What’s New in LAB & Life Sciences Feb/Mar 2013

Can you imagine science without glass?

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editor’s note

Science without glass I was watching a repeat of a 2009 episode of ‘QI’ the other night and was fascinated by one particular segment - ‘The Chinese, the teacup and glass’. In it the host, Stephen Fry, insisted that the porcelain teacup changed the course of Chinese history because the Chinese were so satisfied with the beauty and functionality of the teacup they had no motivation to develop glassmaking skills.

Frequently we are blinded by the Eurocentric nature of our education and are simply unaware of the technologies and developments that originated in China such as the ‘big four’ - the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing. But I had never considered the reverse - the absence of a whole technology.

It’s almost impossible to imagine science without glass. For a start, there is all the beautiful lab glassware, gorgeous to look at, heat resistant and non-reactive. But the Chinese could have used porcelain for this. Much more significant would be lenses. No transparent glass - no lenses; no lenses - no microscopes, no telescopes, no optics.

Also no spectacles. The QI show estimated that, historically, the effective working lives of Chinese scientists was probably reduced by 15-20 years as they struggled with deteriorating eyesight as they aged. And this would have been aggravated by their dark houses and work environments as, without window glass, they used oiled paper window coverings which did not admit nearly as much light.

The QI program said that there was no glass made in China between the 14th and the 19th century. I can’t confirm this but it doesn’t mean that glass wasn’t being brought into China. Apparently, the Jesuit astronomer Johann Schreck brought the first telescope to China in 1618. After his messy end, more Jesuit astronomers came into China including Adam Schall and later Ferdinand Verbiest.

Verbiest ultimately became Head of the Mathematical Board and Director of the Observatory at Peking and is credited with equipping the observatory with such instruments as an armillary sphere, for determining the coordinates of celestial bodies, an astronomical sextant for measuring the angular distance between celestial bodies and the angular diameter of the moon and sun, an altazimuth for determining azimuth of celestial bodies, an ecliptic armilla for determining the coordinates of celestial bodies as well as the solar term, a celestial globe used to determine the time in which the celestial bodies will rise and set, as well as the altitude and azimuth of them at any given time, and a quadrant for measuring the altitudes and zenith locations of celestial bodies.

All of this equipment was stunningly beautiful but didn’t advance the development of glassmaking in China. So we are left wondering what the Chinese would have invented and developed if they drank wine from glasses rather than tea from porcelain.

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

Janette Woodhouse Chief Editor What’s New in Lab & Life Sciences www.labonline.com.au

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A temperature below absolute zero Atoms at negative absolute temperature are the hottest systems in the world.

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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O

n the absolute temperature scale, the Kelvin scale, it is not possible to go below zero - at least not in the sense of getting colder than zero Kelvin. According to the physical meaning of temperature, the temperature of a gas is determined by the chaotic movement of its particles - the colder the gas, the slower the particles. At 0 K (-273°C) the particles stop moving and all disorder disappears.

Thus, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. Physicists at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have now created an atomic gas in the laboratory that nonetheless has negative Kelvin values. These negative absolute temperatures have several apparently absurd consequences: although the atoms in the gas attract each other and give rise to a negative pressure, the gas does not collapse - a behaviour that is also postulated for dark energy in cosmology. Supposedly impossible heat engines such as a combustion engine with a thermodynamic efficiency of over 100% can also be realised with the help of negative absolute temperatures.

In order to bring water to the boil, energy needs to be added. As the water heats up, the water molecules increase their kinetic energy over time and move faster and faster on average. Yet, the individual molecules possess different kinetic energies - from very slow to very fast. Low-energy states are more likely than high-energy states, ie, only a few particles move really fast. In physics, this distribution is called the Boltzmann distribution. Physicists working with Ulrich Schneider and Immanuel Bloch have now realised a gas in which this distribution is precisely inverted: many particles possess high energies and only a few have low energies. This inversion of the energy distribution means that the particles have assumed a negative absolute temperature.

“The inverted Boltzmann distribution is the hallmark of negative absolute temperature; and this is what we have achieved,” says Ulrich Schneider. “Yet the gas is not colder than zero Kelvin, but hotter,” as the physicist explains: “It is even hotter than at any positive temperature - the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead.”

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A negative temperature The meaning of a negative absolute temperature can best be illustrated with rolling spheres in a hilly landscape, where the valleys stand for a low potential energy and the hills for a high one. The faster the spheres move, the higher their kinetic energy as well: if one starts at positive temperatures and increases the total energy of the spheres by heating them up, the spheres will increasingly spread into regions of high energy. If it were possible to heat the spheres to infinite temperature, there would be an equal probability of finding them at any point in the landscape, irrespective of the potential energy. If one could now add even more energy and thereby heat the spheres even further, they would preferably gather at high-energy states and would be even hotter than at infinite temperature. The Boltzmann distribution would be inverted, and the temperature therefore negative. At first sight it may sound strange that a negative absolute temperature is hotter than a positive one.

This is simply a consequence of the historic definition of absolute temperature, however; if it were defined differently, this apparent contradiction would not exist.

This inversion of the population of energy states is not possible in water or any other natural system as the system would need to absorb an infinite amount of energy - an impossible feat! However, if the particles possess an upper limit for their energy, such as the top of the hill in the potential energy landscape, the situation will be completely different. The researchers in Immanuel Bloch’s and Ulrich Schneider’s research group have now realised such a system of an atomic gas with an upper energy limit in their laboratory, following theoretical proposals by Allard Mosk and Achim Rosch.

In their experiment, the scientists first cool around a hundred thousand atoms in a vacuum chamber to a positive temperature of a few billionths of a Kelvin and capture them in optical traps made of laser beams.

The surrounding ultrahigh vacuum guarantees that the atoms are perfectly thermally insulated from the environment. The laser beams create a so-called optical lattice, in which the atoms are arranged regularly at lattice sites. In this lattice, the atoms can still

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Temperature as a game of marbles: The Boltzmann distribution states how many particles have which energy, and can be illustrated with the aid of spheres that are distributed in a hilly landscape. At positive temperatures (left image), as are common in everyday life, most spheres lie in the valley at minimum potential energy and barely move; they therefore also possess minimum kinetic energy. States with low total energy are therefore more likely than those with high total energy - the usual Boltzmann distribution.

At infinite temperature (centre image) the spheres are spread evenly over low and high energies in an identical landscape.

Here, all energy states are equally probable. At negative temperatures (right image), however, most spheres move on top of the hill, at the upper limit of the potential energy. Their kinetic energy is also maximum. Energy states with high total energy thus occur more frequently than those with low total energy - the Boltzmann distribution is inverted. ©LMU and MPG Munich.

move from site to site via the tunnel effect, yet their kinetic energy has an upper limit and therefore possesses the required upper energy limit. Temperature, however, relates not only to kinetic energy, but to the total energy of the particles, which in this case includes interaction and potential energy.

