be seen in humans, thus highlighting the very precise way metformin lowers blood sugar in type 2 diabetes.” “This discovery offers a huge head start in finding combination therapies (and more personalized approaches) for diabetics for whom metformin isn’t enough to restore their blood sugar to normal levels,” said Steinberg. Steinberg’s team at McMaster was supported by grants and fellowships from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
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NEWS U OF S AWARDED OVER $1 MILLION FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH Three University of Saskatchewan researchers have been awarded a total of more than $1 million from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) in support of research that could help prevent, detect and treat the deadly disease.
The grants were awarded to the following College of Medicine researchers: • Francisco Cayabyab, assistant professor of physiology, was awarded $303,468 over three years to use cuttingedge imaging technology, biochemical and electro-
physiological techniques, along with human breast cancer cells, to determine how estrogen triggers potassium ion channel expression and cancer cell growth—work that may ultimately identify new anticancer drug targets that
inhibit breast tumours. • Andrew Freywald, associate professor of pathology, was awarded with U of S co-investigators Scot Leary, assistant professor of biochemistry, and Rajni Chibbar, associate professor Continued on page 3
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Continued from page 2 of pathology, $366,171 over three years, to identify new mechanisms for controlling cancer resistance. This work may lead to new approaches to effectively treat breast cancer by activating a protein that helps to trigger cancer cell death. • Wei Xiao, professor of microbiology and immunology, was awarded with U of S co-investigator Ron Geyer, professor of pathology, $375,000 to determine how the Uev1 gene plays its role in promoting breast cancer and develop reagents specifically targeting the longer form of the gene for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. To see this story online visit http://www.laboratoryfocus. ca/?p=1946
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November 2013
NEWS
CELLULAR TAIL LENGTH TELLS DISEASE TALE Simon Fraser University molecular biologist Lynne Quarmby’s adventures in pond scum have led her and four student researchers to discover a mutation that can make cilia, the microscopic antennae on our cells, grow too long. When the antennae aren’t the right size, the signals captured by them get misinterpreted. The result can be fatal. Quarmby and her team’s work was published in the science journal Current Biology. The researchers discovered that the regulatory gene CNK2 is present in cilia and controls the length of these hair-like projections. This discovery is important because cilia, or flagella, dangle from all of our cells. Their ability to propel some cells, such as sperm, and allow molecular communication in others, for example cellular responses to hormones, determines how we develop from embryos and how our bodies function in adulthood. When cilia are too short or too long they cause various human hereditary diseases and deformities, such as too many fingers or toes, blindness and Polycystic Kidney Disease, which affects one in 600 people. Quarmby and her doctoral student Laura Hilton—senior and lead authors, respectively, on this paper are among
SFU cell biologist Lynne Quarmby’s years of mucking about in pond scum are paying off. She’s made a major cellular discovery about cilia. Photo Courtesy of SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations. the few scientists globally who study cilia-disassembly as opposed to assembly. A crucial part of all cells’ lifecycle is their cilia’s disassembly before cell division and assembly after it. The gene LF4 is a known assembly regulator and prior to this study, scientists thought that assembly speed controlled cilia’s ultimate length or shrinkage. But Quarmby and Hilton have discovered that disassembly speed is also important, and that the
regulatory gene CNK2 plays a key role in controlling it. Similar to how a balance between water pressure and gravity determines the height of a fountain’s stream, a balance of assembly and disassembly speed determines cilia’s length. When growing and shrinking happen simultaneously, cilia length remains constant. The focus of their study of algae cilia was on those with defective CNK2 and Continued on page 4
Dr. Lynn Megeney
NEW RESEARCH SHEDS LIGHT ON ABNORMAL HEART MUSCLE THICKENING AND POTENTIAL TREATMENT larities with cells that are beginning is particularly applicable to certain
While most people would consider a big heart to be a good thing, for heart disease experts, it is often a sign of serious disease. Specifically, it often occurs in people with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure and certain genetic conditions. Now, Dr. Lynn Megeney of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) has made the surprising
discovery that proteins involved in cell death also play a key role in abnormal heart muscle thickening. The research, published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could lead to new treatments for certain forms of heart disease. Several years ago, Dr. Megeney noticed that heart muscle cells undergoing this kind of abnormal growth had many simi-
to undergo an orderly form of cell suicide called programmed cell death. In the current research paper, Dr. Megeney and his team showed that blocking the proteins that control this form of cell death also blocks abnormal heart muscle thickening. The procedure included exposing rats to a number of different drugs that each induce abnormal heart muscle thickening. The rats were then given a form of experimental gene therapy to block cell suicide proteins in the heart. Three weeks later, the rats that received the experimental therapy had much smaller heart muscle cells (37 per cent smaller than those that did not receive the therapy), and smaller hearts overall. In fact, the disease model rats that received the experimental therapy seemed just as healthy as normal rats. “This research is very important scientifically, and potentially clinically as well,” said Dr. Duncan Stewart, a practicing cardiologist who is also CEO and scientific director of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, vice-president of research at The Ottawa Hospital and a professor at uOttawa. “This research
genetic forms of heart disease, as well as to hypertension, which affects about 40 per cent of the adult population.” “An important observation from our work is that proteins from the caspase family, which play a key role in cell suicide, are also activated early in the process of cardiac cell hypertrophy,” added Dr. Pasan Fernando, a co-author on the paper who is also a scientist at Nordion and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and an assistant professor at uOttawa. “By blocking one or several of these proteins, we may be able to not only reduce cardiac disease but also prevent it from even occurring.” This research was funded by the Ontario Research Fund, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Mach Gaensslen Foundation and The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. To see this story online visit http://www.laboratoryfocus. ca/?p=1952
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
NEWS Continued from page 3 LF4 genes. After discovering that cilia with either of the defective genes are abnormally long, they created an algae cell with four cilia (instead of the normal two) with two of the four engineered to glow green. Along with two SFU undergrad students and a University of Toronto undergrad, Quarmby and Hilton watched as the fluorescent green tag began to appear at the tip of the untagged pair of cilia. “We were able to deduce how the mutations affected the cilia’s assembly and disassembly by measuring how much and how quickly green fluorescence appeared at the tip of the untagged cilia,” explains Quarmby. “We knew that we had something important when we saw that cells bearing mutations in both CNK2 and LF4 had the most extraordinarily long cilia. They were unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. My student Laura ran this experiment and oversaw our undergrad researchers. It gave us unique insights into the potentially key role disassembling cilia have in deciding the tails’ length. Further investigation will help us understand how ciliary malfunction causes a progression of diseases.” The SFU undergrads working with Quarmby and Hilton were Kavisha Gunawardane and Marianne Schwarz. The UofT student was Joo Wan (James) Kim. To see this story online visit http://www.laboratoryfocus. ca/?p=1920
