Tag Archives: Science

News

The future of reaction screening is here

Laboratory technology developer Technobis has released ReactALL™, an innovative benchtop multiple reactor system for medium throughput experimentation, helping scientists tap into the under-utilized nights and weekends. Available globally now, ReactALL™ uses novel integrated automated sampling technology to accelerate chemical reaction screening, optimisation, route scouting, reaction profiling and kinetics. ReactALL™ addresses the gap between high throughput and low throughput screening to provide high-quality, data rich results with low material needs.

Technobis’ new instrument, developed with scientific input from Pfizer, uses proprietary SmartCap™ technology to sample, quench and dilute directly into commercial standard HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) vials. Reaction setup is fast, taking less than 30 minutes with ReactALL™.

The system comprises five small-scale reactors, each equipped with fully automated sampling. Representative samples are immediately quenched, diluted, and transferred to standard HPLC vials on the ReactALL™. The sample and dilution volumes are precisely controlled by the system for quantitative analysis. Wide bore tubing and streamlined pump-free fluidics assure robust sample transfer, even for heterogeneous samples. And the novel SmartCap™ sampling technology does not pierce reactor septa, so there are no pierced holes for losing solvent.

Accelerating in-depth chemical understanding is a key goal of the ReactALL™. Such data-rich experiments can translate to significant time saving, and thus money. Screening reactions for the best reagents, catalysts and conditions; optimising reaction yield, selectivity and impurity control; mechanistic profiling; ReactALL™ obtains high quality results early in drug development to allow chemists to draw the right conclusions, as early as possible.

“A guiding ethos at Technobis is ‘Help research succeed’”, explained John de Kok, CEO of Technobis. “ReactALL™ will transform the way chemists conduct medium throughput research and in the pharmaceutical industry, which is close to my heart, bring medicines to market faster than ever before.”

ReactALL™ possesses multiple features that enhance reaction scientists’ investigation capabilities. Colour cameras, integrable Raman spectroscopy probes, provide crucial information on physical and chemical state changes, such as dissolution and precipitation, colour changes, and much more. ReactALL™ uses overhead stirring design specifically with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics to closely recreate mixing properties conferred by mechanical agitators, and poorly captured by magnetic stir bars.

“It’s essential that ReactALL™ fits into the lab of the future and industry 4.0 compatibility is key there,” said Stephan van Banning, chief technology officer at Technobis. “Our software engineers have enabled interoperability with pretty much anything you might want in your workflow.”

For example, ReactALL™ could run reactions and automatically take, quench and dilute samples into HPLC vials. A pre-loaded SmartCap™ can be loaded in ReactALL™ while a robotic arm could then transport your sample vial trays to the HPLC machine. The chemist would need only 30 minutes for setting up the reactions and the next day, they already have the HPLC data.

To learn more about how ReactALL™ can help your laboratory workflow step into the future, visit the launch page here: https://www.crystallizationsystems.com/products/reactall

Midlands News, News

Free support from CREST to help drive green revolution

Pioneering Shropshire businesses looking to help drive the county’s green revolution were today urged to take advantage of free research and testing.

Experts at the Centre for Research into Environmental Science and Technology (CREST) – based at University Centre Shrewsbury – can provide research and innovation support to SMEs across the county working on green and sustainable innovations.

Marches Local Enterprise Partnership small business champion Dave Courteen said the scheme could play a vital part in helping the drive to Net Zero – as well as offering crucial help to establish new businesses and products.

“This is an excellent example of the support that the Marches LEP and its business support service, the Marches Growth Hub, can help businesses access,” said Dave.

“Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, CREST is set up to help bring new environmentally-responsible businesses, products, processes or services to market by offering free research and testing support during the development process.

“It is available to businesses in both Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to help develop and test innovative developments which relate to the Environmental Science and Technology sector.”