The system of the Munich and Garching researchers also sets a limit to both of these. The physicists then take the atoms to this upper boundary of the total energy - thus realising a negative temperature, at minus a few billionths of a Kelvin.

At negative temperatures an engine can do more work If spheres possess a positive temperature and lie in a valley at minimum potential energy, this state is obviously stable - this is nature as we know it. If the spheres are located on top of a hill at maximum potential energy, they will usually roll down and thereby convert their potential energy into kinetic energy. “If the spheres are at a negative temperature, however, their kinetic energy will already be so large that it cannot increase further,” explains Simon Braun,

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Hot minus temperatures: At a negative absolute temperature the energy distribution of particles inverts in comparison to a positive temperature. Many particles then have a high energy and few a low one. This corresponds to a temperature which is hotter than one that is infinitely high, where the particles are distributed equally over all energies. A negative Kelvin temperature can only be achieved experimentally if the energy has an upper limit, just as non-moving particles form a lower limit for the kinetic energy at positive temperatures - physicists at the LMU and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have now achieved this. ©LMU and MPG Munich.

MATTER AT NEGATIVE ABSOLUTE TEMPERATURE HAS A WHOLE RANGE OF ASTOUNDING CONSEQUENCES: WITH ITS HELP, ONE COULD CREATE HEAT ENGINES SUCH AS COMBUSTION ENGINES WITH AN EFFICIENCY OF MORE THAN 100%.

a doctoral student in the research group.

“The spheres thus cannot roll down, and they stay on top of the hill. The energy limit therefore renders the system stable!” The negative temperature state in their experiment is indeed just as stable as a positive temperature state. “We have thus created the first negative absolute temperature state for moving particles,” adds Braun.

Matter at negative absolute temperature has a whole range of astounding consequences: with its help, one could create heat engines such as combustion engines with an efficiency of more than 100%. This does not mean, however, that the law of energy conservation is violated. Instead, the engine could not only absorb energy from the hotter medium, and thus do work, but, in contrast to the usual case, from the colder medium as well.

At purely positive temperatures, the colder medium inevitably heats up in contrast, therefore absorbing a portion of the energy of the hot medium, and thereby limits the efficiency. If the hot medium has a negative temperature, it is possible to absorb energy from both media simultane-

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

ously. The work performed by the engine is therefore greater than the energy taken from the hotter medium alone - the efficiency is over 100%.

The achievement of the Munich physicists could additionally be interesting for cosmology, since the thermodynamic behaviour of negative temperature exhibits parallels to so-called dark energy. Cosmologists postulate dark energy as the elusive force that accelerates the expansion of the universe, although the cosmos should in fact contract because of the gravitational attraction between all masses. There is a similar phenomenon in the atomic cloud in the Munich laboratory: the experiment relies on the fact that the atoms in the gas do not repel each other as in a usual gas, but instead interact attractively. This means that the atoms exert a negative instead of a positive pressure. As a consequence, the atom cloud wants to contract and should really collapse - just as would be expected for the universe under the effect of gravity.

But because of its negative temperature this does not happen. The gas is saved from collapse just like the universe.

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Researcher cuts DNA extraction time from days to hours Durham University researcher Alice Rowland has benefited from the use of the PowerPlant Pro DNA Isolation kit in extracting DNA from the cells of arctic birch trees. Her investigations of patches of forest in the arctic conditions of Northern Sweden were hampered by slow DNA extraction, until the selection of the Mo Bio kit cut procedures down dramatically.

The forest patches are defined as self-contained areas of forest separated by arctic tundra, and are set apart from the main tree line. Two species of birch have been observed within these patches: Betula nana (Diploid dwarf birch) and Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii (Tetraploid birch). Previous studies undertaken in Iceland have shown introgressive hybridisation between Betula pubescens and Betula nana.

Observing morphological patterns during population studies in Northern Sweden prompted researchers to suspect similar genetic factors may have been contributing alongside environmental features to affect the structure of the patches. The shape and arrangement of forest patches can play a role in how the tree line expands, for example under the effects of global warming, making the subject an important topic in forestation research.

Once leaf and bud samples were collected across the sequence, there was some concern over the time required to extract pure DNA for rapid analysis and the sequencing of alleles for species comparison. Arctic plants have high concentrations of PCR inhibitors and previous use of the CTAB method was proving inefficient, sometimes taking up to two days to collect usable data.

The PowerPlant Pro DNA Isolation kit is specifically designed with tough sample types in mind, quickly isolating genomic DNA from difficult plant sample types such as strawberry leaf, cotton seeds and pine needles. Inhibitor removal technology in the kit takes out 100% of PCR inhibitors, polyphenolics and polysaccharides, resulting in pure DNA for downstream applications. This made the kit suitable for the Durham study.

In comparison to the previous technique, the kit showed huge benefits in both time and reliability, cutting down time spent extracting DNA to just a couple of hours. It was also found to be easy to adjust protocols to meet the individual needs of the user and optimise results.

“I was using the standard CTAB method for DNA extraction but found it to be quite temperamental with the birch specimens,” said Rowland.

“It also took on average two days to collect results but with PowerPlant Pro I’ve managed to reduce this to two hours, and it’s reliable.”

Rowland has continued to use the PowerPlant Pro DNA Isolation kit for all subsequent DNA extractions and confirmed she would happily use it again in future research.

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Microplate washers BioTek’s 405 Touch and 405 LS Microplate Washers are now available with Verify Technology - a fast and easy way to identify clogged washer manifold tubes. It uses an ultrasonic sensor to identify specific clogged dispense and aspirate tubes that can lead to inconsistent washing and assay failure.

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Beginner’s guide to solid phase extraction Waters Corporation has published a 212-page Beginner’s Guide to Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). Authored by noted instructor Joe Arsenault, who has more than 35 years of experience in SPE, the handbook is a learning tool for scientists and technicians who want to add to their skill set and put the power of solid phase extraction immediately to work in their analytical laboratory.

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Lab waste disposer The dry sterilising Lab Waste Disposer features a biosafety guarding function. It is used for disposing of on-site solid waste caused by low-infectious or pathological inspection in hospitals or labs, including the excision body of humans and animals, microbiological incubation, PCR experiment waste, needles, syringes, etc. The waste can be treated as common waste after being disposed of by the system.

The temperature and time are precisely controlled by a microprocessor and the product is equipped with an alarm to signal the end of the process and automatically power off. Active carbon and HEPA filters are used on the cooling pipe, which prevents leakage of aerosol and smell. The unit has an interlocking control on the door which prevents it from opening and is also equipped with a failure protection lock.

Two sizes are available: 0.6 L in stainless steel and 3 L in cold-rolled steel.

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Microbiological workflow products Merck Millipore has added three products to its EZ-product family, which is designed to facilitate microbiology workflow in quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) laboratories.

The family now includes the EZ-Fluo rapid detection system, a non-destructive, fluorescent staining-based system for microbial detection; the EZ-fit Manifold for contamination-free laboratory filtration; and the EZ-Pak Dispenser Curve for fast, sterile membrane dispensing.

