Artificial intelligence can identify microscopic marine organisms

Tech Xplore | February 06, 2019

Researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) program that can automatically provide species-level identification of microscopic marine organisms. The next step is to incorporate the AI into a robotic system that will help advance our understanding of the world's oceans, both now and in our prehistoric past. Specifically, the AI program has proven capable of identifying six species of foraminifera, or forams – organisms that have been prevalent in Earth's oceans for more than 100 million years.
Forams are protists, neither plant nor animal. When they die, they leave behind their tiny shells, most less than a millimeter wide. These shells give scientists insights into the characteristics of the oceans as they existed when the forams were alive. For example, different types of foram species thrive in different kinds of ocean environments, and chemical measurements can tell scientists about everything from the ocean's chemistry to its temperature when the shell was being formed.

Spotlight

The discovery of both CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and associated proteins, the Cas nucleases, has revolutionized the field of gene-editing. 

Spotlight

The discovery of both CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and associated proteins, the Cas nucleases, has revolutionized the field of gene-editing. 

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CELL AND GENE THERAPY, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT

GenScript Announces Expansion of Singapore Facility

GenScript | March 03, 2023

GenScript Biotech Corporation, a leading tools and services provider for life-science research, recently announced the expansion of its Singapore facility to provide a high-quality gene synthesis service. This expansion has added 976 square meters to the facility, bringing its total size to 3,500 square meters, making it the third-largest facility for GenScript globally. This development will also increase the staff at the Singapore facility to 150. In February 2022, GenScript Asia-Pacific opened a recombinant protein production facility, which will now offer an advanced gene synthesis service. This expansion is a significant step towards GenScript's aim to provide top-notch services required for novel vaccine and therapeutic development in the life-sciences field. The Singapore facility uses modernized, automated workstations that can synthesize more than 400 genes daily, ensuring precise measurement, eliminating human error, and providing a consistently high-quality product. The new facility's goal is to decrease project turnaround time for a more global mix of clients while maintaining customer data security. The new facility's capacity is dedicated to gene and cell therapy research and vaccine development programs. GenScript's Life Science Group President, Dr. Ray Chen, commented, "We understand that global supply is a huge challenge, and we remain committed to expanding our reach to meet the increasing demand for our customers worldwide. At GenScript, we take great pride in our ability to provide reliable and efficient solutions to our customers, and we are fully committed to delivering on this promise. As we continue to expand our global footprint, we remain dedicated to providing the highest-quality products and services to our customers, wherever they may be located." (Source – PR Newswire) About GenScript Founded in 2002, GenScript is a leading biotech firm. It has a global presence across the EU, North America, Greater China and Asia Pacific and has served more than 300,000 customers from over 160 countries and regions around the world. With more than 5,000 employees, it is dedicated to providing premier, convenient, and reliable products and services. The company strongly focuses on technology development, with over 100 patents and 270 patent applications in fields such as immunotherapy, synthetic biology, chemical synthesis, antibody design and bioinformatics. GenScript's products and services have been cited in 74,700 scientific papers worldwide as of June 2022. The company's vision is to become the most reliable biotech company in the world, working towards the betterment of human and environmental health through biotechnology.

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MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT

Bio-Techne and CST Partner to Validate Simple Western Antibodies

Bio-Techne | February 15, 2023

On February 14, 2023, Bio-Techne Corporation and Cell Signaling Technology (CST) announced that CST antibodies now have Simple Western™ validation. This will make it easier for researchers from numerous disciplines to study essential molecular signaling pathways on a reliable and validated platform. Accurate data must be obtained quickly and efficiently in order to advance drug discovery and development. This continued collaboration will provide a broader menu of Simple Western validated antibodies for a variety of targets across several disciplines. Simple Western systems from ProteinSimple, a brand of Bio-Techne, are the only completely automated western blotting solutions for protein identification and characterization, with results available in as little as 3 hours. Cell Signaling Technology (CST) is a leading developer of antibodies and other related reagents for elucidating cell signaling pathways that govern cellular behavior and have an impact on human health. CST has finished assay validation and optimization for a variety of its antibodies on the Simple Western platform, making it easier than ever to develop new reliable and robust immunoassays for the quantification and detection of phospho and total proteins. When using CST primary antibodies with Simple Western validation, researchers can simply dilute the antibody to the appropriate dilution range found on the data sheet and product page. In addition, CST antibodies are Simple Western protocol compliant, which allows users to include these thoroughly validated antibodies into their existing workflows seamlessly. About Bio-Techne Founded in 1981, Bio-Techne Corporation is a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of high-quality purified proteins and reagent solutions, particularly antibodies, cytokines and growth factors, immunoassays, tissue culture reagents, biologically active small molecule compounds, and cell and gene therapy workflow solutions, including T-Cell activation technologies. It also develops and produces diagnostic products for OEM and clinical clients, such as FDA-regulated calibrators, controls, blood gas and clinical chemistry controls, and other reagents. The company’s products are essential components of scientific investigation into molecular diagnostics and biological processes, which disclose the diagnosis, nature, genesis, and course of certain diseases.

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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL

Elemental Machines partners with System-c bioprocess to bring its IoT hardware solutions to the European biopharmaceutical industry

Prnewswire | March 30, 2023

Elemental Machines, developer of the Intelligent Operations Platform, has entered into a partnership with System-c bioprocess as an authorized reseller of Elemental Machines' hardware solutions, servicing the biopharmaceutical industry in France. The partnership will allow Elemental Machines to expand its footprint further in European markets. System-c serves as a partner and distributor for benchmark brands that cover a range of bioprocessing products from screening to filtration and beyond. Under the terms of the agreement, System-c will be an authorized reseller and distributor of Elemental Machines' suite of IoT-enabled sensors, which operators can use to collect and unify data across their biopharmaceutical facilities. "We are excited to partner with System-c and leverage their expertise in bringing innovative technology solutions to their bio-pharma customers,"said Dan Petkanas, Director of Global Alliances at Elemental Machines. "Together we will be able to deliver much needed tools to support and speed drug discovery." "We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Elemental Machines," said Yannick Carfantan, CEO of System-c. "Elemental Machines' leading technology platform for optimizing laboratory operations is going to give our company a new boost in our business development, not only for the French market but across Europe. Their measurement, information, alerting and data recovery technology opens new horizons for the control of laboratory equipment and R&D, pilot, and production departments enabling peace of mind for a number of actors in the biotech and biopharma industries. A winner for sure!" About System-c bioprocess As a partner and distributor for benchmark brands and continually searching for new innovative technologies, our product range covers all stages of the bioprocesses: from screening to filtration of the final product. Our solutions are always evolving in parallel with the new developments in life sciences, as well as the requirements for quality, safety and process productivity. Established in 1988 System-c bioprocess has been created to guarantee their customers complete, easy-to-use and customizable solutions to ensure productivity, reliability, and continuous traceability for all bioprocesses. Experts in innovative solutions and technologies for cell culture and fermentation processes, we have been constantly working with researchers, technicians and engineers from the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrifood industries for more than 30 years. About Elemental Machines Elemental Machines' Intelligent Operations Platform combines the best of IoT technology with purpose-built software solutions to deliver actionable intel to operators in the life sciences and byond. The Platform simplifies, optimizes, and augments operations by connecting the physical and digital infrastructure. Science and technology leaders trust Elemental Machines' ecosystem of hardware and software to deliver actionable insights that accelerate their pace of innovation.

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