A CANADA-US BIG DATA CHALLENGE FOR CANCER
Leading cancer researchers in Canada and the U.S. are teaming up to develop robust methodologies for predicting cancer mutations. Researchers from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), in collaboration with Sage Bionetworks and IBM’s DREAM, announced the ICGC-TCGADREAM Somatic Mutation Calling (SMC) Challenge at the annual RECOMB/ISCB conference. The initiative merges the efforts of the world’s largest cancer genome sequencing consortia, the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), with those of Sage Bionetworks and DREAM. Similar to previous DREAM Challenges, the new challenge will engage a wide range of scientists to
solve a specific problem, in a given time period. To do this, scientific data, tools, scoreboards and the resulting predictive models will be placed into an open Commons. The specific problem this SMC Challenge addresses is the need for accurate methods to identify cancerassociated mutations from whole-genome sequencing data. To address this need, the SMC Challenge will post the raw DNA sequencing data of 10 human tumournormal pairs (5 prostate, 5 pancreatic), comprising approximately 9 terabytes of data, to a high-speed distribution server. Contestants will have six months to perfect their predictive models. The challenge closes in July, 2014. After that, at least 5,000 DNA candidate mutations predicted by participants will be prospectively
validated on an independent sequencing platform by the challenge’s organizers. The accuracy of participants’ predictions will be ranked using the newly generated validation data based on sensitivity, specificity and balanced accuracy amongst other metrics. Canadian OICR researcher and challenge organizer professor Paul Boutros explains that: “Governments around the world have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to sequence cancer genomes to find new drug targets and to develop treatments that are personalized to each person’s cancer genome. But realizing these goals is currently blocked by scientists’ inability to identify mutations in cancer genomes. It is really tremendous that ICGC and TCGA are coming together with Sage
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Bionetworks and DREAM to address this problem using a DREAM Challenge that will set a gold standard that groups around the world can use to understand the cancer genome!” To help accomplish this challenge, industrial partners have stepped up. Google is making their Google Cloud Platform available, including free access to the contest data in Google Cloud Storage and discounted Google Compute Engine cycles. Hitachi has provided free storage to host the data on a 1PB disk donated for cancer genomics. Annai Systems will provide their data management platform and GeneTorrent software. Challenge participants will use the Synapse infrastructure, built by Sage Bionetworks, that allows collaboration by Challenge teams on an open platform. Synapse’s tools and forum will allow Challenge participants to: • record what processing and analysis they’ve done on the data; • submit their predictive models to a real-time leaderboard for scoring; • share their ideas, model code and analysis results with others in the Challenge. “The timing of this Challenge couldn’t be better. ICGC and TCGA recently announced that they plan to jointly analyze a dataset of approximately 2,000 pairs of tumour-normal whole genomes as part of a 2014-2015 Pan-Cancer effort to elucidate comprehensively the genomic changes present in many forms of cancers,” UC Santa Cruz professor Josh Stuart said. “Thus, the winning algorithms selected by this DREAM Challenge will help ICGC/TCGA researchers provide the largest unified view of cancer genome variation to date.” To participate in the challenge, individuals can register at https://www.synapse.org/ #!Challenges:DREAM. In addition, they must be approved by OICR’s ICGC Data Access Compliance Office to access the data. To see this story online visit http://www.laboratoryfocus. ca/?p=1942
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Laboratory Focus November 2013
PHARMA NOTES Cardiome Pharma Corp. (Vancouver, BC) subsidiary, Cardiome International AG, has entered into an agreement with Algorithm S.A.L., headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, to sell and distribute BRINAVESS™ (vernakalant intravenous) exclusively in certain Middle Eastern and North African countries. Under the terms of the agreement, Algorithm has agreed to specific annual commercial goals for BRINAVESS. Financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed. The initial term of this commercial agreement begins this month for the duration of five years and is renewable on an annual basis. Countries covered by the agreement where Algorithm will be able to commercialize BRINAVESS include: Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Iran; Jordan; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libya; Morocco; Oman; Qatar; Tunisia; and United Arab Emirates. Endo Health (Malvern, PA) is buying the Canadian specialty drug maker Paladin Labs (Montréal, QC) for about $1.5 billion, and both will then be folded into a newly-formed Irish holding company. Paladin will continue to be led by Paladin Labs’ current management and will maintain its Montréal headquarters. It will also continueto operate in Canada under its current name, Paladin Labs Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, Paladin’s shareholders will receive 1.6331 shares of New Endo stock and $1.16 in cash, subject to adjustment, for each Paladin share they own upon closing, pursuant to a plan of arrangement under Canadian law. In addition, Paladin’s shareholders will receive one share of Knight Therapeutics Inc., (Montréal, QC) a newly- formed public company in Canada. Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Montréal, QC) has commenced patient enrollment in its first Phase 3 clinical study of MIM-D3
ophthalmic solution for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. MIM-D3 is the first in a class of molecules called TrkA agonists. MIMD3 stimulates the production of mucin, which plays a critical role in the protection and overall health of the ocular surface. Mucins are essential for lubrication; the removal of allergen, pathogens, and debris; and corneal epithelial healing to reduce ocular surface damage. In addition, MIM-D3 may have additional benefits than currently available dry eye therapies, including the potential to improve neural function, which may improve corneal sensitivity and integrity. The Phase 3 trial will further evaluate the safety and efficacy of MIM-D3. Approximately 400 patients will be randomized to receive one per cent MIMD3 ophthalmic solution or placebo twice daily over an eight week period. The primary endpoints of the study are corneal fluorescein staining score in the CAESM and ocular dryness. The safety and comfort of MIMD3 compared to placebo will also be evaluated. ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (Toronto, ON) has successfully completed the required GLP toxicology studies performed by a certified contract research organization confirming that Prometic’s lead drug candidate, PBI-4050, is safe to advance into clinical trial stages. PBI-4050 is a potential therapy to inhibit inflammation and fibrosis which underlies progressive chronic renal diseases and pulmonary fibrosis as well as fibrosis in other organs such as the liver and the heart. Additional data will be presented at the forthcoming American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) annual meeting and at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) annual meeting, both occurring in early November. Angiochem (Montréal, QC) has released the complete analysis results of its Phase 2 clinical study with ANG1005 (a paclitaxelpeptide drug conjugate) in