The EZ-Fluo rapid detection system reduces time to result by approximately 2/3 of that required by traditional methods, allowing contamination events to be identified sooner and enabling better control of the manufacturing process. The system uses standard membrane filtration to detect viable and culturable bacteria, yeasts and moulds down to 1 CFU per sample.

Test results are easily comparable to compendial method test results, which facilitates validation and integration of the system. The method is non-destructive, allowing growth of microorganisms after they have been stained in order to identify them using any standard identification technology. This is an advantage compared to other rapid test systems which cannot identify microorganisms using the same sample that was tested to detect the contamination.

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The EZ-Pak Dispenser Curve provides high-speed sterile membrane dispensing with notouch operation. Unlike other dispenser systems, the product’s design allows for quick and easy membrane loading in less than 30 s, making lab personnel more efficient.

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Variable volume pipettors The LabCo variable volume pipettors offer choices for the user’s pipetting needs. Thirteen pipettors cover a range from 0.5 µL to 10 mL in the single-channel model and 0.5 to 300 µL for the 8- and 12-channel models.

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Studying super-cold proteins

Lithium chloride enables neutron studies of protein/solvent interactions at super-cold temperatures.

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esearchers at the Spallation Neutron Source Backscattering Spectrometer (BASIS) beam line at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have successfully developed a method to study biomolecules (proteins) at temperatures far below freezing using a lithium chloride preparation in the aqueous solvent that prevents freezing.

Studying biosamples at super-cold temperatures - 200 K - was previously impossible, as the water in such a solution inevitably freezes, and with it, the biosample’s dynamic interactions freeze, too.

The ability to study proteins at these temperatures gives researchers an important new avenue for understanding how they function in living organisms.

Neutron researchers need to study the dynamic interaction of proteins and their aqueous solvent at very low temperatures to understand their vibrational behaviour at the atomic level. Then, while slowly raising the temperature to physiological conditions, they can study the unique biological ‘relaxational’ motions that dominate as the temperature is raised.

Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) can then literally snap pictures as the dynamic interactions of the sample and water gradually ‘switch on’ with the rise in temperature. How to keep the biosample from freezing at very low temperatures has been an ongoing research problem.

Lead instrument scientist at BASIS, Eugene Mamontov and Xiangqiang Chu, his postdoc of two years, have successfully navigated this research roadblock with a unique method that stops the hydrated biomolecule from freezing. In a series of papers over several years, Mamontov and Chu had already shown that a lithium chloride aqueous solution is remarkably similar in its dynamics to pure water.

And more significantly, they found that at very low temperatures, it does not freeze.

With the assistance of Hugh O’Neill and Qiu Zhang of the Biology and Soft Matter Division in ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate, who prepared the samples and performed the samples characterisation, they mixed an aqueous solution of lithium chloride with protein, producing a slurry with bulk-like water inside.

16

“You look at it and you can’t tell the difference between the solution and pure water,” Mamontov explained. “You measure the dynamics. There is very little difference. Yet, unlike water, the stuff does not freeze down to about 200 Kelvin. It changes to a thick, glassy consistency; however, it remains water-like.” The lithium chloride aqueous solution “resembles more what is inside us, what is in living things”, Mamontov said. “The protein kind of floats, moving inside the solvent (which is mostly water) - a much more realistic portrayal of proteins in living cells.”

In a recent paper, they successfully studied the dynamics of the protein at many different temperatures in a realistic aqueous environment, without freezing. Proteins at temperatures as low as liquid helium or nitrogen behave essentially like atoms in any regular solid. They vibrate as every atom and molecule vibrates in any solid.

But, when warmed, in addition to vibrating, Mamontov explained, “they start to do something else. They start to make relaxational motions. Think of tentacles, or some kind of mop with which you sweep the floor.

“We have known for a long time that the dynamics of the solvent and the dynamics of the biomolecule are somehow coupled,” Mamontov said. The question is whether one is dependent on the other, whether they are ‘enslaved’ or just influence one another somehow.

Mamontov says the BASIS instrument is uniquely suited to study the problem. Unlike other spectrometers, BASIS can separately and simultaneously measure both the activity of the solvated protein and the aqueous solution that surrounds it.

The description of the new method of studying biomolecules at very low temperatures, the early experimental results and the experiments that can ensue with the resolution of this long-standing problem appear in a special Perspective review paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (September).

“It is important to an understanding of life,” Mamontov said.

“It is fundamentally important to biological science. We need to know how the protein conforms, how it responds to the changing temperature of its solvent, in order to understand how a protein functions inside us.”

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Nitrofurantoin ELISA kit The nitrofuran class of broad spectrum antibiotics (Nitrofurantoin, furazolidone, furaltadone and nitrofurazone) are commonly used in food-producing animals.

Their potential for harmful effects on human health has led to bans on their use in food-producing animals in many countries including Australia, USA, Canada and the EU. These countries have also imposed bans on all imported foods containing nitrofuran residues.

The monitoring of water sources and food products

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for antibiotic residues is necessary to ascertain that these compounds are not misused and do not present a danger to human and animal health. But the detection of nitrofurans has proved challenging as the drugs are rapidly metabolised after ingestion - the protein bound metabolites which are formed, however, persist in edible tissue for a considerable amount of time after treatment.

AHD (1-aminohydantoin), the metabolite moiety derived from Nitrofurantoin, is not degraded by common cooking techniques and can be released from tissue under mildly acidic conditions, making

• Easy to move • Large LCD Display • Time reserve function • Remote control • Automatic front ...window • Voice prompt .. function

it suitable for monitoring and detection in edible tissue. The Abraxis Nitrofurantoin ELISA allows the determination of 41 samples in duplicate determination. Only a few grams or millilitres of sample are required.

Hydrolysis and derivatisation (overnight), and a subsequent solvent extraction step, are necessary prior to assaying. The ELISA analysis can then be performed in less than 1 h. Applications include fish, prawn, chicken, honey and milk.

United Bioresearch Products Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S796

Prefilter series Sartorius Stedim Biotech has launched the Sartoguard NF prefilter series, completing its range of Sartoguard prefilters. The product features a combination of high-performance polyethersulfone (PES) membranes and innovative nanofleece technology. This is said to be the first time that PES nanofleece material is being used for liquid prefiltration applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

The nanofleece technology provides an ultrafine fleece structure based on a small nanofibre diameter of 120-150 nm, compared with the fibre diameter of conventional fleece materials of >500 nm. The resulting fleece structure offers enhanced clarification capabilities, even for extremely fine contaminants, along with a high dirt-holding capacity, fast flow rates and high total throughput performance.

“Providing superior testing Instrumentation and products”

The prefilters are suitable for downstream protection of expensive sterilising-grade and Mycoplasma-retentive filters in challenging prefiltration applications for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Their ultrafine retention performance ensures the removal of even extremely small particulate-based contaminants.

