|
||||||
|
I have just written an article about what I think are the Top Ten most useful must have pieces of equipment in any laboratory. They are listed below – do you agree?
There is a position available at Justus-Liebag-Universitat Giessen for a laboratory leader to start as soon as possible. The position will be full time on a fixed five year contract. Salary for this position will be agreed subject to the fulfilling of specific requirements. Tasks for the successful candidate will include unsupervised planning and practice of molecular and cell biological research. The lab currently houses 5 post docs, 5 PhDs , 5 medical students and 5 technicians. To apply for the position, you must possess a doctoral degree in life sciences and relevant experience in the field. Source and for more information: NatureJobs.Com One of my articles focussing on use of scientific equipment in educational environments: Litmus papers and pH indicator strips are simple and easy to use, fast acting tools which can be used effectively and efficiently in the classroom. Litmus papers are most suited to school chemistry sessions over any other pH testing methods due to many factors. Litmus papers are great value products and are an inexpensive, portable and low maintenance way of testing. Litmus papers and pH strips are safe to use. They usually have a long handle so that the user’s skin will not come into contact with the sample that they are testing. Litmus papers are also very easy to use. There are no technical features to learn and no need for any special knowledge. All you need is a ph strip and a comparison colour chart to check the results. This is why they are specifically good for use with children and in the classroom. pH strips are particularly easy to use if they have fixed dyes on the indicator strips. This means that the dye will not bleed into the sample you are testing and contaminate the sample and the results. Litmus papers and pH strips are useful for testing a variety of samples and offer a test for pH values from 0.0 – 14.0. The level of acidity is shown in colours which you can check on your colour chart to work out your results. Due to litmus papers and pH indicator strips being single use, this means that there is no maintenance or cleaning involved with using the items which again is ideal for classroom use. Many schools still choose to use litmus paper which gives general results on whether the sample is acidic or not. For a more accurate and detailed result, schools may use pH indicator strips which have a more extensive test range. pH indicator strips are generally more expensive to purchase than litmus papers but only marginally. Litmus papers are mostly available in strips of 400 and pH indicator strips can be bought in strips of 100. Litmus papers are widely recognised as a superior way of teaching children about pH levels and what solutions / items are acidic. Most children learn that pH value 7 on the indicator scale is neutral and anything that comes up on the scale as less than 7 is acidic. Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/litmus-papers-ph-strips-and-their-value-in-educational-establishments-3217992.html#ixzz0ziRIh3YP A new building in Cambridge for the Medical Research Council and the Laboratory of molecular biology has reached the first stage of completion. The new building will house first class facilities and is due to open in 2012. It will be an extension of the Cambridge Biomedical campus and will attract some of the worlds most prolific and leading scientists. The laboratory is being built by BAM construction and will cost approx £200 million to construct and will provide space for 400 researchers. There was a ceremony on Friday 10th September to commemorate the first stages of completion with the Secretary State for health ( RT Hon Andrew Lansley CBE) and Universities and Science Minister (RT Hon David Willetts MP) in attendance. Source: Cambridge Network Get in touch if you have written an article about a laboratory event, product or laboratory news in general. If it is a good article, we will allow one back link within the article to a site of your choice as long as it is within context. Contact us on the email specified on the ‘about us’ page. Below is an article that I have written in reference to water purification tablets which can be used in many industries as well as the laboratory sector: Water purification tablets are extremely versatile and useful tools for water treatment. Their versatility is important and is what makes them so suitable for emergency aid missions and military campaigns. Water purification tablets can be as portable as you want them to be. Many people take these soluble chlorine tablets on holiday with them to treat small volumes of drinking water and larger amounts are transported to relief efforts for the same purpose but also to treat wells and water supplies. The main uses for water purification tablets are personal use, domestic use and industrial use. Personal use refers to one person carrying a small amount of tablets to either treat drinking water or water to wash with. Domestic water tanks in caravans and boats can benefit from the use of water purification tablets for a quick ten minute water treatment or for a full thirty minute tank disinfection. Businesses and industries may use water purification tablets to treat water in water coolers and water delivery systems. Different types / brands of water purification tablets claim to kill a large array of bacteria and diseases. One of the most popular and effective soluble chlorine tablets on the market are Oasis water purification tablets. Oasis water purification tablets are effective against pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, spores, cysts and algae. Oasis water purification tablets also kill diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, cholera, salmonella, E Coli, polio and streptococcus. Oasis plus water purification tablets have a higher percentage of chlorine in them and can therefore be used for full tank disinfection. Full water tank disinfection should take approximately thirty minutes and the tank should be fully flushed out after this process has taken place. The process can take a little longer if the tank is particularly dirty or contaminated. If a chlorine residual is not left over after the disinfection, then the process will need to be repeated. There is a vacancy at BAM Nuttall, Reading, Berkshire for a permanent position as a Senior Laboratory technician. For more information and to apply visit the Career Structure website. According to ‘Liverpool News’, up to 20 science companies have left Liverpool over the past 5 years due to a lack of laboratory facilities. These companies have abandoned Liverpool for other ‘better equipped’ cities such as Manchester. This is partly due to a lack of space for expansion in Liverpool. Because of the need for new labs in Liverpool, the local council are planning on borrowing £660,000 to build 5,000 sq feet of laboratory space. A bio medical science campus is also planned to be built in Liverpool in the next five years. Source: Liverpool News A global team comprising of eighty six scientists have cracked the genome of the Golden Delicious apple. This breakthrough could mean that apples could be improved in the future so that they would be resistant to disease. It has taken two years to crack the apple’s genetic code and the findings are published in ‘Natural Genetics’. It is also hoped that future improvements to the Golden Delicious apple could also include a better taste, texture and look. Source: BBC UK based company ‘Cambridge Consultants’ are developing a low cost handheld device that general practitioners could use to detect diseases such as MRSA. The device which is currently named the ‘CliniHub’ will be based on a cheap detector which will sense a fluorescent glow from disease markers. Prototypes have been built to detect three undisclosed diseases. However, Simon Burnell of Cambridge Consultants has said that one version will test for breast cancer. Burnell also disclosed that a future aim may be to develop a ‘Clinihub’ to use in the home. Source: New Scientist |
 |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Laboratory News Blog - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