breast cancer patients with brain metastasis. The data, which includes the complete intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, demonstrated promising signs of anti-tumour activity. Angiochem presented the Phase 2 ITT analysis with ANG1005 in 80 HER2positive and HER2-negative breast cancer patients with brain metastases. Two doses, 650mg/m2 (n=13) and 550mg/m2 (n=67), were evaluated for intracranial anti-tumour responses including response rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) as well as safety and tolerability. In the study, ANG1005 was generally safe and well-tolerated, and demonstrated an adverse event profile consistent with conventional taxane therapy in both HER2-positive and HER2-negative cohorts at both dose levels studied. In addition, patients in both the HER2-positive and HER2negative populations experienced anti-tumour responses including up to 14 patients with intracranial partial responses (PR), 35 patients with stable disease (SD) and six months overall survival in up to 85%. Based on these results, Angiochem will advance ANG1005 into further clinical development including a Phase 2 clinical study in patients with recurrent high grade gliomas which began enrolling in October, and a Phase 2 clinical study in HER2-positive breast cancer patients with brain metastases which will begin enrolling in the first quarter of 2014. Contract research organization JSS Medical Research (Montréal, QC) has acquired LatAm Clinical Trials, a multinational CRO in South and Central America. LatAm Clinical Trials was founded by a group of entrepreneurs in 2005 and has provided clinical research support to the pharmaceutical industry for Phase 1 to 4 and post-marketing studies with offices in the U.S., Colombia and Panama. The clinical research staff is located in the Andean Countries of South America and in Central America, giving access to substantial underutilized medical expertise
and infrastructure throughout an area that includes Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador. LatAm Clinical
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Trials’ geographic reach is extended to additional countries in Latin America through partnerships with other local CROs in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
APPOINTMENTS
Jude Dinges has joined AeternaZentaris Inc. as its new senior vice president and chief commercial officer. The company said it has created
2/19/2012 10:01 AM Page 1
the position of chief commercial officer to coincide with its efforts in becoming a commercially operating company. Dinges began his career nearly 30 years ago as a professional sales representative at Bristol Laboratories and later at Merck & Co. While at Merck, he won multiple company awards, including the President’s Achievement Award in 2001 awarded to one of 32 business directors each year. He also received the Change Agent Award for his market development pre-launch business plan-
ning and contributions to sales force execution, while launching the blockbuster brands Cozaar®, Fosamax®, Singulair®, Maxalt®, Vioxx®, and Vytorin®. After Merck, in 2006 he joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals and in 2008 he became the Respiratory & Infectious Disease Specialty Medicines director. In 2009, he joined Amgen Inc. as executive director of Region Sales, Bone Health Business Unit. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. has appointed Stephen
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Zaruby as its new president and CEO. Previously he was president of Seattle-based ZymoGenetics Inc., which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for US$885 million in 2010. Zaruby joined ZymoGenetics from Bayer where he worked for 20 years in executive roles managing Bayer’s domestic and international anti-infectives, quinolone and hospital/surgical business franchises. The appointment follows up news earlier this month when Isotechnika Pharma officially changed its name to Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. Genome Prairie has named Dr. Lisette Mascarenhas as its new director of Business Development at its Saskatoon Office. In this role, Dr. Mascarenhas will identify and enable the development of industry relevant bioscience projects. During her more than 22 years within the bioscience community, Dr. Mascarenhas has been instrumental in the translation of research discoveries into tangible products and services. She completed a PhD in 1999 and a Masters of Business Administration in 2004 at the University of Saskatchewan. Following the completion of her MBA, she managed a multidisciplinary, multi-million dollar Genome Canada project focused on the development and clinical implementation of diagnostic tools for organ transplant patients. In 2006 she joined AgWest Bio Inc. as vice president of Investments and Health and in 2009, she joined Springboard West Innovations Inc. as a senior innovation officer. Dr. Allan S.Garbutt has officially assumed the role of Alberta Medical Association (AMA) president. Dr. Garbutt is a family physician in Crowsnest Pass and is also a clinical lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary and holds the same position with the University of Alberta. Dr. Garbutt has dedicated considerable time to the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) over the past two decades. He has been a Representative Forum delegate since 1997
and is currently a member of the Board of Directors and serves on many committees. He has been extensively involved with the Section of Rural Medicine, having served as president and presently in the role of past president. He is also a director of the Rural Physician Action Plan. Dr. Garbutt is recipient of the AMA’s Long-Service Award and is a Member Emeritus. He assumes the role from Dr. R. Michael Giuffre. Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. has hired Michael Berendt, a veteran of the life-sciences industry, as its
new chief executive officer. The former president and CEO of Montreal-based Aegera Therapeutics Inc., will take over immediately from Graeme McRae. Berendt has held positions in the research departments of pharmaceutical giants Pfizer Inc. and Bayer Corp. He was also managing director of the life sciences sector at AEA Investors and managing director of Research Corporation Technologies. He became president and CEO of Aegera in 2006.The decision to replace McRae is part of a compromise agreement that was reached in September between the company and its dissident shareholders. McRae will take on the position of founder and chairman emeritus of Bioniche’s board. KGK Synergize Inc. has added Loren Brown to its team as director of business development in the U.S. Brown has over ten years of business development experience and for the past several years, has held the position of associate director of business development for the Burdock Group, a regulatory consulting firm.
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
FEATURE
COMPILED BY SHAWN LAWRENCE
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Laboratory Focus
Readers’ Choice Awards
LABORATORY FOCUS IS PLEASED TO BRING YOU its annual readers’ choice awards, and this year is extra special because it marks the tenth anniversary of doing this! Our goal of course is to engage you, our readers and get your feedback and observations on what you feel are the best in class in terms of the instruments, products, tools and services used in your research laboratories. Below we’ve posted your top choices in nine categories, as well as one bonus question where we wanted to know your favourite lab joke. We’d like to thank all our readers who took the time to participate and we hope you’ll be entertained! So, let’s take a look and see what you, our readers had to say!
MOST RELIABLE INSTRUMENT Laboratory product companies know the importance of building a reputation for reliability when it comes to their products. After all, for consumers brand name reliability ranks right up there with cost savings when purchasing decisions are made. Not surprisingly, over the years we’ve often had the same companies up for this award because consumers simply trust certain brands over others. Beckman Coulter continues its reign in this category as a name that laboratories in Canada have grown to trust. Once again, the company’s line of centrifuges garnered the most votes, with the Avanti J-26S Higher Performance Cetrifuge and the Allegra X-14 Series figuring prominently in your responses. The Waters SYNAPT G2-Si High Definition Mass Spectrometry system slotted in the runner up position with other brand names such as the Thermo Scientific Nanodrop spectrophotometer, Metrohm USA titration and the Optrode liquid handling device also in the mix.
BEST TECH SUPPORT Good gadgets and tools only go so far without the right tech support to address all your trouble shooting problems. When our readers cast their votes for the companies that provide the best tech support, once more it comes down to brand reputation. As such, this year’s winner is no stranger in this category. After being knocked out of top spot by BioRad Life Science in 2012, Waters Inc. with double the votes of its closest competitors easily regained its title. Sliding into second spot was Agilent with Beckman Coulter Canada Inc. coming in third. Honourable mention goes to last year’s champion, as well as Fisher Scientific and Life Technologies.