All active filter materials - membranes and nanofleece - of the prefilter series are made of PES, thus ensuring a minimum extractable footprint. This enables users to easily implement the prefilters into existing filtration processes utilising final filters already based on PES. Sartoguard NF filter elements are available in all common filter formats offered by Sar-

sales@crealt.com.au www.crealt.com.au

torius Stedim Biotech, such as SartoScale devices for small-scale filterability trials, as well as MidiCaps, MaxiCaps and standard filter cartridges for medium- and commercial-scale manufacturing. Sartoguard NF MidiCaps and MaxiCaps are said to be the first fully gamma irradiatable prefilter series and can be easily integrated into single-use process equipment.

Sartorius Stedim Australia Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S419

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17 1/02/2013 3:59:01 PM

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High-resolution lenses Techspec High Resolution Lenses for 1″ and 4/3″ sensors are designed to withstand the harsh demands of industrial inspection applications.

The durable lenses provide high resolution and strong contrast. They are available in 16, 25 and 35 mm focal length lenses, compatible with up to 1″ sensor formats, as well as a 50 mm focal length lens that is compatible with up to 4/3″ sensor formats.

Each of the C-mount, fixed focal length lenses features sturdy locking focus and iris rings to prevent unwanted adjustments. A convenient front filter thread is suitable for integrating standard optical filters.

Edmund Optics Singapore Pte Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S910

Miniature gear-drive rotary stages Compact, low-profile MPS-GR rotary stages from Aerotech provide accurate, economical positioning for both laboratory and industrial applications. Clear apertures of 20 or 30 mm allow the stages to be used effectively where through-holes are required.

DPSS lasers

These applications include articulation of beam

Cobolt has released four higher power

polarising lenses, through-holes for cabling or air

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lines, or vision/camera/inspection.

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Designed for 360° measurement, alignment and inspection in optics, photonics and lasers, the stages

In the MLD series of CW diode lasers, these diodes and their accompany-

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cytometry and confocal TIRF microscopy, as well as Raman spectroscopy

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The Samba 532 nm 1.5 W is good for Raman spectroscopy, interferometry, Ti:sapphire pumping and nonlinear optics.

option (LMO) permits easy mounting of standard lenses over the stage aperture.

The Flamenco 660 nm 500 mW is good for Raman spectroscopy, super-

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resolution STED nanoscopy, interferometry, DNA sequencing and particle

in numerous combinations with linear, goniometer

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Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S551

Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S678

20

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Pathtech Back to School Sale Now is a great time to purchase your Pipettes for 2013

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30% Off When you purchase 11+ Pipettes Pathtech Pipette Academy Would you like to increase your staff or students knowledge about Pipette ergonomics, safety and performance and minimise RSI or inaccurate test results? The Pipette Academy is now available to new and existing Pathtech customers.

Contact Customer Service for further information.

Offers available on any Biohit Proline or Proline Plus Mechanical Pipette Perfect for Education Institutions, Teaching and Research Labs and Student Use: Good accuracy and precision, highly durable and long lasting, lightweight design and easy to use, ensured safety, low volume options for PCR work.

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Offer is available from Monday 4th February to Friday 29th March, 2013 or whilst stock is available. This offer is not available with any other offer and no further discounts apply.

Pathtech Pipette Academy available to new and existing Pathtech customers. Not available in all areas and limited courses available with a minimum 25 attendees. Contact Customer Service for further information on the Pipette Academy. Further conditions may apply.

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© www.istockphoto.com/Peter Polák

How the kilogram has put on weight

Post-Christmas and most of us are feeling the overindulgence. But take heart - experts at Newcastle University, UK, have shown even the kilogram itself has put on weight. Using a state-of-the-art Thetaprobe XPS machine - the only one of its kind in the world - the team have shown the original kilogram is likely to be tens of micrograms heavier than it was when the first standard was set in 1875.

A

nd they say a suntan could be the key to helping it lose weight.

The original kilogram - known as the International Prototype Kilogram or the IPK - is the standard against which all other measurements of mass are set. Stored in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, forty official replicas of the IPK were made in 1884 and distributed around the world in order to standardise mass. The UK holds replica 18 at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

But despite efforts to protect the IPK and its duplicates, industrialisation and modern living have taken their toll on the platinumbased weights and contaminants have built up on the surface.

Now, Professor Peter Cumpson and Dr Naoko Sano have used cutting-edge X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to analyse surfaces similar to the standard kilogram to assess the build-up of hydrocarbons - and how to remove them.

Publishing their findings in the journal of Metrologia, they reveal how giving the kilogram a suntan could be the answer to helping it lose weight. “Statute decrees the IPK is the kilogram,” explains research lead Peter Cumpson, Professor of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) at Newcastle University. “It doesn’t really matter what it weighs as long as we are all working to the same exact standard - the problem is there are slight differences. Around the world, the IPK and its 40 replicas are all growing at different rates, diverging from the original.

“We’re only talking about a very small change - less than 100 micrograms - so, unfortunately, we can’t all take a couple of kilograms off our weight and pretend the Christmas overindulgence never happened.

“But mass is such a fundamental unit that even this very small change is significant and the impact of a slight variation on a global scale is absolutely huge. There are cases of international trade in high-value materials - or waste - where every last microgram must be accounted for.

22

“What we have done at Newcastle is effectively give these surfaces a suntan. By exposing the surface to a mixture of UV and ozone, we can remove the carbonaceous contamination and potentially bring prototype kilograms back to their ideal weight.”

The kilogram is one of the seven SI base units from which all other units can be derived and is the only one which is measured against a physical object - the IPK. All others are standardised against known constants.

The Newcastle team are now moving on to study the addition of mercury from the atmosphere - something Professor Cumpson first identified while working at the NPL in the 1990s. But it is the development of techniques such as XPS which has allowed them to accurately measure how the build-up of chemicals such as hydrocarbons can be most effectively removed.

Using a Theta-probe XPS machine, Professor Cumpson and Dr Sano showed how the UV/ozone wash could be used to remove contamination without damaging the platinum surface. “The Theta probe allows us to look at the composition of very thin layers by measuring the angle at which the electrons emerge from it,” explains Professor Cumpson.

“Rather like an MRI scanner, it takes a cross-section of the material but at an atomic level. The second part of the machine is the Argon cluster ion gun, which fires charged ‘droplets’ - each containing about a thousand Argon atoms, and it is this that makes the Newcastle machine unique.

“The Argon cluster ion gun allows us to analyse organic materials without damaging the inorganic surface, in this case the platinum alloy.”

Work is underway internationally in several National Measurement Institutes to find an alternative to the IPK - a standardised value for the kilogram that is not based on a matchbox-sized piece of metal.

But until then, the prototype kilograms are what the world relies on for its mass scale.

“If the kilogram does put on weight, then it’s imperative that we understand exactly how the IPK is changing,” says Professor Cumpson.

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Live cell imaging systems The BioFlux 200 and 1000Z systems for live cell imaging, from Fluxion Biosciences, feature the company’s well-plate microfluidic technology that allows multidimensional live cell imaging assays to be performed under shear flow. With customised flow plates and precise pressure control, microbiological or cellular assays can be performed in physiologically relevant shear environments.

