Thermo Fisher Scientific ICP instrumentation selected by
Thames Water to perform fast and accurate drinking water analyses

Thames Water, the UK's largest water and wastewater services company, has chosen the powerful Thermo Scientific iCAP 6000 Series ICP emission spectrometer for the detection and quantification of trace elements in drinking water samples. Thames Water carries out over half a million water quality tests each year to ensure the quality of its drinking water and environmental compliance of treated wastewater. With such a high analytical throughput, the company requires highly reliable analytical instrumentation for its routine analyses. The iCAP 6000 Series helps Thames Water accurately measure the trace element content of potable water, ensuring the water supplied to its customers complies with strict regulations governing the UK water industry.

Thames Water offers extended analytical capabilities in microbiology, organic and inorganic chemistry, materials testing and metals analysis. The company is independently regulated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) which monitors and enforces regulations on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The DWI imposes stringent standards on laboratories, with over 50 different parameters that are used to assess the quality of drinking water. Thames Water requires an instrument to cope with repeatable elemental analyses of all sample types to improve its analytical process and enable the company to comply with the strict standards set out by the DWI.

Thames Water have now purchased three iCAP 6000 Series instruments to support their move to centralized laboratory testing, based on Thermo Fisher Scientific's proven track record of providing cost-effective instruments and strong customer support. Faced with space-efficiency issues, the company also looked to the iCAP 6000 thanks to its compact footprint. Mr. Graham Coe, analytical manager at Thames Water comments "The initial decision to purchase the iCAP was based on its size. It is exceptionally space-efficient. Additionally it is very current in its technology, extremely ergonomically friendly and crucially meets all our analytical requirements providing precise results quickly and efficiently."

A key advantage of the iCAP 6000 Series in a high throughput laboratory is its excellent stability and resistance to drift. This enhanced stability is directly translated into a higher frequency of QC checks being within limits regulated by the DWI, resulting in fewer samples needing to be re-tested. Additionally, the high specification optical design of the iCAP 6000 provides excellent resolution and sensitivity, delivering up to a five-fold improvement in detection capability thanks to its revolutionary optics and detector technology.

The iCAP 6000 is supported by iTEVA software, further strengthening the unmatched speed, stability and flexibility offered by this instrumentation. iTEVA allows full multi-tasking flexibility, enabling the editing of the active sample lists whilst automated analytical operations are occurring. In a high throughput laboratory where efficient analysis is crucial, iTEVA guarantees data integrity while maintaining fast storage and access facilities. For Thames Water the iCAP provides ultimate flexibility and productivity, offering fast, reliable and simplified performance for routine analysis of its water samples.

For further information on the Thermo Scientific iCAP 6000 Series of ICP emission spectrometers, email: analyze@thermofisher.com     Refer to page 251

Dolomite and Emerald BioSystems collaborate to produce
award winning novel protein crystallography instrument

Dolomite, a world leader in microfluidic design and manufacture, is delighted to announce its collaboration with Emerald BioSystems in the development of the Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System (MPCS) Plug Maker™. The Plug Maker has just won a coveted "New Product Award" at LabAutomation 2010 (Palm Springs, CA). This novel touchscreen instrument enables low-volume crystallization (5-10 nL protein/experiment), for the production of diffraction-ready crystals with no wasted protein. The MPCS Plug Maker is ideal for applications such as ligand screening, hybrid screening and microfluidic seeding. The Plug Maker is a self-contained unit operated from a built-in touchscreen control unit, taking up less than two feet of bench width.

Picture shows the Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System (MPCS) Plug Maker™.

Dolomite carried out all elements of the Plug Maker system design and development (including concept generation, industrial design, hardware and software engineering, and manufacture), creating an easy-to-use system based on Emerald's core science.  The Plug Maker automates well-validated Emerald technology, rapidly creating a series of 10nl plugs of protein and precipitant samples in a plastic CrystalCard, which are then allowed to crystallize. This revolutionary performance was made possible using Dolomite's ultra-smooth pump technology, coupled with its world-beating expertise in microfluidics and engineering. Dolomite added further value by completing the entire instrument design (including a vision system, fully automated liquid handling system and touchscreen control software). The development took just 18 months from first concept to launch at LabAutomation.

Fine gradient optimization and sparse matrix screening can be performed simultaneously to identify optimal crystallization growth conditions. Experimental conditions are easily optimized with the ability to form on-chip gradients, with only 22 µl of protein needed. In addition, the ability to perform up to 800 experiments per chip maximizes throughput for a highly efficient workflow.

Lance Stewart, CEO, Emerald BioSystems commented, "Dolomite has delivered a world-class product in the Plug Maker. Using Dolomite's microfluidic expertise, we have rapidly been able to take the product from initial concept and proof of principle to full instrument manufacture." Dolomite is subsequently supplying manufactured units solely to Emerald BioSystems and has agreed to collaborate with them on any further developments to the instrument.