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Laboratory Focus November 2013
FEATURE
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MOST USER-FRIENDLY EQUIPMENT Most of the voting for this category leaned to various imaging and lab automation systems, particularly those used for high throughput operation. As voting was spread out very evenly, or often the vote was only given to a company, there was no real set winner in terms of an actual product. However, if we were to rank the companies, Hamilton Company, VWR International and PerkinElmer Life Sciences finished in the top three slots. In terms of one particular product Life Technologies/ Invitrogen ELISA test kits received multiple votes. Two other products, both liquid handling tools, the PIPETMAX from Gilson Inc. and the Eppendorf AG Xplorer® Plus Electronic Pipette also received multiple votes.
MUST HAVE CONSUMABLES, KIT OR PRODUCT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
This list included generic items such as water, vials, disposable gloves, glassware and sample containers, and in terms of products, spectrometers, refractometers, pH meters, digital pipettes and centrifuges were all considered necessary to performing work in the lab.
BEST EQUIPMENT UNDER $20,000 Lab purchasers are always on the lookout for the latest innovations in technology but they also have another priority in mind when making purchases: reducing cost. So which product did our readers feel provided the best bang for their buck? Registering the most votes was the Eppendorf 5810R refrigerated bench-top centrifuge. Interestingly, this model of centrifuge from Eppendorf wasn’t the only one that caught our reader’s attention, as votes were divided among many different Eppendorf models, as well as several of their micro-centrifuges. Other products mentioned in this category included the Beckman Coulter Biomek 3000 Workstation and a past winner for this category, the Waters UV-Vis HPLC.
MOST WORTHWHILE SPLURGE, INSTRUMENTS OVER $100,000. Money seems to talk, especially when it comes to big-ticket items like GC/MS or LC/MS systems for the lab. Those with deep pockets (or those wishing they had deep pockets) had the AB SCIEX TripleTOF™ MS 5600+ System as well as the AB SCIEX QTRAP® 6500 LC/MS/MS System at the top of their lists. While doing so, many respondents did point out that sometimes the cost is just too high. That’s where there’s good news for those that can’t afford these big ticket items, as AB SCIEX also offers the TripleTOF 4600 mass spectrometer, a mid-range version of the higherend instrument. Not to be forgotten in the voting was last year’s winner in this category, the GCMS-TQ8030 ultra-fast triple quadruple gas chromatograph mass spectrometer from Shimadzu Corporation which finished a close second. Honourable mention goes to to Agilent with its GC, HPLC, and MS product line including the 1290 Infinity Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (UHPLC).
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
FEATURE MOST VALUABLE ONLINE RESOURCE When lab researchers need information on the go, the site they are most likely to turn to continues to be PubMed. Other top vote getters included SciFinder, Labcompare and of course Google. Our readers also cited several chat forums, especially when deciding on what products to buy.
EQUIPMENT OR PRODUCT THAT GENERATES THE BEST WORD-OF-MOUTH BUZZ There were a number of different products and devices that generated buzz in our Readers Choice survey this year including the BioTek Instruments Cytation3 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader, Agilent Technologies 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS and the Waters - ACQUITY UPC (UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography™) System. Likewise, both the 2013 Pittcon editor choice gold and bronze winners: Senova Systems - pHit™ Scanner calibration-free pH meter and APIX Technology - miniaturised gas chromatography system were also mentioned in your responses. All had many votes, but the winner for this category this year was the Thermo Fisher Scientific Orbitrap MS system.
FAVOURITE LAB CLEAN-UP TIP Laboratory Focus received so many valuable responses to this question, we figured we’d just go ahead and offer up a handful: 1. Use Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser for instrument cleaning 2. Use a bench liner 3. Keep vinegar handy in the lab 4. Use lots of bench coats 5. Use disposable labwares and pre-package reagent, no clean up 6. Limestone is best for acid spills 7. Dettol cleans, disinfects everything and smells better than bleach Other common sense tips: Wear safety glasses at all times in the laboratory Do not eat or drink in the laboratory Be aware of ignition sources, open flames, heat and electrical equipment
BONUS QUESTION: TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE LAB JOKE 1. Q: What is the fastest way to determine the sex of a chromosome? A: Pull down its genes. 2. Bacteria, the only culture some people have 3. Q: What do you do with a sick chemist? A: If you can’t helium, and you can’t curium, then you might as well barium. 4. If the Silver Surfer and Iron Man team up, they’d be alloys. 5. Q: What is the most important rule in chemistry? A: Never lick the spoon! 6. Q: What do physicists enjoy doing most at sporting events? A: The wave. 7. ‘This scientific paper contains much that is new and much that is true. Unfortunately, that which is true is not new and that which is new is not true.’
8. A frog went to visit a fortune teller. “What do you see in my future?” asked the frog. “Very soon,” replied the fortune teller. “You will meet a pretty young girl who will want to know everything about you.” “That’s great!” said the frog, hopping up and down excitedly. “But when will I meet her?” “Next week in science class.” said the fortune teller. 9. Lab joke? Are you sure that isn’t an oxymoron? We’d like to thank all our readers who took time out of their day to take part in our 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards Survey. If you have any suggestions for our 2014 Readers’ Choice Survey, please contact us by email at laboratory_ focus@promotive.net.
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Laboratory Focus November 2013
FEATURE
B Y: I SMA E L F L O R E S , C A RL O S S E P U LV E DA A ND RI C A RDO S Á NCHEZ A GR OL AB ME X I C O AN D A G I L E NT T E C HNO L O G I E S I NC .
Analysis of Low-Calorie Sweeteners in Beverages Table by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Table 1. LC and MS Run Conditions
Abstract
of polymerization higher than eight, such as inulin. The use of such complex mixtures of sweeteners in food and beverage products has generated a need to characterize and quantify the different compounds present in all of these products in order to assure consistency in product quality. The analysis of sugars and natural and synthetic low-calorie sweeteners has been approached with a variety of chromatographic and detection techniques. The method of choice for the determination of artificial sweeteners in different food matrices is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), because of its multianalyte capability, compatibility with the physico-chemical properties of sweeteners, high sensitivity and robustness.1 The highest degree of sensitivity and selectivity is acquired using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry methodology. Positive adduct ESI ionization with neutral pH was used for the aqueous mobile phase in this analysis, be-
An LC/MS method for simultaneous determination of four low-calorie sweeteners in soft drinks has been developed. It is fast and easy to implement, providing routine analyses of beverages with high throughput and low cost per sample.