The BioFlux 200 system is compatible with most manufacturers’ inverted microscopes and comes complete with software for control of shear flow conditions in a micro environment.

The BioFlux 1000Z provides an integrated, intuitive solution for running live cell assays under controlled shear. Consisting of a fully automated Zeiss Axio Observer microscope with integrated Bioflux shear flow module, the platform is compatible with all standard Zeiss components such as incubation set-ups, Definite Focus and imaging modules. The system is driven by the BioFlux Montage software.

The combination of Zeiss hardware with Fluxion’s well-plate microfluidic technology provides a solution for critical applications in cellular research and drug discovery, including cell and platelet adhesion, cell migration and invasion, biofilms, and stem cell research.

Carl Zeiss Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S187

Benchtop process calibrator Fluke Calibration has introduced the 7526A Precision Process Calibrator, which combines versatility and precision into a single benchtop process calibrator. The product puts all the necessary tools for regular process instrumentation calibration into one box.

The product simplifies calibration of temperature and pressure process instrumentation by incorporating an isolated measurement channel, letting the user source and measure simultaneously. The user can easily calibrate RTD and thermocouple readouts, pressure gauges, temperature and pressure transmitters, digital process simulators, data loggers, multimeters and more.

Hard-coated 25 nm bandpass interference filters Delivering high transmission with deep blocking, Edmund Optics’ Techspec Hard Coated 25 nm Bandpass Interference Filters are suitable for a wide variety of life science applications, as well as for use in machine vision applications.

The precision filters are designed to serve as a good midrange alternative to broadband or narrowband filters. Suitable for single photon microscopy, the filters prevent photobleaching in delicate live samples or fluorophores in a broad range of life science microscopy applications.

The calibrator simulates and measures nine RTD and 13 thermocouple types; accurately measures pressure to within 0.008% of reading when combined with the company’s 525A-P Series Pressure Modules; sources and measures DC voltage from 0 to 100 V to within 0.004% of reading; sources DC current from 0 to 100 mA; accurately measures DC current to within 0.01% from 0 to 50 mA; and supplies 24 V DC loop power.

Fluke Australia Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/R999

The filters are a good choice when used to eliminate unwanted background noise, while simultaneously enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio in imaging or machine vision applications.

Hard-coated for durability, the filters meet Environmental Standard MIL-STD-810F and Durability Standard MIL-C-48497.

A variety of filters are available, with centre wavelengths (CWL) from 400 to 950 nm, with 12.5, 25 or 50 mm diameters available.

10 and 50 nm filters are available.

Edmund Optics Singapore Pte Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S909

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Target molecule detection system According to Bio-Strategy, the NanoString Technology nCounter Analysis System is set to become a cornerstone technology of molecular biology in the same way PCR has done. It uses colour-coded molecular barcodes that hybridise to and directly detect different types of target nucleic acid target molecules (mRNA, miRNA or DNA).

The novel detection system provides digital multiplex quantification of up to 800 different target

Chlorine analyser The CLF10 sc analyser is an amperometric analyser which leverages Hach’s self-diagnostics to alert users whenever the process has changed or the instrument needs servicing. Diagnostic features include the Cal Watch algorithm for warning of pH and chlorine calibration deviation and a non-contacting flow sensor for notification of insufficient sample flow.

The product allows for real-time control of disinfection processes by providing continuous readings that indicate when treatment conditions have changed. Static applications are best suited with the analyser where sample pH, flow, temperature and chlorine concentration are stable. Chlorine measurements made with the analyser do not require reagents, eliminating the need for routine reagent replacement and waste stream management.

molecules in a single sample. It is sensitive to the full range of biological expression, requires very little sample (as little as a single cell) and is resistant to degraded material such as formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue.

In addition to a range of application-specific kits for gene expression, copy number variation (CNV) and miRNA analysis, custom nanoString CodeSets can detect any target sequence from any organism. Compared to qPCR, results are said to be simpler to generate, more precise and more tolerant of poor sample quality.

Bio-Strategy Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S867

Hach Company Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S256

HI 2221 • HI 2223

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pH Calibration CheckTM On-screen electrode condition and response time Up to 5 point calibration with 7 standard buffers Diagnostic alerts through icons Log up to 500 samples (HI223) GLP features PC interface via USB Supplied complete with HI1131B pH electrode, HI7662 temperature probe, HI76404N electrode holder, 12VDC adapter and instructions

Tel: 03 9769 0666 Fax: 03 9769 0699 Email: sales@hannainst.com.au Web: www.hannainst.com.au

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

25

Zombie cells may outperform live ones A simple technique coats a cell with a silica solution to form a near-perfect replica of its structure.

The process may simplify a wide variety of commercial fabrication processes from the nano- to macroscale.

‘Z

ombie’ mammalian cells that may function better as catalysts and conductors after they die have been created by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico.

The work, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uses the nanoscopic organelles and other tiny components of mammalian cells as fragile templates on which to deposit silica. The researchers then heat the cell to burn off its protein. The resultant hardened silica structures are faithful to the exterior and interior features of the formerly living cell, can survive greater pressures and temperatures than flesh ever could, and can perform some functions better than when they were alive, said lead researcher Bryan Kaehr, a Sandia materials scientist.

“It’s very challenging for researchers to build structures at the nanometre scale,” said Kaehr. “We can make particles and wires, but 3D arbitrary structures haven’t been achieved yet. With this technique, we don’t need to build those structures - nature does it for us. We only need to find cells that possess the machinery we want and copy

26

it using our technique. And, using chemistry or surface patterning, we can program a group of cells to form whatever shape seems desirable.”

UNM professor and Sandia Fellow Jeff Brinker added, “The process faithfully replicates features from the nanoscale to macroscale in a robust, three-dimensionally stable form that resists shrinkage even upon heating to over 500°C. The refractoriness of these delicate structures is amazing.”

The unusual but simple procedure may serve as a model for creating hardier classes of nanoscopic products.

Because a cell is populated by a vast range of proteins, lipids and scaffolding, its interior is ready made to model catalysts, funnels, absorbents and other useful nanomachinery, said Kaehr, a former Sandia Truman Fellow.

Catalysts that evolve in cells are enzymes that have to retain a certain shape for their chemistry to work. Since structure is important to function, stabilising a catalyst in the shape it evolved is important, Kaehr said. Heat-hardened silica would stabilise and protect the still-present protein as it did its work.

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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© www.istockphoto.com/Sergey Volkov

The silicic acid, for reasons still partially obscure, enters without clogging and in effect embalms every organelle in the cell from the micro- to the nanometre scale.

If the cell isn’t heated, the silica forms a kind of permeable armour around the protein of the living cell. This may support it enough to act as a catalyst at temperatures and pressures undreamed of by nature.

“Once we’ve used silica to stabilise the cellular structure, it can still carry out reactions and, more importantly, that reaction is stable enough to work at high temperatures,” Kaehr said. “The method is also a means to take a soft, potentially valuable biological material and convert it to a fossil that will stay on our shelves indefinitely.”