Examples of businesses which have benefitted from CREST support include:

Caradoc Charcoal: The Leebotwood-based company wanted to make commercial use of sawdust and biochar produced as a by-product of its charcoal production to reduce waste. CREST completed detailed research and the company is now selling biochar as a soil improver whilst further trials are continuing to explore if the addition of biochar has an impact on milk yield/quality and cow/calf health.

Longmynd Travel: CREST academic experts completed research into alternative fuels and their suitability to be used either alongside or as a replacement for a standard diesel combustion engine. This included the likely costs associated with the switch over to these alternative fuels. They completed further research on emerging policy and infrastructure projects related to refuelling, which will be relevant to coach transport.

 Shrewsbury Cup: The founders of Shrewsbury Cup, Sophie Peach and Alison Thomas, wanted to help reduce the amount of cups thrown away every day and came up with the idea of a reusable coffee cup available at point of sale on a £1 deposit return basis. CREST supported with market research to analyse consumer behaviour patterns, and pitch development for Shrewsbury BID.

Project manager Kat Bevan said: “Our work has demonstrated the huge number of SMEs located in the region who are doing fantastic things in the drive to Net Zero. People have come to us with just the outline of an idea, and we have worked with them to advise how they could turn it into a commodity.

“Alternatively, businesses already have a product and we have helped develop it or introduced them to useful contacts at our professional and business networks. We are partnered with the ARLI project at University of Birmingham, which allows us to further our offer – they conduct research into reusing waste streams and alternative raw materials; really useful for the manufacturing industry.”

Marches LEP chief executive Rachel Laver added: “The success of these businesses, and many others which CREST has helped support, shows the value that their experts can bring.

“I would urge any business working to help develop green and environmentally-friendly products or processes to contact the Marches Growth Hub to see how they can help them tap into this excellent support.”

The fully-funded support includes research collaborations, bringing products to market, feasibility and testing, lab facilities on site, masterclasses and workshops.

It can include initial short term business support, support from Crest’s business development managers, access to a team of academic experts and state-of-the-art laboratory and opportunities to involve students in research projects.

For more information visit https://www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk/support/3511/

Careers, News

Careers Hive goes online to inspire more pupils than ever before to get into STEM

On Earth Day 2021, Edinburgh Science is pleased to announce details for its annual Careers Hive, a week-long free event run by Edinburgh Science Learning, the education arm of Edinburgh Science Foundation and one of the UK’s leaders in science education. Initially developed in 2016, Careers Hive inspires S1-S3 pupils to pursue a STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and maths) career through hands-on activities, discussions and workshops.

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With help from a film prop-maker who worked with Marvel, Research Technician working on anti-Covid drugs and ex-LUSH Aroma Chemicals Creative Buyer, among others, Careers Hive offers pupils a unique and fascinating insight into STEM-based careers.

26 April – 1 May

www.sciencefestival.co.uk

#CareersHive

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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The importance of career events such as this cannot be underestimated. Recent report by UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) found that one in five students unintentionally block themselves from degree choices. Two in five students at university say they would have made better choices had they had better access to higher quality information and advice in school, and this relates to many STEM-based subjects such as medicine and dentistry, maths or economics. This highlights the fact that providing young people with valuable and useful career advice is of crucial importance to their professional futures and that is exactly what Careers Hive is addressing.

This year’s Careers Hive will be delivered to classrooms digitally as it’s aiming to reach 3,000 pupils live – plus all schools in Scotland with a pre-recorded offer. The new digital event was developed in close collaboration with schools to ensure the best possible experience for teachers and pupils with high level of engagement, interactivity and professionalism that characterise Edinburgh Science’s projects.

Thanks to the move to online, Careers Hive will reach young people from a wider geographical area, engage a larger number of pupils than ever before and provide opportunities for STEM professionals not only from Scotland but wider UK and around the world to take part in the event. The event will also see teachers becoming more integral to their pupils’ experience of Careers Hive as they – with support from the Edinburgh Science team – deliver the workshop.

