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Interactions And Virus InfectivityTMTMTMTM These safe, stable methods can replace traditional radioisotopic techniques for research or high throughput screening in drug discovery. When combined with the TopCount® Microplate Scintillation and Luminescence Counter, assays can be miniaturized to use as few as several hundred cells in 96- or 384-well microplates. More information can be found on Packard's web site at http://www.packardinst.com And Fixation/Permeabilization Kits Pharmingen (San Diego, CA) provides a wide variety of cytokine and chemokine specific antibodies directly labeled with FITC or PE for detection of intracellular cytokines or chemokines by Flow Cytometry. These antibodies are valuable tools for analysis of the roles played by different cytokines in mediation of inflammatory and specific immune responses. To enhance the utility of these cytokine or chemokine specific antibodies, Pharmingen has recently introduced three kits to simplify the fixation and permeabilization of cells for immunofluorescent staining studies of intracellular cytokines and chemokines. All three of these kits provide one-step fixation and permeabilization of cells. The Cytofix/CytopermTM Kit provides a fixation/permeabilization solution and an antibody diluent / wash solution. The Cytofix/CytopermTM Plus (with GolgiStopTM) Kit provides these two solutions plus a protein transport inhibitor (Monensin) for the treatment of freshly explanted or cultured cells to promote intracytoplasmic cytokine accumulation. The Cytofix/Cytoperm Plus with GolgiPlugKit provides the two solutions from the Cytofix/Cytoperm Kit, plus an alternative protein transport inhibitor (Brefeldin A). Each kit provides sufficient reagent for staining approximately 200 cell samples. All kit components are also available individually. The new PCR Express Thermal Cycler has the highest block performance ever offered by Hybaid. The Peltier heat pump array and temperature control software provide significant profiles for speed, uniformity and temperature accuracy. Major new design features on the PCR Express include: A range of four interchangeable block options A new heated lid design for oil-free operation Block interchange in seconds with block type auto-recognition Calibration and alphanumeric programming with directory program storage A three year guarantee "Authorized for PCR" status The auto-adjust, heated lid fitted to the PCR Express allows the user to achieve oil-free thermal cycling with tubes and plates from any manufacturer. Hybaid's active tube control software on the PCR Express unit permits users to directly mimic the actual sample temperature inside a tube or plate well, as well as allowing researchers to monitor the performance of other thermal cyclers. This technique also confers the benefit of making protocol reoptimisation from another machine to the PCR Express easy to achieve. Assay From Turner Designs The Turner Designs (Sunnyvale, CA) TD-20/20 Luminometer, in combination with CLONTECH Laboratories' Great EscAPe SEAP Reporter System 2, provides a highly sensitive alternative to traditional methods such as CAT, ß-Galactosidase and galactokinase, for monitoring the activity of eukaryotic promotors and enhancers. The instrument's enhanced sensitivity makes it ideal for gene expression studies and other assays requiring extremely low levels of light detection. Detection of secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) is linear down to 1013 units/ml. The TD-20/20 Luminometer measures the light or photon emission from chemiluminescent and bioluminescent reactions and can be used in biotechnology research, environmental testing, industrial applications, and clinical research. BioLite from Packard Instrument Company is a new, non-toxic luminescence reagent for labeling cell membranes or bacterial cell walls. It has been used to study cell-cell interactions and for measuring mammalian and bacterial cells. In a recent publication, BioLite has been used to measure the release of viruses from infected, BioLite labeled-cells. As the virus buds from the cell, it carries with it a coating of the cell membrane containing the BioLite label. Not only can the amount of virus released be measured, but the subsequent uptake of the virus by uninfected, unlabeled cells can also be measured. BioLite is the newest member in a family of ConstantQuanta reagents that have long-lived luminescent signals. LucLite is used for measuring the luciferase reporter gene for transcriptional control assays, and CytoLite is used for measuring cell viability (proliferation and toxicity).

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