Ordinarily, preserving something organic means freezing it, which is energy-intensive, he said. Instead, “We’re doing rapid fossilisation: quickly converting a protoplasmic cell into a hard structure that will stand the test of time.”

Experiments showed the cell can be used as a reverse mould from which, at 900°C, a porous carbonised structure results from heating cell protein in a vacuum. In other words, in the same way that burning wood in air leaves a residue of structureless soot, the zombie heating method results in a high-quality carbon structure.

Subsequent dissolution of the underlying silica support decreased the

Zombie cell: first stage - only moderately heated, the cell is now pure silica and needed a gold coating for a scanning electron microscope to image it. Image: Bryan Kaehr UNM post-doctoral student Jason Townson said the most immediate use for silicification may be as a simple way to preserve the structure of organic materials for imaging.

“Formerly, for internal preservation and subsequent imaging, a cell would be fixed in formaldehyde or some other preservative. But many of these methods are labour-intensive,” Townson said. “This method is simple. The preserved cells will never get sloppy in decay.

And when we cracked open the resulting structure, we were blown away by how well the cell was preserved, down to the minor groove of the cell’s DNA.” Heating the cell to still higher temperatures (>400°C) evaporates the organic material of the cell - its protein - and leaves the silica in a kind of three-dimensional Madame Tussauds wax replica of a formerly living being. The difference is that instead of modelling the face, say, of a famous criminal, the hardened silica-based cells display internal mineralised structures with intricate features ranging from nano- to millimetre-length scales.

The construction process is relatively simple: Take some freefloating mammalian cells, put them in a petri dish and add silicic acid.

Through the action of methanol, a by-product of the acid, the cell’s lipid layers - the protective casings that keep the cell intact - are softened and made porous enough for the silica to flow in at about the temperature of the human body.

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cell’s electrical resistance by approximately 20 times. Such materials would have substantial utility in fuel cells, decontamination and sensor technologies.

That such extraordinary results can be achieved by silicifying cells indicates many soft cellular architectures could be “feedstock for most materials processing procedures, including those requiring high temperatures and pressures”, according to the technical paper.

Other porous material structures, relying on titanium instead of silica, have been formed using the organic template technique. Other metal oxides, said Kaehr, are a possibility. These would have more complex structural functions or could serve as catalysts.

The work follows the efforts of a number of scientific groups, including Kaehr’s, that have built gel-like structures, copied them with silica and then burned off the gel to create, in effect, large sponges.

“Now we can change the biological shape and calcify (heat) it, so for the first time we get new irregular structures,” Kaehr said.

Summing up, Kaehr offers what may be the first distinction in scientific literature between a mummy cell and a zombie cell: “King Tut was mummified,” he said, “to approximately resemble his living self, but the process took place without mineralisation [a process of fossilisation]. Our zombie cells bridge chemistry and biology to create forms that not only near-perfectly resemble their past selves but can do future work.”

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

27

CASE STUDY

Fera and Waters open international food safety training laboratory A major new international food safety training facility, aimed at improving compliance with EU food import standards, has being launched by the UK Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) and analytical equipment manufacturer Waters.

A significant proportion of food safety incidents reported in the EU are due to imports; therefore, ensuring the legal compliance and safety of imported food is vital for protecting consumers. The EU and other international organisations have recognised the value of improving food safety testing globally so that risks can be identified and tackled at source. In the EU alone, the value of exports and imports of foodstuffs today exceeds £690 billion.

The Fera International Food Safety Training Laboratory (Fera IFSTL), based near York, will primarily train scientists concerned with exporting foods to Europe. Experts from Fera will lead training programs that teach best practice methods to analysts from overseas, using technology and equipment for determining chemical contaminants and residues in food. This will enable food-producing countries around the world to implement their own solutions and gain access to the opportunities offered by trade with Europe.

Fera Chief Executive Adrian Belton said: “We welcome this opportunity to be able to pass on our expertise in food analytical testing. This is underpinned by over 30 years’ scientific experience in the area, together with detailed knowledge of current and emerging regulations, and internationally recognised quality standards. All of our food analysis work is carried out in modern laboratories by highly trained scientists, using state-of-the-art analytical equipment.”

The equipment to be used in the Fera IFSTL has been supplied by collaborative partner Waters, which provided its state-of-the-art Acquity UPLC-MS/MS systems, sample preparation components and mycotoxin analysis tools. The company also helped establish the laboratory’s construction and assisted Fera in designing training programs.

Formally opening the training laboratory, Lord de Mauley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lords), said: “It’s very encouraging to see the public and private sectors working together to facilitate trade from outside the EU. This will improve food safety testing for food imported into the EU, ensuring food is safe before it reaches our tables.”

The Fera IFSTL is being launched as part of an international network of food safety training laboratories aimed at raising standards of food safety testing globally. The first IFSTL was opened in the United States in September 2011 by the US Food and Drug Administration, University of Maryland and Waters. The training facilities in the network will coordinate and share expertise; as new facilities are added they will do the same, increasing knowledge and the use of global best practices.

Waters Executive Vice President Art Caputo said: “We are very pleased to partner with Fera in establishing this lab near York. We believe that this collaboration will lead to better science and technology, and this in turn will help us raise the bar on food safety. We know the scale of this challenge requires us to address it globally, which is why we are excited to expand the IFSTL network.”

The Fera IFSTL dedicated training facility has the capacity to teach 200 professionals per year.

In the first year of operation, courses will cover pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues and mycotoxins. In subsequent years the range of courses will be expanded, including running bespoke courses for specific customers if required, and the number and length of courses offered per year will be increased.

Waters Australia Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S860

28

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

Incubator shakers Thermo Scientific MaxQ shakers deliver good performance and around-the-clock operation. The shakers are suitable for a variety of sample preparation applications, from growing cultures for protein expression to staining gels for visualisation and much more.

The company’s drive mechanisms provide continuous 24 h operation and allow the user to shake and stir large and uneven loads smoothly and uniformly. These designs are available on all Thermo Scientific orbital shakers.

Easy-to-use controls let the user precisely adjust individual displays for temperature, speed and time. Viewing all parameters simultaneously prevents risk of error while establishing running conditions.

Benchtop, floor and stackable models are available fully equipped with incubation, refrigeration and water bath options to accommodate any application and budget.

Customisable solutions allow the user to choose the platform for maximum flexibility and capacity. Platforms allow the addition and interchangeability of clamps that hold various sizes of Erlenmeyer flasks, beakers, test tube racks, separatory funnels and microwell plates.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/R711

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Digital slide scanner Axio Scan.Z1 is an automated microscope system that allows researchers to digitalise fixed-tissue sections and cytologic specimens in brightfield and fluorescence.

Due to the tray concept, the product captures the entire specimen area of the microscope slide, including the edge. Just a few minutes later, the self-calibrating automated slide scanner presents specimens on high-quality virtual slides. Up to 100 microscope slides can be digitalised at a time.

