The following is a wrap-up of news of interest during
the months of July to August 2000.Pittcon 2001 Call for Papers
A call for papers has been issued for Pittcon 2001 which will be held in
New Orleans, LA, from March 4-9, 2001. With a theme of "Voyage to Discovery",
the organizers are seeking 250 word abstracts that address a number of symposium
topics, including LIMS. The deadline is August 7, 2000, so hurry! For details,
visit http://www.pittcon.org. Abstracts
may be submitted electronically.
IFPAC 2001 Call for Papers
The 15th International Forum Process Analytical Chemistry IFPAC will be
held at the Amelia Island Plantation Resort on Amelia Island, FL, from January
21-24, 2001. The organizers have issued a call for papers to address important
instrumentation areas that meet future industry challenges. Deadline for
abstract submission is September 30. For further informaiton, visit http://www.ifpac.com
Agilent Technologies Offers Primer on GLP
and cGMP
Agilent Technologies has announced the availability of a primer featuring
Agilent's competence in the area of regulated analytical environments such
as pharmaceutical and chemical QA/QC laboratories. The 116-page primer provides
an in-depth explanation of good laboratory practice (GLP) and current good
manufacturing practice (cGMP) guidelines, discusses the requirements for
following them, and gives an overview of Agilent's instrument and service
offerings for regulated analytical environments. For details, visit http://www.chem.agilent.com/Scripts/Generic.ASP?1Page=460
D&MD Reports Issues Market Analysis Report
on Proteomics
D&MD Reports has released a new market analysis report entitled "Proteomics:
An Overview and Analysis of Current and Emerging Technologies, Competitive
Landscape and the Market Environment." Written by a team of PhD
level industry analysts, the report addresses growth and opportunities in
the post-genomic era, with the prediction that proteomics will yield large
market opporutnities in the near future. The report is 170 pages in length,
includes 27 exhibits, 19 company profiles, three case studies, and is available
in both CD-ROM and print versions. For details, visit http://www.
drugandmarket.com
D&MD Reports Issues Executive Briefing
on Mergers and Acquisitions
D&MD Reports has released a new executive briefing entitled "The
Top 10 Merger and Acquisition Deals in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical
Industries." The report is 175+ pages in length, and includes 35
exhibits, and 20 company profiles. For details, visit http://www.
drugandmarket.com
Applied Biosystems Announces Successful Results
with Combination of Two Products for HIV-1 Research
Appplied Biosystems has announced that two of its products are proving to
be a successful combination for HIV-1 research into mutation analysis for
drug-resistance studies. New data indicate that the recently launched ABI
Prism 3100 Genetic Analyzer is an effective instrument platform for analyzing
drug resistance mutaitons with the ViroSeq HIV-1 Genotyping System. The
ViroSeq kit fully leverages the variable throughput and full automation
of the 3100 instrument, which is the latest DNA analyzer from Applied Biosystems.
For details, visit http://www.appliedbiosystems.com
NuGenesis Technologies Launches Electronic
Records and Signatures Resource Web Site
NuGenesis Technologies (formerly Mantra Software) has announced the launch
of www.21CFRPart11.com, a web site dedicated to helping companies understand
and adapt business strategies to recent FDA requirements regarding electornic
records. 21 CFR Part 11, also known as the Electronic Records and Signatures
Rule, applies to all electronic records used to meet GMP, GCP, and GLP requirements.
