New Products

Two New Options Enhance Flexibility Of Hewlett-Packard's ORCA System Olympus' B-Max 60 Microscope Debuts Balzers Releases High-Vacuum System SEALPETTLE PIPETTORS FROM ANALTECH Scanalytics Offers Improvements To AMBIS 4000 Imaging System Du Pont's RC-26 PLUS Superspeed Centrifuge Linscott's Directory On Floppy Diskettes Oncogene Science's Antibodies To Matrix Metalloproteinases Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, Calif., has announced the availability of two new options for its Optimized Robot for Chemical Analysis (ORCA) system that provide additional flexibility for laboratory-automation applications. The HP ORCA's arm can now operate on both sides of its 1-, 2-, or 3-m rail as a result of a newly introduced extended envelope option, which reportedly doubles the work volume of the system. The robot's hand remains in the same orientation as it moves from one side of the rail to the other. Also, the extended-grip option increases the total grip travel of the finger blocks from the standard 40 mm to 80 mm, allowing larger objects to be handled without a finger exchange, thereby resulting in higher system throughput. Olympus' B-Max 60 Microscope Debuts Olympus America Inc. of Lake Success, N.Y., has introduced the B-Max 60 microscope, which offers a built-in, on-axis vertical illuminator. The universal rotary turret module accepts up to four fluorescence-excitation cubes. Eighteen standard modular-excitation cubes, plus a complete line of custom cubes for multiple-staining applications with all fluorochromes, are featured. Incident fluorescence may be combined with phase contrast, Nomarski differential interference contrast, and a variety of other transmitted light modes. With low-wavelength fluorescence specimens, image quality and brightness may be enhanced by new Universal Infinity-Corrected System (UIS) Plan Achromat or Plan Fluorite high-numerical aperture objectives. With a field number of 26.5, these optics can achieve absolute image flatness when used with the superwide trinocular observation tube. The new PLS 500 High-Vacuum Laboratory System, available from Hudson, N.H.-based Balzers, can be used for a variety of applications, including PVD processes such as E-beam evaporation, ion-beam sputtering, and plasma-enhanced CVD; plasma etching; plasma separation; heat treatment; cold plasma treatment; and general high-vacuum applications. The system includes a Sealpette Pipettors From Analtech Analtech Inc. of Newark, Del., has unveiled Seal-pettes, a new line of micropipettors capable of providing either fixed or variable digital volume deliveries. Sealpettes are manually operated, lightweight, air-displacement pipettors that are designed for use in industrial, medical, research, and educational laboratories. They feature an ergonomic hand grip with smooth plunger action. 110-l vacuum chamber, base frame, rack cabinet, electronic drive unit, and a 520 l/sec turbopump that provides hydrocarbon-free high-vacuum and short-pumpdown cycles. The pumping speed remains constant over the working range for precise process control. For larger-capacity applications, the PLS 570 features a 300-l vacuum chamber with a 2,200 l/sec turbopump. Imaging System Scanalytics of Billerica, Mass., has improved its AMBIS 4000 Radioisotopic Imaging System, reportedly making it 10 to 100 times faster than conventional autoradiography for imaging 12C, 32P, and 35S labeled samples. Lower background rate and higher signal-to-noise ratio for greater sensitivity have been achieved through detector design enhancements, according to the company. Based on standard nuclear counting statistics, the improved system is designed to provide more precise quantitative data than are obtainable through film densitometry. An optional Sample Auto-Loader is available for the AMBIS 4000 to facilitate unattended processing of up to 10 samples. Du Pont Co. of Wilmington, Del., has developed the RC-26 PLUS Superspeed, a new centrifuge in its Sorvall line offering fully automated operation at a top speed of 26,000 rpm (70,450 og). Run parameters can be entered in advance through the instrument's control-options mode, and instrument setup is accomplished in three steps. Offering vacuum-free operation, the RC-26 PLUS combines a high- torque, brushless DC drive with new SUPER-LITE fixed-angle aluminum rotors weighing up to 40 percent less than conventional models, according to the manufacturer. This is said to allow for faster acceleration/deceleration, shorter run times, quiet operation, and reduced wear on the drive system. The RC-26 PLUS accepts all Sorvall Superspeed and Supraspeed rotors. A range of fixed-angle, swinging bucket, or special-purpose rotors is available. The new eighth edition of Linscott's Directory of Immunological and Biological Reagents, published in Santa Rosa, Calif., is now available on floppy diskettes for IBM- compatible computers. It provides names, addresses, and phone and fax numbers of suppliers of more than 47,000 products and reagents used in biomedical research-- monoclonal antibodies, antisera and conjugates, lectins, blood products, recombinant DNA reagents, cytokines, immunoassay kits, tissues, enzymes, hormones, peptides, serum proteins, and other items. More than 450 primary suppliers and 1,400 distributors worldwide are included. Also listed are International Reference Standards of the World Health Organization, American Type Culture Collection reagents, and various types of information available through the National Institutes of Health. The directory is updated every six months to cover the latest developments in new reagents, and a new edition is issued every two years. Cambridge, Mass.-based Oncogene Science has announced the release of two antibodies to matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), a family of enzymes expressed at elevated levels in highly aggressive human tumor cells, which have been implicated in catalytic functions of extracellular proteolyses. Two mouse monoclonal antibodies are available for research purposes, not diagnostic procedures. MMP-9 (Ab- 1) (clone 6-6B) inhibits the activation of MMP-9 and may be used for examining its autolytic and catalytic activity. MMP-9 (Ab-2) (clone 7-11C) acts as an immunoblotting reagent for analysis of MMP-9 expression.

New Products

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