For fluorescence applications, filter wheels switch wavelengths in just 50 ms.

Sensitive cameras and maximally corrected optics achieve optimal image quality.

The Colibri.2 UV-free LED light source and a focus finder with oblique illumination, the Ring Aperture Contrast, ensure maximum protection for the sample.

The product is operated by ZEN imaging software from Carl Zeiss. ZEN allows users either to work with predefined recording parameters automatically or to select all settings individually.

The virtual slides are organised in a web-based database: the ZEN Browser. Independent of the operating system, users can access, view and share their images and data with colleagues online and organise entire projects - even while travelling. There is also a free app for iPad and iPhone to facilitate this usage.

Users decide at the outset how many microscope slides and which detection modes and camera they wish to use, and simply upgrade the product as their tasks expand.

Carl Zeiss Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S871

UHPLC series Shimadzu Corporation has further developed its Nexera series of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatographs with the Nexera X2 a UHPLC series said to offer higher core performance as well as capabilities that improve analytical efficiency for a wider range of HPLC/UHPLC applications.

Due to its modular design, the product can be easily configured to suit a variety of analytical applications. Equipped with the SPDM30A and i-PDeA function, the Nexera SR configuration combines high sensitivity and separation power, allowing effective resolution of overlapping peaks. Additional models include the Nexera Quaternary four-solvent gradient system, which makes it easy to transfer methods from general HPLC systems; the Nexera MP, a front-end UHPLC for all LC/MS platforms, suitable for high-throughput analysis of large sample numbers; and the Nexera Method Scouting configuration, an automated method development system that allows comprehensive method scouting using 96 combinations of mobile phases and columns.

The ability to mix and match between binary HP gradient elution and quaternary LP gradient elution in a single system provides benefits such as the ability to perform sophisticated solvent blending, eg, facilitating optimising buffer pH without the delay of having to remake the buffers.

Nexera X2 pumps include high performance and flexibility for UHPL and HPLC applications in a single unit. The ability to reconfigure the pump between HPGE and LPGE modes of operation means the user doesn’t have to buy another complete pumping system just to change the gradient mode. The pressure (up to 19,000 psi) and flow rate range (up to 10 mL/min) means this same pump is suitable for UHPLC, HPLC and even micro-LC applications.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (Oceania) Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S328

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Worm-tracking software WormLab is worm-tracking software from MBF Bioscience used to quantify the locomotion and behaviour of C. elegans and other nematodes.

It has a powerful model-specific tracking algorithm behind a user-friendly interface that collects data about a single worm or multiple worms, even through omega bends, reversals and entanglements.

C. elegans is a common and well-understood model organism used in research fields such as neurodegeneration, genetics, ageing, development and toxicology. The entire C. elegans genome is sequenced, allowing researchers to more easily test their hypotheses.

WormLab allows the user to analyse worm position (frame by frame), centreline points, speed, body area, body wavelength, track length, direction, body-bending angles, head-bending angle, omega bend detection and reversal detection.

SciTech Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S891

Photodiode array UV-Vis HPLC detector The Shimadzu SPD -M30A High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Photodiode Array (PDA) detector provides users with a high level of sensitivity and stability, with a very good specification for noise level of Âą0.2 x 10 -6 AU. In addition to low noise, the detector also boasts a low drift of 0.5 mAU/h, allowing confidence in stable baselines even over long batch runs. These gains have been achieved with low-noise electronics, temperature-controlled optics, including flow cells, and a high brilliance optical system.

A 1024 element CMOS diode array realises improved spectral resolution and low dark current. Faster electronics and diode array response allows data sampling rates of up to 200 Hz, more than fast enough for the narrowest UHPLC peaks. A range of cells, including capillary and low volume, gives users a cell choice for a wide range of applications, including cells for minimised peak dispersion in UHPLC and micro-LC applications. This results in greater sensitivity and improved signal-to-noise performance by minimising peak band dispersion.

The product also incorporates i-PDA (intelligent peak deconvolution analysis) technology. This facilitates the effective separation of challenging overlapped peaks, the quantitation of unseparated peaks and an enhanced peak purity function. Using the derivative spectrum, overlapping analyte peaks can be deconvoluted, allowing their convenient integration and quantitation.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (Oceania) Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S033

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WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Data storage moves from disk to DNA With an ever-expanding amount of digital information at our fingertips, solutions are being sought to find a way to store it all. This is particularly important when it comes to the archiving of information which, while important, may not get accessed very often. Now, researchers at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have created a way to store data in a somewhat unlikely place - DNA. Lauren Davis

C

urrent data storage methods are, according to the researchers, either too expensive and power-dependent (such as hard disks) or too prone to degradation (such as magnetic tape). DNA, on the other hand, is a material that lasts for tens of thousands of years - as has been shown through its extraction from woolly mammoth bones - as well as being small, dense and requiring no power for storage.

The researchers noted that some schemes have already examined the idea of DNA storage, stating that “existing schemes used for DNA computing in principle permit large-scale memory”, however, “data encoding in DNA computing is inextricably linked to the specific application or algorithm and no practical storage schemes have been realised”.

The main challenge the researchers faced was in synthesising (ie, creating) long sequences of DNA to an exactly specified design, as it is currently only possible to manufacture DNA in short strings.

So that is what they did - representing the information being stored

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as a hypothetical long DNA molecule and encoding this in vitro using shorter DNA fragments.

“This offers the benefits that isolated DNA fragments are easily manipulated in vitro, and that the routine recovery of intact fragments from samples that are tens of thousands of years old indicates that well-prepared synthetic DNA should have an exceptionally long lifespan in low-maintenance environments,” said the researchers.

Once the method was decided, the researchers selected and encoded a range of computer file formats for storage. These included all of Shakespeare’s sonnets (ASCII text), a scientific paper (PDF format), a colour photograph of the EMBL-EBI (JPEG 2000 format), an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech (MP3 format) and a Huffman code used in the study to convert bytes to base-3 digits (ASCII text) - a total of 739 KB. These were sent to Californian company Agilent Technologies, which used the files to synthesise what amounted to 153,335 strings of DNA - the result of which looked like “a tiny piece of dust”, according to Agilent’s Emily

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

31

THE RESEARCHERS SUGGEST THAT THE METHOD MIGHT BE ECONOMICALLY VIABLE FOR LONG-TERM ARCHIVES WITH A LOW EXPECTATION OF EXTENSIVE ACCESS, SUCH AS GOVERNMENT, HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC RECORDS.

Leproust. The company then sent the sample back to EMBL-EBI for DNA sequencing and decoding.

The DNA sequences were designed to reduce the probability of systematic failure, errors and data loss. So they contained no homopolymers (runs of ≥2 identical bases), which are associated with high error rates in existing high-throughput sequencing technologies. Each sequence was split into overlapping segments and alternate segments were converted to their reverse complement.

Indexing information augmented into each segment showed where it belonged in the overall code, and the coding scheme did not allow repeats. The researchers synthesised oligonucleotides (oligos) corresponding to their designed DNA strings using an updated version of Agilent’s OLS (oligo library synthesis) process.