The Dolomite Centre Limited
Dolomite is a global leader in the design and manufacture of microfluidics devices. With offices in the UK, US and Japan and distributors throughout the rest of the world, its clients range from universities developing leading-edge analytical equipment, to manufacturers of chemical, life sciences and clinical diagnostics systems.

Excellent microfabrication facilities that include cleanrooms, precision glass processing facilities and applications laboratories were established with £2m in funding from the UK Department of Trade and Industry's Micro and Nano Technology (MNT) Manufacturing Initiative. Dolomite's expertise includes top quality engineering and scientific staff with strong backgrounds across the broad range of disciplines required for success in bringing microfluidics applications to the market, including chemistry, biotechnology, control system development, electronics, physics and instrument design and supply.

Emerald BioSystems
Emerald BioSystems is a leading provider of instrument and reagent products to structural biologists. Emerald's research tools accelerate the gene-to-protein-structure determination process through advanced computer aided gene design, automated cell-free protein expression, protein purification, and crystallization.  A high level of efficiency for protein crystal generation can be achieved using Emerald's novel Microcapillary Protein Crystallization System (MPCS™) Plug Maker™ and CrystalCards™ for nanovolume microfluidic crystallization.

Emerald BioStructures is an integrated gene-to-structure collaborative research organization specializing in drug discovery services. 

For further information on the MPCS Plug Maker, view website: www.emeraldbiosystems.com or for details on the complete range of microfluidic products available from Dolomite, including chips, connectors/interconnects, pumps, valves and flow sensors, view website: www.dolomite-microfluidics.com  Refer to page 260

Seward sees 7500th Stomacher® 400 Circulator Paddle Blender sale

Seward Limited, manufacturer and developer of the world leading, patented Stomacher® Paddle Blender range for over 40 years, has recently achieved its 7500th global sale of its Stomacher® 400 Circulator. This success can be attributed to its growing US-based sales and technical support office, opened in Long Island, New York in September 2008, backed up by Seward's global Headquarters in the UK, where all Stomacher blender systems are manufactured. Seward Laboratory Systems Inc. works closely with North American customers to deliver quality products and guarantee stock availability for food safety and life science sample preparation prior to microbiological analyses or PCR techniques.

Over 8 million food samples a day are now reproducibly homogenised using Stomacher® 400 paddle blender units and associated Stomacher® bags worldwide. Sample preparation is a critical step in all microbiological analyses and Stomacher paddle blenders guarantee reliable and consistent homogenising performance through industrial strength, power and build quality. Such is their quality, all Stomacher Lab Blenders hold a 3 year no quibble warranty.

The global success of the Stomacher® range of paddle blenders and bags is also demonstrated by the fact that Stomacher is the most highly referenced brand name in food safety and life science sample preparation. "We are extremely proud of the long history and excellent reputation of our Stomacher trademarked products, some of which are still in reliable routine use after 25 years," said Stuart Ray, Technical Director, Seward Ltd. "The 7500th global sale of our Stomacher 400 Circulator system further highlights the world leading status of our Stomacher brand."

Due to its unique patented paddle design the Stomacher® 400 Circulator blender enhances microorganism recovery over square paddle designed laboratory blenders. The stirring and extrusion forces applied to the sample by its patented design drive more organisms into suspension for analysis, making the Stomacher Circulator the gold standard in laboratory blenders. Used in conjunction with the Stomacher® Bag range, which fulfils all blending, straining and storage applications, the Circulator enables easy and effective processing of multiple samples without risk of cross contamination.

Seward Limited in profile
Seward manufactures the world leading range of Stomacher® paddle blenders and Stomacher® accessories used in sample preparation for microbiological analyses. The company has been manufacturing and developing the world renown and patented Stomacher® Lab Blender for 40 years. The original and still regarded as the best, over 8 million food samples a day are prepared on Stomacher® 400 paddle blender units around the world.

In addition to sample preparation for food safety analyses, within the bioscience market the new developments of the Stomacher® 80 and micro 80 are proving invaluable for safe and efficient sample processing. The Stomacher® 3500 has established itself as the instrument of choice for preparing samples for the new pathogen test protocols requiring jumbo size samples.

The company is based in Worthing, West Sussex, UK with a subsidiary company in Long Island, New York, USA. All Seward machine products are manufactured within the UK and 1 of its 3 worldwide Stomacher® bag manufacturing operations is also UK-based. This ensures control of quality and price to deliver excellent value to global trading partners and laboratory customers.

Seward Limited continues to develop the product range, now with 3 patents to its credit.  Stomacher® is the most highly referenced brand name in food safety and life science sample preparation in scientific publications. The company also assists customers with method development through reference searches and sample evaluations within its own development laboratory. The original and still the best. The Stomacher® - a Seward product trade name.

For further information, view website: www.seward.co.uk  Refer to page 279