Roslin Cells, a world leader in the isolation of new clinical grade pluripotent stem cells for use in research and development, was moving their site from within the Roslin Biocentre in Edinburgh to a new facility housed within the new Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine. 

Two patient samples that were supposed to be picked up at London Heathrow Airport for delivery to a central lab were not available for retrieval. The airline handling agent in London claimed that the shipment had been misplaced and may not have arrived in London.

Edinburgh and the Lothians to Fife, was closed for the first time ever due to the snow with both the Edinburgh and Glasgow airports also closed. To make matters worse, the major motorways and other main roads were closed by police due to jack-knifed lorries and stranded cars.

The challenge involved the precise cold storage temperatures (between 2-8°C) required to assure the integrity of the strips during the transfer and storage of the product to various sites around the globe.

In August of 2010, both dry ice factories in Moscow, Russia were shut down for an unplanned technical upgrade. At the same time the weather in the region was unusually hot (40°C, 104°F) which placed a higher than normal demand for dry ice to keep frozen shipments within the required temperature range.

Marken collected a shipment from southern Sweden that was bound for next-day delivery in northern Belgium. However, all airline flights into Belgium were cancelled as a result of a strike action by airport workers.

Following the major earthquake (8.9 on Richter scale) that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered severe damage to multiple reactors. Due to the damage at the nuclear plant and other serious damage caused by the tsunami, service to the main cities and prefectures in central Japan was dramatically curtailed.

Monitoring and quantifying cell signaling pathways is critical for understanding the behavior of cell processes and many disease states. By Wendy Goodrich and Peter Banks, BioTek Instruments, Inc., Winooski, VT and Ron Osmond and Antony Sheehan, TGR Biosciences, Adelaide, Australia

Avantes has developed fiber optics, light sources, and spectrometers for use in fluorescence measurement applications. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a technique used to excite electrons in molecules by subjecting them to a light source which then causes them to emit light of a lower energy. This technique is used in a variety of applications like biomedical research, printing and adhesive manufacturing, environmental remediation, and more. This application note discusses the various solutions Avantes offers for applications involving fluorescence measurements.

Avantes has designed and developed spectroscopy and spectroradiometry systems for the solar industry. These systems can be used in solar applications like process control in the manufacture of thin film photovoltaic panels, direct solar measurements, solar simulator characterization, and more. This application note discusses how Avantes’ spectroscopy and spectroradiometry systems are used in solar measurement applications.