Avacta Group, the developer of diagnostics and innovative cancer therapies based on its proprietary Affimer and pre|CISION platforms, says a recent study has shown that the AffiDX antigen lateral flow test detects the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in clinical samples.

Lateral flow antigen tests are intended to provide a cost effective and rapid means of identifying individuals with a high viral load that means they are more likely to infect others. The clinical data for Avacta’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test demonstrated 100% sensitivity for identifying infectious individuals with viral loads measured by PCR of Ct<27, which is considered infectious.

The AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test has been evaluated with a small number of patient samples confirmed to be Delta variant positive and, for a Ct<29, the test was shown to correctly identify all the positive cases.

The AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test is CE marked for professional use in the UK and EU. The Company has recently appointed the first distributor for the test, Calibre Scientific, and is progressing multiple commercial opportunities with other distributors and professional end users in Europe and the UK.

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented: “We are delighted to report that the AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test detects the Delta variant with very high sensitivity for patients with a Ct value of less than 29. This is a variant of the virus that is spreading rapidly on a global scale and therefore the ability of the test to detect this variant is paramount to our commercial roll-out.

“In comparison with other lateral flow tests on the market, Avacta’s rapid antigen test demonstrates better clinical performance. This is a further huge validation of the Affimer reagent platform for use in in-vitro diagnostics.

• The AffiDX SARS-Cov-2 rapid antigen test is not currently available for sale in the United States.

Biotage has launched their Biotage PhyPrep, a new automated platform for plasmid DNA purification that releases laboratory staff from the tedium of repetitive, manual labour – and takes full advantage of the PhyTip columns’ dual flow chromatography technology, to yield supercoiled, endotoxin-free, transfection-grade plasmid DNA.

With the new Biotage PhyPrep platform, the automated process purifying plasmid DNA reduces the risk of human error, and with each sample being handled in the same way, the plasmid yield and purities are more consistent. Many Biopharma laboratories currently outsource plasmid purifications – those laboratories can now bring that work in-house, improving process control, project deliverability while at the same time reducing costs.

Biotage PhyPrep is the first automated solution for plasmid purification in Maxi, Mega and Giga scales. The various scales differ in the volume of cell culture to be purified, with desired yields ranging from 1 mg to 10 mg of plasmid DNA.

“The launch of the Biotage PhyPrep will assist laboratories in discovering new therapies for patients, utilizing biological drug molecules such as antibodies and novel gene therapies,” said Tomas Blomquist, CEO Biotage.

• For more information, visit: Biotage

Ziath reports on the development of Artificial Intelligence that enables discrimination between empty wells in sample tube racks from wells with a tube present which may have an obscured or poorly rendered barcode.

This work, done in conjunction with the University of Hertfordshire (UK), is part of a program of development for the next generation of Ziath barcoded tube scanners due to launch around the end of 2021.

Ziath has implemented the new Empty Well Detection feature in the latest version of its popular DP5 control software to give customers the full benefit of the new technology immediately.

The company specialises in development of innovative instrumentation control and information management products using 2D Data Matrix bar-coded tubes to simplify automation processes in life science organisations, from academia, to the biotech and pharma industries.

DataMatrix barcodes play a key role in tracking and tracing both biological and compound samples. These barcodes are usually laser-etched onto the underside of sample tubes, and the tubes are then stored in racks. Tube identification using a barcode reader that scans the bottom of the rack and decodes all the barcodes in one go has recognised issues with correctly identifying which location has a tube and which is an “empty well”.

Ambient lighting, background image noise, variation in barcode lasering and material quality all contribute to detection difficulties using traditional machine vision techniques. To further improve sample tracking and tracing – the next generation of tube scanners and readers must be able to genuinely discriminate between empty wells and wells with a tube present which may have an obscured or poorly rendered barcode.

Dr. Alexander Beasley, from the University of Hertfordshire, is an expert embedded systems design engineer with experience in machine learning. Working closely with Ziath, Dr. Beasley has used a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) technique for feature extraction of images from a Ziath camera-based barcode reader. In this developmental project he has applied CNN to discriminate empty wells from full wells in DataMatrix-barcoded tube racks.

“The CNN I have chosen is designed to be very lightweight allowing for quick execution. When compared to the pre-existing heuristic methods, the CNN approach was almost ten times faster to execute with virtually 100% accuracy,” Dr Beasley explained.

Neil Benn, Managing Director of Ziath, said: “This is just the first deliverable from our collaboration with Alexander and the University of Hertfordshire team. We are expecting this project to revolutionise the way we decode DataMatrix tubes and help us produce the next generation of faster, lighter, go-anywhere tube rack readers. It’s an exciting development that will, very soon, improve sample tracking and tracing for scientists everywhere.”

• For more information, visit: ziath.com

Uniqsis is making flow chemistry accessible to everyone, while at the same time catering for multi-step and automated reactions sequences, through the availability of an expanding suite of affordable ‘plug and play’ reactor modules. Compatible with all Uniqsis coil reactors and with an operating temperature range of ambient to +300°C, the HotCoil reactor heating module […]

Porvair Sciences has launched new kit for rapid extraction of total RNA from a wide range of biological samples.