The DNA sequences representing the encoded files were reconstructed in silico for decoding. Four of the five sequences could be fully decoded without intervention - the fifth, however, contained two gaps, each a run of 25 bases, for which no segment was detected corresponding to the original DNA. The gaps were caused by the failure to sequence any oligo representing any of four overlapping segments. However, the researchers were able to hypothesise what the missing nucleotides should have been and so they manually

inserted those 50 bases. The sequence could then be decoded, which resulted in all files being reconstructed with 100% accuracy.

The researchers were therefore able to prove that a small amount of data could be stored in DNA. As for larger applications, they showed that although the number of bases of synthesised DNA needed to encode information grows linearly with the amount of information to be stored, the decrease in efficiency is fairly slow over time. The same was said of the increase in cost and rates of error.

“DNA-based storage remains feasible on scales many orders of magnitude greater than current global data volumes,” the researchers said.

The researchers suggest that the method might be economically viable for long-term archives with a low expectation of extensive access, such as government, historical and scientific records.

“As with any storage system, a large-scale DNA archive would need stable DNA management and physical indexing of depositions,” they concluded. “But whereas current digital schemes for archiving require active and continuing maintenance and regular transferring between storage media, the DNA-based storage medium requires no active maintenance other than a cold, dry and dark environment … yet remains viable for thousands of years even by conservative estimates.

“Existing technologies for copying DNA are highly efficient, meaning that DNA is an excellent medium for the creation of copies of any archive for transportation, sharing or security.”

The method has been published in the journal Nature and can be viewed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11875.

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32

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

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Pipette and burette rinsing solution

pH

Suitable for laboratories where pipette and burette cleaning is required, the Kartell Pipette & Burette Rinsing Solution is a range of products

mV(ORP)

that offer a high-quality option for washing pipettes and burettes up

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Conductivity

The polyethylene (PE) rinsers fill via the spray nozzle situated on

Resistivity

the top rim, eliminating back-syphoning as the water inlet is located above and away from any contaminated waters.

Salinity

All contaminated water syphons out of the rinser

TDS

through the specially designed syphon pipe leading to the large bore outlet tube situated underneath the rinser. The rinser refills automatically during this process.

The pipettes and burettes are contained in specially designed baskets during washing to minimise breakage through the cushioning effect of the flexible base.

The washing process is as follows: Place the pipettes in the basket, then place the basket into the jar full of washing solution. Leave to soak for 2-3 h so the solution can clean the pipettes.

Remove the basket from the jar and place in the rinser. Connect the water pipe to the spray nozzle and the outlet tube to a drainage point.

Fill the rinser with water, add detergent solution and shake several times to ensure a thorough washing. Turn the water tap on and allow rinsing cycle to complete.

Full instructions are included with each product in the range, containing more details depending on the application required.

Sieper & Co Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/S878

F-70 Series Benchtop Meters HORIBA popular ToupH electrode is now tougher and responds faster.

Enhanced stability and minimised drift.

Intergrating two new technologies for faster response and optimal performance.

NEW TECHNOLOGY 01 pH fast response glass membrane The membrane contains HORIBA’s unique combination of rare earth metals to improve response time and increase durability.

Single-use, packed-bed bioreactor Eppendorf has announced the release of the first single-use vessel to incorporate New Brunswick’s packed-bed impeller system. The New Brunswick CelliGen BLU 5 L packed-bed single-use vessel is preloaded with 150 g of Fibra-Cel discs and ready to use out of the box.

The cell culture bioreactor combines single-use technology with the performance and scalability of a traditional stirred-tank design.

The product has been engineered for high-density animal cell culture in research or production. A compact controller enables advanced process management for research or cGMP manufacturing.

The company’s autoclavable packed-bed impeller features maximum cell densities, high product yields and good system performance. Suitable for secreted product applications, the packed-bed impeller system is suitable using both anchorage-dependent and suspension cell lines.

Eppendorf South Pacific Pty Ltd Contact info and more items like this at wf.net.au/R835

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NEW TECHNOLOGY 02 Reference electrode with increased stability (patent pending) Liquid Junction clogging by silver ions and silver complex ions is reduced to 1/1000 of conventional technology. Maintaining internal solution concentration ensures a stable standard electrical potential.

ToupH electrodes are now even stronger HORIBA’s glass membrane moulding technology achieves strengths more than 10 times the Japanese Industrial Standards (stress tests) Australian Scientific Pty Ltd PO Box 335 Kotara, NSW 2289

Tel: 1800 021 083 Fax: 02 4956 2525

Email: horiba@austscientific.com.au www.austscientific.com.au

WHAT’S NEW IN LAB & LIFE SCIENCES - February/March 2013

33

my lab 34

From additive fabrication to commercialisation

By Lauren Davis

The Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, located at the University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus, now includes a $47 million processing and devices facility to help bridge the gaps between research breakthroughs, prototyping and commercialisation. According to the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Judy Raper, no other university in Australia is making this link.

Officially opened in October 2012, the building is home to the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) and Institute for Superconducting & Electronic Materials (ISEM) - which are part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) - plus an electron microscopy facility. The IPRI focuses on additive fabrication and biofabrication, ie, building 3D structures by printing one layer at a time. This technique means you can add components and materials throughout the structure where you want them; in biofabrication, these components are things like living cells.

Professor Gordon Wallace is Executive Director of ACES and Director of the IPRI. He and his team only had a fundamental research building before the processing and devices facility, which he says has made a huge difference.

“We now have state-of-the-art additive fabrication equipment, or 3D printers,” he said. “We also have a range of customised 3D printers that have been created for us by the manufacturers.

In fact, some of our printing technology has been actually designed and developed in-house.

“The fabrication equipment enables us to create material structures, as well as to design experimental protocols and explore fundamental properties that weren’t available to us before.

“We’ve been able to make advances in the past 12 months that we’d not even considered before the machinery was in place.”

Such advances are being made constantly, with 10 to 20 projects on additive biofabrication being conducted at any one time. These range from creating components to whole structures and include work on cartilage, nerve and muscle regeneration, and implants to manage epilepsy and glaucoma.

In fact, with so much interest in this field, it might not be long until a bigger facility is sought, with Professor Wallace admitting that the number of opportunities for projects is beginning to outgrow the number of personnel and fabrication machines available.

“There’s no shortage of projects,” he said.

Professor Wallace stressed that it is not just the equipment that makes the facility such a great place but the people who have come there from around the world - “young people who are leaders in their respective fields” who, he claims, are the real reason behind the facility’s success.

ACES is currently running its Fab Fellow Initiative, which encourages people with industry experience to come to the laboratory and be exposed to its fabrication and manufacturing technologies. It is hoped that these visitors will help to take such methods to an industrial environment.

“I think the facility will provide the catalyst and the nucleus to bring together the right groups of people in order to maximise the possibility of commercial development,” said Professor Wallace.

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