Introduction Social and health concerns surrounding obesity and diabetes have driven rapid growth for low-calorie sweeteners. This trend has in turn led to the development of new low-calorie sweeteners for use in food and beverages in the last decade. These new additives include both synthetic and naturally occurring compounds which can be used in food and beverage products as single sweeteners or in a mixture. These mixtures can include synthetic and natural low-calorie compounds in addition to natural sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, and large oligosaccharides with a degree
Table Table
1
LC and MS Run Conditions
Flow Rate Gradient
Time (min) 0.0 0.2 1.2 2.2 2.3
MS Conditions Ionization Mode Drying Gas Temperature Drying Gas Flow Nebulizer Pressure Sheath Gas Temperature Sheath Gas Flow Capillary Voltage Nozzle Voltage Resolution
%B 5.0 1 100 100 5.0
Cl
O
HO
Pos Pos Pos
OCH3 O
MRM the four Transition
1.05 0.92 0.93 O O S O N– K+
Collision Fragmentor Energy Voltage low-calorie (V) (V)
811.4/649.4 301.1/185.9 403.1/205.1
55 20 20
OH Cl
HO HO
O
HO H3C
Acesulfame K
OH
195 120 135
HO HO
O
O O HO Low Calorie Sweeteners Article Rev B OH Cl Sucralose
Compound
Retention Time (RT) (Min) Polarity Neg Pos Pos Pos
0.86 1.05 0.92 0.93
MRM Transition
Collision Energy (V)
Fragmentor Voltage (V)
162/82 811.4/649.4 301.1/185.9 403.1/205.1
10 55 20 20
135 195 120 135
Page 4 of 5
OH HO O O
O
OH OH
CH2
• Is recognized nationally by employers • Is based on Canada-wide technology standards • Allows for greater career mobility CSCT members in good standing who have attained the required combination of education and experience in chemical technology need only apply once for the cCT for the one time fee of $25 plus tax. Certification remains valid as long as CSCT membership is maintained.
H O
O OH
for more information or to apply go to
H O CH3
Page 4 Stevioside of 5
September 23, 2011
cCT certification offered by the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology (CSCT)
sweeteners Neg 0.86 analyzed 162/82 using10the method 135
Aspartame
HO
for
Table 2. Multiple Reaction Monitoring Information for Each of the Sweetener Compounds
Become a certified chemical technologist (cct)
ESI with pos/neg switching 300 oC 8 L/min 55 psig 250oC 11 L/min 3,500 V for positive and negative polarity 500 V for positive and negative polarity Unit/unit with the exception of Sucralose, which was widest/unit
Retention Time (RT) Structures of (Min) Polarity
Figure 1
Each of the Sweetener Compounds
Low Calorie Sweeteners Article Rev B
Table 2. Multiple Reaction Monitoring Information for Each of the Sweetener Compounds
Acesulfame K Stevioside Aspartame Sucralose O O N H OH NH2
Table 2
3,500 V for positive and negative polarity 500 V for positive and negative polarity Unit/unit with the exception of Sucralose, which was widest/unit Multiple Reaction Monitoring Information
Agilent ZORBAX RRHD Eclipse Plus C18, 2.1 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm (p/n 959757‐902) 30oC 1 µL A = Water B = Acetonitrile 0.6 mL/min
Column Temperature Injection Volume Mobile Phase
Compound
Capillary Voltage Nozzle Voltage Resolution
Acesulfame K Stevioside Aspartame Sucralose
Table 1. LC and MS Run Conditions LC Conditions Column
LC Conditions
cause acidic aqueous conditions thanPlus sodium, Column Agilent can ZORBAX rather RRHD Eclipse C18, 2.1because × 50 mm,there 1.8 μmis induce the hydrolysis of oligosacchano evidence of the for mationof [M + (p/n 959757‐902) o ride chains, resulting in the30inability 2Li] ions in the mass spectrometer as C Column Temperature to Injection quantifyVolume these molecules1in the number of hydroxyl (OH) groups µLa routine and Phase robust manner. A = Water increases in the sweetener molecule, Mobile = Acetonitrile making it suitable for use with comThe compounds subjectB to such Flow Rate 0.6 mL/min plex mixtures of artificial sweeteners degradation include sucrose, maltTime (min) % B Gradient with natural oligosaccharide sweetose, lactose, melibiose, and raffinose. Even though the analysis 0.0 of these 5.0eners. This would not be possible 0.2 1 sugars is not included in this1.2report, 100with sodium adducts. they can be added to this method at 100 The LC/MS method developed in 2.2 a later time, with no further2.3 optimi- 5.0this application note does not require pre-run derivatization, post-column zation of the ionization conditions, to MS Conditions Ionization with pos/negadditives switching such as CHCl3, or mobile provide a Mode single complete ESI composio C Drying Gas Temperature phase preparation such as the addition analysis of low-calorie 300 sweetenFlow sugars for8different L/min tion of triethylamine and formic acid, ersDrying andGas natural Nebulizer Pressure 55 psig making it arobust method for routine food matrices. o Sheath Gaswas Temperature analysis, with high throughput and Lithium chosen as 250 the CposiSheath Gas modifier Flow L/min low cost per sample. tive charge for this11analysis
September 23, 2011
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
FEATURE Experimental Reagents, Solvents and Chemicals Acesulfame K, Sucralose, Aspartame, and Stevioside standards (Figure 1) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, along with lithium chloride. Acetonitrile was purchased from Burdick and
Figure 2
Jackson. Water was produced in the laboratory using a Millipore Milli-Q Advantage A10 purification system.
Figure 4
Determination of identities and concentrations of sweeteners present in beverages
Instruments An Elma E30H Elmasonic sonicator was used for preparation of cola samples. This method was developed on an Agilent 1290 Infinity UHPLC system coupled to an Agi-
Robust quantitation due to very high signal-to-noise ratios
An example of extracted ion chromatograms (EICs) obtained from a cola (left) and flavored water (right) samples diluted 1,000 fold and injected into the LC/MS system. lent 6460 Triple Quadrupole LC/MS. The instrument conditions used are shown in Table 1. Sample Preparation Soft drink samples, such as flavored water and cola, were diluted 1,000 fold in water containing 0.5 mM LiCl and injected into the LC/MS system. In the case of cola samples, an additional five-minute sonication step was done prior to dilution, in order to eliminate gas bubbles.
Results and Discussion
An example of the extracted ion chromatograms obtained from a blank (water)and a 50 ppb standard mix of the four low-calorie sweeteners, Acesulfame, Sucralose, Aspartame, and Stevioside.
Figure 3
Accurate quantitation using calibration curves with correlation coefficients >0.99
Example of calibration curves with each concentration determined in triplicate, for two commonly used low-calorie sweeteners, Acesulfame (top) and Aspartame (bottom).