As part of Careers Hive, school children will:

  • have discussions with young STEM professionals early in their careers using an interactive video conferencing system. This year’s speakers include representatives from, among others, Scottish Water, National Museum of Scotland, Public Health Scotland and University of Dundee, for example:
  1. Kirsty Cookson, Research Technician, Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee – the Unit, with the support of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is working as part of a European consortium of 36 partners across the pharma and academic sector to develop new anti-COVID drugs.
  2. Jenny Stark, Outreach and Communications Manager at COAST (Community of Arran Seabed Trust) – Jenny travelled the world as a marine biologist and at some point had the privilege of calling the Great Barrier Reef her office. She now works for a small community marine charity, COAST, where she shares her enthusiasm and passion to inspire a wide demographic of people to get involved with marine conservation.
  3. Alice McGillicuddy, Workshop and Community Manager, Edinburgh Tool Library – Alice has a degree in animation and installation art and has freelanced as a prop and set fabricator on and off over the years, most recently working in film as an SFX propmaker on titles such as Mission Impossible 7 and Eternals, latest film from Marvel Studios to be released in November 2021, directed by Chloé Zhao.
  4. Olivia Sweeney, Junior Evidence Consultant at Resource Futures – Olivia worked as Aroma Chemicals Creative Buyer, sourcing and creating the natural and synthetic chemicals for fragrances of Lush and is now part of Resource Futures team collating data around people’s habits, behaviours and interactions with waste to help inform decisions in both the public and private sector.
  5. Joshua Redpath, Flood Risk Management Team at Scottish Water – Josh gained a MEng in Civil Engineering, focusing on both project management and flooding (including a dissertation on sustainable drainage systems). Josh is currently on the Scottish Water Graduate programme and is involved in a variety of different flooding projects.
  6. Elena Höge, CEO and Founder of Yaldi Games – Yaldi Games is a startup games studio with the mission to blend learning and fun to create meaningful entertainment. She’s the Game Designer and CEO and is currently working on her first project “Wholesome – Out and About”. Through this game she hopes to build a bridge between digital and analogue and inspire real life activities.

 

  • take part in the Careers Hive Skills and Strengths’ Workshop delivered by their teachers who will receive Career-long Professional Learning support in preparation for it. It is a pre-recorded, interactive workshop designed as a catalyst for thinking about the future of our planet and our place within it as workers, leaders, problem solvers and creators. Students will explore and experiment with careers concepts in order to identify their individual strengths and consider what they want their future working lives to look like.
  • experience and learn in a new online environment using ‘proximity video chat’ to reimagine and replace the usual interactive exhibition experience at the National Museum of Scotland. Called World Challenges Immersive Environment, this digital space is built in the new platform, Town. Pupils will enter the space, create an avatar and have the freedom to walk in and out of conversations as they explore exhibits and interactive content on a range of topics. Within this digital exhibition hall, STEM professional volunteers will join live from their place of work (or at home) to answer pupil’s questions. The online environment will also include games, videos and other content relevant to different areas of STEM including engineering, space, medicine and energy production.

World Challenges Immersive Environment will be hosting a video version of the annual Think Tank in the digital exhibition space where pupils can have more in-depth chats with volunteers to find out how they got where they are in their career and what they love about their jobs.

To get everyone inspired by STEM, pupils will be encouraged to return to Careers Hive with their families and friends on the Open Day, 1 May, to showcase what they have learnt.

Learning Programme Manager Augusta Macdonald said: “2020 has demonstrated that the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) are not abstract but have a direct impact on our lives, and STEM professionals have been at the forefront of tackling the challenges we’ve faced in the past year. It’s technology that’s kept us connected and that allows us to deliver Careers Hive in an innovative new format, reaching more students than ever before and providing a great opportunity to help young people realise the wealth of meaningful career options available to them.”

