TAC-3 comes with interchangeable lenses for different light conditions

Eyewear Accessories is pleased to announce that the stylish Dixon TAC-3 wraparound sport sunglasses / goggles are now available with Revo mirror lenses. These lenses not only look great but are rated to UV400 and the mirror coating is effective for reducing glare from the sun.

Check out the TAC-3 on our site. Available now with mirror, grey, yellow, and clear interchangeable lenses at only £55.50 plus P&P.

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Marcin Bialoblocki wearing Sunwise

Eyewear Accessories have created a special package based on the award winning Sunwise Chromafusion sunglasses that is designed to offer cyclists and runners the ultimate in versatility for all seasons use.

For £66.93 plus £3.95 postage, the package consists of:

• Stylish Sunwise wraparound frames in black/chrome, white, or navy blue
• Chromafusion lenses: these combine the glare-reducing benefits of polarization with an efficient photochromic system that adjusts efficiently to changing light conditions. In bright sunshine the lenses darken to filter category 3, while in lower light they change progressively to filter category 2.
• Yellow light enhancing lenses (cat 1) for use in low light, for example misty conditions
• Clear lenses (cat 0) for running or cycling in the dark
• Hard zip case with internal pockets for spare lenses

Sunwise Chromafusion is a UK designed and built product and was awarded Best British Export for its product and design.

Stylish Sunwise Chromafusion Waterloo

Independent reviews of Sunwise Chromafusion

From Cycling Active magazine:

“These sunglasses come with everything, and they don’t look too bad either. 100 per cent UVA & UVB protection, anti-glare, impact resistant, interchangeable lenses and an anti-scratch coating, to name just a few features.

I really like these. They’re so light you’re barely aware of wearing them and it’s a doddle to change the lenses. The lenses themselves are polycarbonate — think bullet-proof glass — and can absorb intense impacts without shattering.

Airflow is good and they’re also great at keeping the sweat out of your eyes. A highly recommended pair of sunglasses then. A light, cool design that you can rely on to safeguard your eyes in all conditions.”

From Running Free magazine:

“A lovely look and fit, stayed on snug and no glare. These glasses don’t fog and feel tough but light – and what a gorgeous colour. Good price for great quality and made in the UK.”

Check out the Chromafusion in our store

www.sports-sunglasses-eyewear.co.uk/sunwise_chromafusion_waterloo.html

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See Bed Linen Direct's range of luxurious silk bedding

Bed Linen Direct is pleased to announce the introduction of its range of 100 % pure Mulberry silk fitted sheets, flat sheets, duvet covers, large pillowcases and duvets.

Why choose silk bed linen?

Mulberry silk bed linen feels irresistibly soft and luxurious to the skin. Pure silk bedlinen is also renowned for its breathability, which regulates the body’s temperature, making it warm in winter and cool in summer.

Silk also has hypoallergenic (anti-allergy) properties, because the dust / house mites, which can cause asthma, blocked sinuses and hay fever-like symptoms, will not live in it. The Chinese also believe that silk can help relieve aches and pains caused by such ailments as arthritis and rheumatism.

Silk is a natural product. It is produced under organic methods and is environmentally sustainable.

A range of silk duvets for all seasons use

Bed Linen Direct’s smooth pure mulberry silk duvets are lightweight, ideal for Summer use and those who suffer from being too warm whilst sleeping. Their store has a range of weights for different seasons:

• Summer: 4.5 Tog Silk Duvet
• Spring & Autumn: 9 Tog Silk Duvet
• Winter: Combination of 4.5 Tog and 9 Tog to an approximate 13.5 Tog silk duvet.

For more information, visit www.bedlinendirect.co.uk and Top 100: bed linen

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Syngene’s G:BOX EF gel documentation system is being used by a major European analytical testing company for rapid authentication of food contents.

Scientists at the analytical testing company are using G:BOX EF to accurately analyse agarose gels containing PCR products of animal DNA stained with SYBR^® Safe dye. This is helping them to detect any types of meat or fish that should not be in the food samples being tested.

Helping to safeguard the public and helping companies comply with food labelling

A manager at the analytical testing company stated: “Processed foods can sometimes be adulterated using other types of fish or meat than those stated on the label. The scarcity and high demand for certain fish species can lead to substitution with cheaper ones for financial gain.

To safeguard the public and help companies comply with food labelling regulations, it is our job to detect any possible adulteration with species not declared on the label.