The fragmentor and collision energy voltages were optimized for each of the compounds and are listed in Table 2. Sucralose, Aspartame, and Stevioside were detected in positive polarity as (M+7)+1 ions, corresponding to the lithium adduct formation. Acesulfame was detected in negative polarity as (M)–1, corresponding to the loss of the potassium ion. Robust Quantitation The first quadrupole resolution was set at unit (0.7 FWHM) for all the sweeteners except Sucralose, for which the resolution was set to widest (2.5 FWHM). With this setup, injection of the lowest concentration used in the calibration curve, 50 ppb, shows that the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for each of the four compounds was between 1,200 and 37,000 (Figure 2). These extremely high S/N ratios assure accurate and robust quantitation at low concentrations of sweetener. Accurate Quantitation Over a Wide Concentration Range The calibration range for each compound was 50 ppb to 800 ppb, with the exception of Acesulfame, which had a calibration range from 50 ppb to 600 ppb (Figure 3). Taking into account the normal concentrations of these compounds in the beverage products, a 1,000-fold sample dilution would bring the concentration within these calibration ranges. Since
the injection volume is only 1 μL, the matrix effect should be insignificant. Quadratic fit was observed in the calibration curves for some of the compounds, as compared to the expected linear fit (Figure 3), and this phenomenon has already been reported in previous publications.2 This difference in calibration fit may be due to the chemical properties of the compounds,as well as the chromatography conditions used for the analysis, including the column and the gradient. Reliable Results Two beverage samples, cola and flavoured water, were tested at a 1,000-fold dilution (Figure 4). The results obtained in the analysis of the cola samples corresponded to the identity and concentrations of the sweeteners listed on the each beverage label. In the case of the flavored water samples, the sweeteners identified in the analysis corresponded to those listed on the drink’s label. No concentration values for the sweeteners were listedon the label for comparison to the quantitative results.
Conclusions This application note demonstrates an LC/MS analysis for four low-calorie sweeteners at concentrations far below the normal usage in the beverage industry, allowing a “dilute and shoot” approach for a fast, easy and low cost determination of identity and concentration.
References 1. A. Zygler, et al., Trends Anal. Chem.28, 1082-1102 (2009). 2. A. Zygler, et al., Anal. Bioanal. Chem.400, 2159-2172 (2011).
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Laboratory Focus November 2013
FEATURE
BY: KRISTINA KLETTE, DON JANEZIC, BOBBY CHAVLI AND ANNETTE SUMMERS
Automated Cell Culture 101
Standardizing reliable cell culture automation is critical for high-throughput operations
IN RECENT YEARS, there has been a dramatic increase in the need for automated cell culture and maintenance for groundbreaking research and clinical applications. Standardizing and automating cell culture processes are especially important as institutions and companies move closer to larger-scale cell biology, while expanding their assay development for cell-based therapies and drug development processes. Automated cell culture trends and model systems The cell culture and maintenance segment of laboratory automation accounts for approximately 25 per cent of automated systems used for liquid handling robotics. The most common applications suited for automation include cell line development for monoclonal antibodies (mAb) producing cells, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) research, cryobanking, and cell-based assays and cellular expression systems. All of these applications require cell maintenance and culture as a routine part of their processes. One of the largest trends in laboratory automation is stem cell research. There has been a “big increase in demand for culturing genetically diverse human iPSC lines, and automated differentiation of those iPSC into disease-specific lines,” says Chris Napolitano, senior systems architect at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute (NYSCF). NYSCF is dedicated to automating and standardizing processes that isolate key stem cell lines.
Choose the right pipetting system Companies and researchers have many reasons to look to laboratory automation for their cell culture needs: manual processes are time-consuming, labour intensive, and prone to error. When evaluating an automated system, important factors include ease of use, standardization, flexibility, throughput, and walk-away time. Other critical aspects to consider are how the system solves each process step, a company’s service and support reputation, and their technical expertise. Figure 1 (courtesy of NYSCF) shows a high-level summary of the cell culture processing workflow. When evaluating an automated system, such as the Hamilton Robotics pipetting system, NYSCF stated that numerous automation objectives need to be considered. It is critical to have the ability to create reproducible stem cells and panels of differen-
tiated cells. Stringent quantitative assay control and parallel processing of samples at scale are other aspects to be considered. “Cell line throughput was a major factor that was considered prior to the purchase of our system,” says Napolitano. “It was really important to know how many cell lines can be made in a particular amount of time.” Other factors they considered when choosing their workstation, according to Napolitano, were: “flexibility in having a platform perform many different activities when requested, ease of maintenance, ease of operator use, long walk-away times, and flexibility to adapt to changes in technology and techniques.”
Figure 1
Cell culture processing using the Hamilton Robotics pipetting system (courtesy of NYSCF).
Figure 2
Illustration of CO-RE tip technology.
Automated cell culture basics For cells to grow in culture, automation must maintain very tight control over multiple growth parameters such as a sterile and comfortable environment, appropriate nutrients, and maintenance of numbers and confluence. Several automated systems are available to maintain these parameters. It can be challenging to choose the right combination of devices that can maintain each aspect of the process while forming a cohesive overall solution. This article describes the different types of equipment that make up an automated cell culture system, and outlines how one company, Hamilton Robotics, has proposed to solve and automate each process and bottlenecks associated with the cell culture routine.
Automated liquid handling robotics Central to any automated cell culture system is the liquid handler, which must be able to perform a range of tasks associated with cell culture, including interfacing with equipment such as incubators and imagers. When considering an automated cell culture system and an appropriate liquid handler, evaluate the mode of pipetting and the sterility associated with this process, as well as run time
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November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
FEATURE Figure 3
Media fill module for media exchange.
and software stability. In addition, labs should consider how cells are kept in suspension to pipette them for plating, passaging and harvesting, how to handle large volumes of media for media exchanges, and how to transfer adherent cells from one vessel to another. Hamilton’s liquid handling Microlab® STAR robots are perfectly suited for handling the demands of automated cell culture. Pipetting Also critical in transitioning to an automated system is the use of high-performance pipetting air displacement technology used in electronic handheld pipettes with sterile disposable tips. This technology eliminates the need for system liquids and self-contained liquid channels, reducing the contamination risk associated with backfilled liquid pipetting technologies that employ multiple tubes, pumps, valves, and connection fittings. The technology is beneficial when working with sterile cell cultures and helps to eliminate demanding and costly decontamination routines. Hamilton Robotics has an air displacement pipetting technology that also enables a broad dynamic pipetting range of 0.5 µL to 1 mL or 200 µL to 5 mL within the same pipetting channels. This large dynamic fluid range allows users to handle larger volumes of cells and maintain them in larger vessels, and enables easier media exchange. Pipetting channels use Compressed O-Ring Expansion (CO-RE™) technology, central to Hamilton Robotics’ air displacement pipetting platforms. This technology enables pipette tips to attach and detach with minimum pressure and uses a lock-and-key mechanism for tip attachment [Figure 2]. It also enables reproducible pickup of tips and tools and provides superior positional precision of +0.1 mm in all axes. The CORE attachment of tips provides gentle tip ejection, eliminating splashing and production of aerosols further reducing potential contamination. CO-RE technology provides a universal tool for accessing CO-RE grippers that can
Figure 4
Hamilton Heater Shaker for heating and assisted adherent cell passaging.