Giving feedback on one of the previous Careers Hives, one parent commented, “It presented a well-rounded picture of careers in STEM subjects, many of which my daughter probably was not aware of” and a pupil added, “I realised that a job can be scientific and creative at the same time.”

Schools interested in taking part in Careers Hive are welcome to get in touch with the team on careershive@scifest.co.uk.

Edinburgh Science Learning projects are supported by a range of funders with Baillie Gifford as the headline sponsor. Edinburgh Science Learning projects reach around 60,000 people every year.

 

 

 

Science

New Vegan smart-test allows for mildness testing without using animals

A new vegan smart-test allows beauty companies to avoid animal testing and prove product mildness by testing on human cells grown in a lab.

91% of consumers report uncomfortable symptoms on their skin including skin tightness, dryness, itching, burning and redness with over a third of consumers avoiding daily life skin care products due to skin reactions.

Beauty and cosmetic companies are under increasing pressure to produce clean beauty products that can boost wellbeing but also detect subtle differences in mildness on the skin. Vegan testing lab XCellR8 has unveiled a ground-breaking new test for more accurately predicting mildness to skin – that is entirely free from animal-products.

The new test uses human skin cells grown in the lab to detect subtle differences in even the mildest of products or ingredients, providing a classification of Non-Irritant, Very Mild, Moderate to Mild, Moderate or Strong/Severe.

In a two-year project, the new mildness test was validated against human volunteer trials with the lab-based data accurately predicting the rank order of human clinical scores, finally allowing brands to determine ‘how gentle is gentle.’ Producing results in as little as six – eight weeks, the XtraMild Test will enable companies to use credible scientific data to support their mildness claims.

The research also unveiled:

· Nurses know best. XCellR8 grows skin in their labs for testing. Whilst the skin grown in the lab was just as effective at predicting mildness as the human volunteer trials, the researchers discovered that specially trained nurses were shown to measure skin irritation more accurately than equipment that measures the redness and temperature of the skin on the volunteers.

· Sustainability does not need to be expensive. Some of the best selling soaps proved more mild than equivalent market leading facial washes.

· Scientific claims can not tell the whole story. One media favourite claims the low pH level of its facial bar contributes to its mildness. And whilst it was classified as moderately mild, 6 out of the 10 soaps tested were milder.

The test is commonly used to assess new baby formulations such as shampoos, foam baths and body washes, providing critical insights into the mildness of the product and comparisons with leading brands. It is highly relevant for a wide variety of other formulation types including facial soaps, cleansers and other skincare items. The ET50 test can also be applied to cosmetic ingredients, such as assessment of the mildness of novel “mild” surfactants against classic surfactants, replacing the traditional tests which often lack relevance and the required level of sensitivity.

Dr Carol Treasure, CEO and Founder of XCellR8 commented on the latest innovation to come from the company:

“Our company ethos to provide world-leading science with world-leading ethics really shone through with this project.

“Existing tests for mildness aren’t accurate as they were designed for irritant chemicals rather than today’s gentle cosmetic ingredients, and were benchmarked against unreliable animal data. In developing a new more sensitive test, we have been able to prove that in vitro test results are as predictive as human volunteer trials as part of the project design. We no longer need to be dependent on out of date animal data as new in vitro techniques provide such a good model of real-life exposure.

“The research project also allowed us to look at the differences in facial cleansers and soaps in the current market place – and highlighted the mildness of many soaps, ultimately allowing the consumer to choose a product that is as mild to their skin as a facial wash whilst being more sustainably packaged.

“The beauty of XtraMild is that it can bring together R&D and marketing, as formulators can now help marketing teams provide solid evidence for their mildness claims.”

XCellR8 is an exclusively vegan laboratory and provides entirely animal-free safety and efficacy tests to the cosmetics, personal care and chemical industries. Already trusted by leading cosmetic and chemical companies around the world, the company does not use serum, tissues or antibodies extracted from animals.