Using PCR primers for several animal species, we perform PCR on the DNA from processed products to determine what types of DNA are there.”

One of the easiest to use imagers I have worked with. It gives us the answers we’re looking for every time

He continued: “However, the amount of DNA we have to detect is often in the nanogram range and for our tests to be effective we need a sensitive fluorescence imager. Since the G:BOX EF can easily detect 20ng of SYBR Safe stained DNA we routinely choose to use this system for our DNA detection. Also because it is one of the easiest to use imagers I have worked with and gives us the answers we’re looking for every time, we’ll be using this system more and more in the future.”

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager commented: “We are pleased the G:BOX EF is suited to the rigorous levels of analytical testing this high profile company demands. Their reproducible qualitative results are a great endorsement of the system’s performance and show scientists wanting accurate DNA analysis in a quality control environment that a G: BOX EF gel documentation system is a key purchase.”

For further information contact

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.

Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com Web site: www.syngene.com

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Gel doc and analysis systems for all imaging requirements

Syngene has installed its 100^th image analysis system in Singapore at the prestigious National University of Singapore (NUS). The new G:BOX system will be used alongside the 10 other Syngene analysers purchased by the University since 2001, to accurately and safely analyse DNA and RNA.

Researchers in the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS chose the G:BOX as they need an imager which is sensitive enough to detect DNA and RNA stained with SYBR^® Safe™. They prefer to use SYBR^® Safe™ in teaching and research applications since this dye is safer than Ethidium Bromide and does not damage nucleic acids. This is important because students and researchers often extract DNA from gels for uses such as cloning, so need intact DNA.

“G:BOX much better at detecting faint SYBR^® Safe™ stained bands  than other analysers we’ve tried”

Madam Subha, a Lab Manager in the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS stated: “In our department, we undertake research and teaching in the various fields of biology. We decided to install a G:BOX because we’ve found the G:BOX cameras are much better at detecting faint SYBR^® Safe™ stained bands which the other analysers we’ve tried can’t detect especially in the case of  SYBR^® Safe™ stained RNA.”

“Syngene systems are hardy, as well as being quick and easy to set up”

Madam Subha added: “We use Syngene systems in our teaching labs too because they are hardy, as well as being quick and easy to set up. This is essential as we often have 200 students in our sessions all needing to take pictures of their gels and they can be quite rough with equipment.  The first Syngene system we installed in 2001 is still working well today, despite being tested to its limits. We now prefer to use Syngene systems in our labs, (we have 11 in total) as they are perfect for all our different needs and we are honoured to be the place where the 100^th Syngene system in Singapore is sited.”

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager concluded: “We are delighted that our 100^th system in Singapore is going to be amongst so many others at the NUS. The NUS’s continued commitment to using Syngene image analysers is a great testament to the robust long term performance of our systems and shows academic institutes everywhere that a Syngene image analyser is a cost-effective purchase which will safely deliver accurate results in research and teaching applications time after time.”

For Further Information Contact:

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com Web site: www.syngene.com

Madam N Subha, Lab Manager, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543.
Tel +65-6516-2637
Email: dbssubha@nus.edu.sg Web site: www.nus.edu.sg

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FTA Ltd, in response to recent customer demand, has just developed a new range of CPD training courses for professionals.

FTA specialises in training courses for law, accountancy, banking, finance and other related professions.

According to Mrs Joanna Smith, business development director at FTA, the new grouping of courses has been developed in response to a recent uplift in customer enquiries. “We have a really large range of courses and find that customers regularly enquire about some more than others. We thought it made sense to group some of our most popular courses in one place on a special CPD website, so that’s what we’ve done now.”

Details of FTA’s new courses are available at www.cpd-courses.org.

FTA Ltd is a specialist training company providing CPD courses for lawyers, accountants, bankers and other finance professionals.

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Syngene’s Dyversity 2D image analyser and Dymension 2D analysis software are being used at US biopharmaceutical company, the Burzynski Research Institute (BRI), to determine the molecular effects compounds have on brain tumours.

Research could lead to new treatments for life threatening disease

Researchers at BRI are using Dyversity and Dymension to analyse Coomassie blue stained 2D gels of proteins derived from glioblastoma cells. Dyversity is also being utilised to image chemiluminescent Western blots of these proteins labelled with ECL. The information generated is helping to determine what effects different compounds have on proteins associated with brainstem glioma; an aggressive type of brain tumour and could lead to the introduction of novel treatments for this life threatening disease.

