Early detection of HCV infection is vital in order to provide consolidated care of acute and chronic infection, and adequate treatment of drug response monitoring is crucial to overall therapy success. Patients undergoing a peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin therapy can be monitored precisely by real-time PCR measurement. The novel Elecsys anti-HCV II immunoassay on cobas e modules allows the early qualitative detection of antibodies against HCV. The updated assay delivers enhanced convenience, specificity, increased reliability and consistency for improved efficiency in screening patients as well as blood donors. Following the identification of HCV antibodies, testing for HCV RNA, which is a crucial marker in the management of hepatitis C, confirms the infection and facilitates prediction of treatment response. Sensitive HCV RNA qualitative and quantitative tests to measure viral load and predict drug response are available on the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan fully automated platform.
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A fully automated rotary microtome with four mechanised cutting modes, the Thermo Scientific HM355S delivers exceptional quality sections across an extensive range of specimen types. Concern for operator safety is integral to the design with an obvious Emergency Stop, manual and electronic braking mechanisms and a unique double-tap start function ensuring only intentional operation, protecting both the user and the specimen from accidental damage. The long 72mm vertical cutting stroke, large wraparound waste tray, programmable cutting window and memory positioning all contribute in streamlining workflow and improving sectioning efficiency, for specimens up to SuperMega cassette size.
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Cryptosporidiosis is routinely diagnosed by microscopic analysis of stool samples using organic dyes, or by immunostaining with direct fluorescent antibody, and it can be difficult to detect. Similarly, Giardia lamblia infection is frequently misdiagnosed, relying on poorly performing antigen-based testing. A new enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the qualitative detection of Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia antigens in human faecal specimens from patients displaying gastrointestinal symptoms, the Prolisa Cryptosporidium/Giardia EIA kit offers precise results with high sensitivity and excellent specificity, enabling accurate diagnosis of infection. This convenient, rapid and easy-to-use method of detecting Cryptosporidium and G. lamblia is supplied in a 96-well test size consisting of detachable stripwells. This assay uses monoclonal anti-Cryptosporidium and anti-G. lamblia antibodies to ensure excellent sensitivity and specificity for high value diagnostic results. It can be performed manually as well as on most automated platforms for increased workflow flexibility.
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Roche has extended its serology panel to include a new generation Elecsys anti-HCV II, optimising workflows, saving costs and providing accurate, rapid results.
With an estimated 216,000 individuals chronically infected in the UK alone, hepatitis C (HCV) remains a major public health problem, and HCV-related end stage liver disease and mortality continue to increase. It is thus necessary to sustain and enhance efforts to raise awareness, prevent new infections, increase diagnosis, and treat more individuals with infection. Due to the high rate of asymptomatic infections, clinical diagnosis of hepatitis C is difficult and screening assays are of major importance.This new assay can play an effective part in this strategy, as it is used to demonstrate the presence of antibodies against HCV during acute and chronic stages of disease, and after a passed infection. A hundred percent clinical sensitivity is provided for all known genotypes, leading to early detection of infection and patient-oriented decision making. With high specificity as demonstrated in blood donors (99.84%) and samples from clinical routine, pregnant women and dialysis patients, use of this assay increases laboratory testing efficiencies. To optimise workflows and provide operational cost savings, the ready-to-use liquid reagents have a long onboard stability of 31 days on all the company’s immunoassay platforms. The new assay complements the Roche serology assay menu that includes assays for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, TORCH, Herpes, Syphilis and other infectious diseases.
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Combining fluorescence and brightfield analysis capabilities in a single platform, with precision cell modelling, Tissue IA 2.0 offers a superior solution for IHC biomarker quantification. A major challenge in research today is retrieval of quantitative, reproducible data from tissue-based IHC studies. This platform provides expert tools for researchers to extract the most from their studies. Powerful colour separation and multi-marker colocalisation functionality provides advanced insight and unbiased measurement of multiple antigen immunostaining in brightfield or fluorescent samples. Sophisticated cell modelling accurately detects and quantifies differential expression of staining in cellular compartments, providing detailed insight into cytoplasmic, membrane and nuclear biomarker localisation. The advanced dual staining capabilities enable cell cohorts at the molecular level to be identified. One marker can identify a population of interest and expression of a second can be quantified, providing exceptional analysis performance and greater understanding of slides. With high throughput batch analysis capacity, the platform will process whole slides, regions of interest or tissue microarray cores, and automatically integrate analysis results with a user’s slides.
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