Pharmaceutical companies in particular are affected by the rule because
raw data produced by laboratory instruments must now be kept accessible
in its original form. The rule has resulted in a need for companies to reevaluate
their current data management strategy while incorporating new technologies
to facilitate compliance with the regulations. For details, visit http://www.21CFRPart11.com
New Market Analysis Report on Biochips Released
A new market analysis report has been released by D&MD Reports entitled
Biochips: From Technologies to Markets. Available in CD-Rom and print versions,
the report highlights the biochip revolution and provides tips on staying
competitive by keeping abreast of this complex business by providing decision-making
tools. The cost for the report is $4950. For details, call (508) 616-5566
or visit http://www.drugandmarket.com
Compex Receives Kraft Foods Supplier Excellence
Award
Compex recently received the Kraft Foods Supplier Excellence Award. Kraft
Foods North America presents this annual award to Kraft Food Suppliers who
have made significant contributions in areas such as technology, superior
quality and delivery, reduced time-to-market, supply chain effectiveness
and productivity. Kraft Foods considers its supplier partnerships as crucial
to the ability of the company to provide customers and consumers with consistently
high-quality products. The Kraft Foods award program is intended to recognize
and strengthen these partnerships. Compex is the only and first IT company
to win this award since its foundation four years ago. For additional details,
visit http://www.compex.be
PE BioSystems to Conduct Business Under the
Name Applied Biosystems
PE Biosystems Group, a PE Corporation business, has announced that it will
now conduct business under the name Applied Biosystems Group. The company
will seek formal stockholder approval of this name change at its annual
meeting in October. "The Applied Biosystems name is well known in the
life science marketplace," said Michael W. Hunkapiller, president of
Applied Biosystems and senior vice president of PE Corporation. "Using
this name will consolidate our name recognition as a provider of key technologies
for new discoveries, pharmaceuticals, and applied markets." To accomodate
the new group name, the current Applied Biosystems division will now operate
under the name Molecular Biology. For details, visit http://www.pebiosystems.com
PE Biosystems Designs TaqMan Gene Expression
Reagents
PE Biosystems has designed a suite of TaqMan asssay reagents that monitor
the expression of all Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) genes.
This development, using Drosophila gene sequences developed by the
Celera Genomics Group, highlights the complementary relationship of PE Corporation's
two business groups. The new TaqMan reagents, designed for use with the
ABI Prism 7700 and the GeneAmp5700 sequence detection systems, are immediately
available to scientists engaged in Drosophila research. For details,
visit http://www.pebiosystems.com
LabVantage Announces Expanded High Throughput
Strategy Initiatives
LabVantage Solutions has announced a major corporate initiative to become
the leading provider of technology solutions for the rapidly growing high
throughput screening, genomics, and proteomics marketplace. "Companies
today are racing to employ high throughput informatics tools and expertise
to help them accelerate the discovery process," said Jim Aurelio, president,
LabVantage Solutions. "Working together with leading companies around
the world, LabVantage has built a full featured high throughput informatics
solution designed to assist scientists in their race to discover more effective
drugs." The high throughput informatics (HTI) market's requirements
are very different from laboratories in markets where traditional LIMS is
the data management solution. HTI customers are "discovery oriented"
versus "data collection oriented". To address specific needs of
the discovery process, the LabVantage Sapphire High Throughput Solution
includes complete audit trail; daughter plate production; reformatting,
re-racking and cherry picking for 96/384/1536 plate types; seamless integration
with leading robotic solutions; graphical drag and drop workflow engine;
and, automated workflow process capability. For details, visit http://www.lims.com
ChemIndustry.com Names Chief Technology Officer
Chemindustry.com has named Tientien Li as Chief Technology Officer. A veteran
of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) projects, Li has been a pioneer
in utilizing Internet technologies in dynamic and creative ways. Under his
guidance, Chemindustry.com expects to develop and deploy a wide array of
cutting-edge search services. For details. visit http://www.chemindustry.com
LabSystems and Galactic Industries Sign Agreement
to Co-Develop Products and Jointly Market Products and Services
LabSystems and Galactic are working with customers and other suppliers in
a Joint Application Development program to develop solutions for integrating
spectral data and chemical structures to LIMS. The results of this collaboration
are included in the new Nautilus 2000 LIMS launched earlier this year. Data
such as chemical structures and analytical spectra require additional facilities
for storage, searching, processing, and displaying which are outside the
scope of a typical LIMS. Nautilus 2000 incorporates technology from Galactic
that now allows the user to display spectra from directly within the LIMS.
For details, visit http://www.labsystems.com
LabSystems and Synposys Scientific Systems
Sign Agreement to Integrate Cheminformatics and LIMS
LabSystems and Synopsys are working with customers and other suppliers in
a Joint Application Development program to develop solutions for integrating
chemical structures and spectral data to LIMS. The result is included in
the new Nautilus 2000 LIMS which has been made "chemistry aware"
through the incorporation of the Accord ActiveX Chemistry Control from Synopsys.
For each chemical registered with Nautilus, the system can display the chemical
structure and perform various chemical calculations such as molecular weight,
molecular formula, and percentage composition. Accord is fully compatible
using OLE or cut-and-paste links to standard chemical drawing packages such
as CASDraw, ChemDraw, and ISIS/Draw. For details, visit http://www.labsystems.com