“So impressed with the features of Dyversity that we knew we had to have one”

Dr Sonali Patil, a Scientist at BRI explained: “In 2007, we decided to use a proteomics approach to see what affects the anti-cancer compounds we are developing have at the molecular level. We saw a Dyversity at another medical institute in Houston and were so impressed with all the features it had for the price that we knew we had to have one.”

Dr Patil continued: “Since then we have used our own Dyversity in conjunction with the Dymension 2D analysis software to quantify spots on 2D gels because the two integrate well and the software layout makes this complicated analysis easy. We are extremely happy with the way it presents data and have even identified a couple of protein spots which look promising. Additionally, the technical support we have had from Syngene has been exceptional and I thoroughly recommend Dyversity and Dymension for 2D work.”

Paula Maia, Syngene’s Product Specialist stated: “We are proud to know our Dyversity 2D image analyzer and Dymension software are making a contribution to such important cancer research. The promising 2D results the BRI are seeing from the system and software combination shows scientists that Dyversity and Dymension are the complete package for rapidly producing high integrity data in any proteomics project.”

For further information contact:

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.

Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com  Web site: www.syngene.com

Sonali Patil Ph.D., Scientist, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Burzynski Research Institute, 12707 Trinity Drive, Stafford, Texas 77477, USA

Tel: + 281 240-5227 Fax: + 281 240-3306
Email: spatil@burzynskiresearch.com Web: www.burzynskiresearch.com

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Syngene’s G:BOX chemiluminescence imaging system is being used at the University of York as a fast, affordable method to determine expression of a wide range of proteins on chemiluminescent Western blots.

Cost-effective rapid screening of new constructs for protein expression

Scientists in the Technology Facility at the University of York are using a G:BOX chemiluminescence imaging system to image Western blots stained with alkaline phosphatase to screen new constructs for protein expression. This imaging ensures researchers in the facility can quickly demonstrate that recombinant clones are expressing the correct proteins and rapidly deliver them to other scientists for use in their studies.

Dr Jared Cartwright, a Laboratory Head in the Technology Facility explained: “We run a protein production service for researchers at York and other universities and to make this facility cost-efficient we have to use detection techniques with our Western blots which will identify the target proteins. Additionally, we have to analyse the results rapidly so using autoradiography was becoming too time consuming, expensive and presented issues with the incorporation of data in reports and publications.”

Simpler to use and more precise than other imaging systems

Dr Cartwright added: “To overcome these problems we assessed three different CCD imaging systems to determine which would best suit our range of applications. We found the G:BOX’s image capture and analysis software were simple to use and the quality of data was more precise than we previously obtained with autoradiography. As a result, we installed the system in 2008 and have been happy with its performance ever since.”

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager stated: “We are pleased our G:BOX chemiluminescence imager is helping a protein production facility to rapidly prove a diverse range of clones are producing the right proteins. The work at the University of York shows how flexible a G:BOX chemiluminescence image analyser is, making this system ideal for any laboratory where running efficiently and cost-effectively are critical.”

For Further Information Contact:

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com Web site: www.syngene.com

Dr Jared Cartwright, Technology Facility, Department of Biology (Area 15) University of York, PO Box 373, York YO10 5YW, UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1904 328797 Fax: +44(0) 1904 328804
Email: jc46@york.ac.uk Web site: www.york.ac.uk

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About the exhibition

• Location: Little Preston, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, East Midlands, NN11 3TF
• Date: 11 to 14 June 2010
• Opening times: Friday 2.00 – 6.00, Saturday 11.00 – 6.00, Sunday 11.00 – 6.00, Monday 11.00 – 6.00
• The event: Exhibition of contemporary garden and interior sculpture by Beatrice Hoffman and her pupils plus contemporary paintings; photography by British artists; work of sculpture students also on show
• Who it will interest: Anyone who enjoys visiting open gardens, sculpture and art exhibitions, and those interested in learning about Beatrice Hoffman’s sculpture courses and workshops

See contemporary garden sculptures in a beautiful setting

For the fourth year running, Beatrice Hoffman will open her garden, studio and home at Little Preston, near Daventry for a Weekend of Art.

For anyone who enjoys visiting open gardens, especially sculpture gardens, this promises to be an enjoyable event. The location is easily accessible from nearby counties including Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire.