move deck labware, ensure sterile manipulation of culture vessel lids, and enable chamber slide lid handling. Hamilton Robotics accessories for cell culture processing Plating cells – Researchers often must start their cell culture experiment with a large number of assay-ready cell plates or batches of cells that originate from a single, large suspension. Hamilton Robotics provides users with a way to maintain a continual suspension of a large volume of cells for longer runs of cell-plating experiments during which cells can often settle. With Hamilton’s Suspension Module, cells are kept in suspension with a disposable, sterile polypropylene suspension trough and are magnetically driven with stainless steel paddles. This tool enables the liquid handling robot to continually access cell suspensions without extra pipette mixing steps, saving time and improving cell viability. Media exchange – Automated cell culture systems require large volumes of fresh media from a sterile source container to be delivered to the pipetting platform when performing media exchanges. To meet this need, Hamilton Robotics offers a Media Fill Module [Figure 3] that allows the delivery of media or other reagents from source containers stored in a 4° C refrigerator that may be placed on a shelf beneath the pipettor. When called for in a method, media for exchange is pumped from the refrigerator through a heating coil that pre-warms the media to 37° C before delivering it to a reagent trough on the deck of the pipettor. The Media Fill Module is compatible with commonly used media bags and containers, has sensors for automated volume control, provides a sterile, disposable fluid path, and is compatible with the 1 mL and 5 mL independent channels as well as 96 and 384 multi-probe heads (MPH). Passaging and harvesting cells – Both suspension and adherent cells can be grown on an automated cell culture system. As their name im-
Figure 5
plies, suspension cells are grown in suspension and do not need to attach to a surface. Therefore, automated manipulation of these cells is considerably simpler than passaging and harvesting adherent cell lines, which require a surface such as plastic, basement membranes, or microcarriers to grow and thrive. In addition, for adherent cells to be passaged, they must be dissociated from the culture vessel in which they adhere. Hamilton offers several solutions for manipulating and passaging both adherent and suspension cell cultures. • Multiflex Tilt Module – Hamilton offers a Multiflex Tilt Module, which is an on-deck accessory enabling more efficient removal of media, wash buffers (i.e., PBS), dissociation reagent, and cell suspension from culture vessels when performing common tasks such as passaging or harvesting. The tilt module, which is compatible with all SBS format labware (e.g., Omni 6- to 96-well plates), tilts at various angles for maximum reagent and cell removal, thus allowing users to reduce dead volume and residual reagent left over after volume transfers. • Heater Shaker – To assist with dissociation of adherent cells from a culture vessel while maintaining viability, Hamilton offers a heated assistance device called the Hamilton Heater Shaker II (HHS II) [Figure 4]. The HHS II maintains reagents and cells at user-defined temperatures during processing steps that take place on deck of the liquid handler. The shaking feature can help to dissociate difficult-to-detach adherent cell lines for passaging and harvesting when incubated with a dissociating reagent. Keeping the cells on deck saves valuable time compared to transporting plates to and from an incubator. The HHS II offers a heating range of ambient +5° C to 105° C and is capable of shaking in clockwise or counter-clockwise motions with multiple amplitude settings. • Data software – Hamilton’s VENUS Software enables any workflow in
Stem Cell Maintenance Model System
cell culture to be automated on one instrument. Key features include: native data and file handling, a stable run-time environment with numerous error handling options to ensure protocol run completion, the ability to create easy-to-use protocols, and unmatched customization capabilities. Hamilton’s VENUS Dynamic Scheduling software allows for the automation of more complex cell-based assays. The VENUS suite of software products provides the flexibility and control of your cell culture processes.
Containment devices Sterile containment is a key factor to consider in cell culture automation and often presents one of the biggest hurdles. For cells to grow in culture without being affected or overtaken, they must be protected from the external environment, harmful microbes, and contaminating agents such as bacteria, yeast, fungi, and mycoplasma. Some cells grown in culture may also need to be isolated from the user to provide protection from harmful byproducts of the culture or reagents, such as viral DNA. • HEPA filtered hoods – When planning for an automated cell culture system, one of the most important items to consider is maintaining the sterility of cell plates when they are removed from the incubator. Cells are most vulnerable to contamination when being transported to a cytometer for a confluence read or to a liquid handler for a media exchange. Hamilton offers a HEPA filtered hood that interfaces directly with its liquid handling platforms to provide an enclosed, contamination-free, clean air zone and workspace within the pipetting environment. The Hamilton hood incorporates a Class II-certified HEPA filter (and pre-filter) with a UV germicidal light option. • Biosafety cabinets – Hamilton liquid handling platforms are easily installed within biosafety cabinets readily available on the market. Biosafety cabinets offer great perfor-
www.laboratoryfocus.ca mance for customers who need additional safety beyond a HEPA filtered hood.
Automated incubators Because cells require temperature, pH control, and humidity to maintain viability and grow in culture, automated incubators play a vital role in an automated cell culture system. Automated incubators allow researchers to store many different cell culture microplate types, track them by barcode, and interface them nicely with a liquid handler. These incubators come in a wide range of capacities to meet virtually any lab’s needs. In addition to the environmental control, automated incubator vendors offer decontamination prevention features such as metal inner chambers, water-panfree humidification by steam injection, and a multitude of cleaning options. Hamilton liquid handling robotics easily interfaces with these devices. The incubators can be fully controlled through the VENUS software, and all of the contents are fully tracked through an inventory database, allowing removal and processing of the plates on the liquid handler any time.
Automated cytometers Confluence imagers, or cytometers, are another key tool for maintaining cells in culture at the correct density. Automated Cytometers Interface and are controlled by Hamilton’s VENUS software, allowing complete automation of the imaging process. Important factors to consider when selecting a confluence imager are the imaging technique (i.e., bright field or fluorescent), throughput, and whole-well imaging capabilities, as well as the ability to process a variety of multi-well plate types. Other critical traits of imagers include resolution and contrast, software usability/stability, and data acquisition.
Conclusion The use of cells for biological research, therapies, and drug discovery is on the rise, and automation is the key to solving large bottlenecks and issues related to manual cell culture processing. As government regulators and large biotech and pharmaceutical companies become more involved in stem cell therapies and drug development from cell cultures, even more attention will be placed on standardized automation procedures
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Laboratory Focus November 2013 to provide larger volumes of high-quality cells. The good news is that today, culture parameters can be completely automated, controlled, and tracked while increasing throughput and reducing labour costs. It takes effort and is no small undertaking to adapt a bench protocolWSCS13 to automation. ConAd 8.125x10.875.pdf
sulting with an expert when setting up a system is very important. In addition, be sure to look at your facility’s infrastructure (electrical, layout and workflow, high-pressure air and vacuum, and data networks) to ensure there is flexibility when adapting an automated setup. 1
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If you would like more information about the Hamilton Robotics cell culture workstations, contact Hamilton Robotics at 1-800-648-
FEATURE 5950 or visit their website www.hamiltonrobotics. com.