The Weekend of Art gives Beatrice’s students the opportunity to show their work alongside professional artists.

It will be a mixed show of contemporary paintings, photography, ceramics, outdoor and indoor sculpture, that promises to engross, entertain, delight, astound and challenge in turn.

This year the painters  (Pixie Waburton, Tim Beer, David Douglas, Sarah Bunney, Katharine Barker and Beatrice Hoffman) will be nearly all local, moving from representation (portraiture and landscape)  to the very abstract  -  each one with a very different feel, underlying message, and technical approach.

Many of the other sculptors, both adult or junior student, work on the cusp between the animals, human figure, and  organic or floral  abstraction.

Photography will be shown again by resident Julian Parfitt with his new collection of recent potographs – natural history, botany, wildlife and local landscape.

Come to either just enjoy the work in a quiet hamlet in the middle of the Northamptonshire countryside, or see what you can find to embellish your garden or house or commission an artist for a work of your choice – which ever, it promises to be an eye-opening adventure.

More details on www.beatricehoffman.co.uk

20% of all earnings proceed to the charities of Sendacow

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Syngene G:BOX iChemi XR image analyzer is being used by scientists at the University of Cambridge to help unravel the molecular basis of sight.

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of phototransduction and retinal degeneration

Researchers in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN), at the University of Cambridge are using a G:BOX iChemi XR system to accurately analyse chemiluminescent Western blots labelled with ECL Plus^TM and also to image agarose gels containing DNA stained with SYBR Safe™. The information from the gels and blots is being used to understand the molecular mechanisms of phototransduction and retinal degeneration in fruit fly (Drosophila).

Intelligent control software automatically produces a perfect chemiluminescent blot image

The G:BOX iChemi XR system in the Department of PDN contains intelligent control software to allow the system, once set up, to be left unattended to automatically produce a perfect chemiluminescent blot image. The system is also fitted with an orange filter and blue lighting for precise detection of SYBR GOLD, SYBR Green stains and SYBR Safe.

Imaging system can detect very subtle changes

Dr Che-Hsiung Liu, a Research Associate in the Department of PDN stated: “By analysing mutant versions of genes involved in calcium and lipid signalling pathways we are beginning to understand the mechanisms of activation and regulation of the light-sensitive channels in the eye. The amounts of proteins that are up and down-regulated are often small and generate very weak chemiluminescent signal, therefore we have to have an imaging system that can detect these subtle changes. Additionally, we stain our DNA with SYBR Safe so that we can extract the DNA from the bands and we need an imager to detect these stains too. We reviewed four different types of imaging system and finally decided to install the G:BOX iChemi XR because it gave us the value of essentially having two systems in one.”

G:BOX iChemi XR offers unparalleled benefits for protein chemists and molecular biologists

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager concluded: “We are delighted to see our G:BOX iChemi XR contributing to such interesting research. The fact that scientists at one of the world’s leading universities have compared so many image analysers and still believe our G:BOX iChemi XR outperforms them all, is a great testament to the unparalleled benefits this system offers both protein chemists and molecular biologists.”

For Further Information Contact:

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com Web site: www.syngene.com

Dr Che-Hsiung Liu, Research Associate, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EG, UK.

Tel: +44 (0)1223 333899 Fax: +44 (0)1223 333840
Email:ch139@cam.ac.uk Web site: www.pdn.cam.ac.uk

About Syngene

Syngene is a world-leading supplier of integrated imaging solutions for analysis and documentation of gel-based information. Syngene’s systems are used by more than 10,000 research organisations and over 50,000 individual scientists world-wide and include many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies and major research institutes.

Syngene, founded in 1997 is a division of the Cambridge based Synoptics Group. The Group’s other divisions, Syncroscopy and Synbiosis, specialise in digital imaging solutions for microscopy and microbial applications respectively. Synoptics currently employs over 40 people in its UK and subsidiary operation in Frederick, USA.

About the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

On January 1, 2006 the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, (PDN), was formed from the merger of the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Cambridge.  PDN is the largest department in the School of Biological Sciences at the University and research here is primarily in three major areas: Cellular and Systems Physiology, Developmental and Reproductive Biology, and Neuroscience.

The Department has strong collaborative links with the other departments in School of Biological Sciences and with the Clinical School, the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and the Gurdon Institute.

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