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HPLC columns JM Science introduces a complete new line of Shiseido HPLC Columns. The CAPCELL PAK is an epoch-making HPLC column that integrates the separation performance of silica-based, polymer-coated packing material. CAPCELL PAK provides columns of reversed phase partition mode, normal phase partition mode, and ion exchange mode.
Web:www.jmscience.com
Anaerobic chamber Sheldon Manufacturing’s BactronEZ is an ideal first anaerobic chamber or replacement chamber for users looking to upgrade their existing chamber. The BactronEZ has a 13.7 cu.ft. workspace and a 300 plate capacity incubator. Bactron systems have airtight construction of stainless steel and rigid Plexiglas for unobstructed vision and integrity. The patented cuffs form a comfortable seal around the operator’s arms, permitting bare hand manipulation of plates and specimens inside the working chamber. Chamber atmosphere circulates through a condensate controller and then a catalyst which removes any trace amounts of oxygen. Specifically designed for use by smaller laboratories, it could also be economical for larger labs.
Web: www.shellab.com
Vapour pressure tester AMETEK Petrolab Company, the distributor for Grabner Instruments, introduces Grabner’snew automatic tester for lowvolatility measurements. Grabner developed the MINIVAP VPXpert-L to automate the manual ASTM D2879 Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure by Isoteniscope. The analyzer measures gasoline, jet fuels, solvents and chemicals as well as food, flavor and fragrance products with vastly improved precision. The analyzer is optimized for a pressure range from 0.1 to 100 kPa and shows a measuring repeatability better than 0.1 kPa. The instrument requires only 1 mL of sample per test, eliminates the need for vacuum pump and manual filling, and yields results within minutes.
Web:www.petrolab.com
November 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
Sterilizer The SteriMax Smart sterilizer from WLDTEC is ideal for all laboratories, anaerobic environments and safety cabinets.It uses specifically focused infrared light which generates an IR hotspot for sterilizing inoculating loops at a temperature of 650° to 1100°C in only 5 to 10 seconds immediately and without any preheating. The sterilizer also has adjustable sterilization and cool-down timers for two users by front panel operation, and annealing tube made of special quartz glass or optional wearresistant ceramics.
Web: www.WLD-TEC.com
Kit EMD Millipore introduces its CpGenome™ Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit. This kit performs bisulfite conversion directly from cells, tissues, blood and formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples without DNA purification. By eliminating the need to isolate genomic DNA prior to performing bisulfite analysis, the kit provides a simple and reliable protocol for one-step bisulfite conversion. The new kit offers conversion efficiencies of more than 99.5% and only requires limited amounts of input material, working with as few as 10 cells or as low as 50 pg of DNA. It is suitable for downstream analysis by methylation specific PCR, restriction digestion, sequencing and microarray hybridization, and its in-column desulfonation allows for the recovery of DNA without additional precipitation steps, producing more consistent results.
Web: http://www.millipore.com/catalogue/item/17-10451
Fume hood Air Science has introduced its new Purair ECO™ line of Energy-Saving Ductless Fume Hoods. The hoods are designed for both chemical and particulate protection for a wide range of laboratory and industrial applications. The Purair ECO is available with a choice of controllers including the company’s new ECOair™ touchpad control with color display interface. An optional BACnet network interface connects all cabinet control, monitoring and alarm functions to an open-source facility monitoring system. The system is based on an industry-wide, non-proprietary ASHRAE compliant protocol for green building management.Purair ECO is available in five standard sizes from 30” wide to 69” wide.
Web:www.airscience.com
Pipettes: Denville Scientific Inc. has launched its Ultra EZpetteTM Ultra High Precision Digital Pipettors. The new Ultra EZpetteTM provides both accurate and precise liquid dispensing in a comfortable ergonomic design. The pipettes are available in the choice of pink or blue with eight different models that cover volume ranges from 0.1µL to 10mL. The ejector has a unique “clik-to-fix” system to easily adjust the tip ejection. The Ultra EZpetteTM also includes a calibration tool for easy in-lab recalibration.
Web:www.denvillescientific.com
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Laboratory Focus November 2013 www.laboratoryfocus.ca
APP REVIEW Science360
From National Science Foundation https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/science360-for-ipad/ id439928181?mt=8
Québec invests in personalized healthcare The Québec government recently unveiled its new policy on research and innovation, as well as investments of $3.7 billion over the next five years to support research and innovation in the province. The new National Research and Innovation Policy (PNRI) ranks personalized healthcare as one of the seven priority strategic sectors in Quebec. The new policy supports the creation of the Fonds InnoMonde, which will promote international partnership and target personalized healthcare as one of Québec’s priority sectors. Since the beginning of this year, over $110 million has been invested in Québec by the federal and provincial governments, as well as the private sector. These investments were for personalized healthcare research partnerships, including the Personalized Medicine Partnership for Cancer and eight large-scale research projects selected as part of the Genome Canada and CIHR personalized health competition. In addition, the Québec government will soon be announcing a first wave of projects selected under the Fonds de partenariat pour un Québec innovant et en santé, which will translate into public-private investments with a particular focus on personalized healthcare. All of these investments supported by the new PNRI confirm the importance of personalized healthcare as a growing sector of excellence in Québec. The province’s minister of higher education, research, science and technology, Pierre Duchesne, said his government will be providing more than $2.1 billion for the first three years of implementing the new policy. The money will be spread among universities, businesses, colleges and even $25 million for laboratories in public high schools in underprivileged areas. This new round of funding is welcome news, especially in light of last December’s harsh budget cuts to universities. Altogether,the $3.7 billion investment is a shot in the arm for Québec’s research community. It’s also a promising first step towards the province’s goal of becoming a global leader in personalized healthcare.
Science360 is an iPad-only app that brings the wealth of informative and educational content from the U.S. government’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Science360 website to Apple’s tablet. This free app won’t be much use in the lab but it’s highly recommended for just about anyone with even a glancing interest in science as the editorial content from Science360 comes from every science discipline with lots of high res photos and videos that are easily sharable to your social networking site of choice built within the app. So even though it won’t help at work, the wealth of content on it will keep you entertained at home.
Pocket Lab Values
From Joefrey Kibuule https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-lab-values/ id325010997?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.medplusapps.pocketlabvalues&hl=en Pocket Lab Value is a mobile app for Android and iOS devices intended for medical providers in training and in practice. This app is a really handy companion for health professionals, because it has stored within it over 320 lab values divided into many categories such as cardiovascular, gastrointestinal or respiratory. Furthermore, information on differential diagnoses and relevant websites are provided for each value. It makes life easier for healthcare professionals, as data that can vary from different hospitals like tube colours and reference values can be edited at the users’ convenience. Additionally, there’s a notes section built into the app as well. Given how much this app can do for a healthcare worker, the $2.99 price tag is definitely reasonable and as such, this app is highly recommended.
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