Perceptive Instruments News
(4th Apr '08)Society of Toxicology meeting a success
The recent Society of Toxicology meeting in Seattle, Washington proved to be a resounding success. This year was our busiest yet, and whilst there was more interest than ever in our oroduct range for genetic toxicology, the biggest buzz was around the Comet Assay IV scoring system; users of other comet assay systems were amazed by the speed and reproducibility of Comet Assay IV.
The meeting also gave further opportunity for us to strengthen our ties with Instem-LSS, and allowed Instem customers to be introduced to our product range, with Comet Assay IV being displayed on their exhibition stand as well as our own.
(8th Mar '08)Comet Assay IV used for research into skin cancer
Perceptive Instruments have a new case study on the use of Comet Assay IV, contributed by Cornwall Dermatology Research.
Cornwall Dermatology Research is part of the newly formed Peninsula Medical School located in Truro in the south west of England, a region which exhibits one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the UK.
The comet assay has been used at Cornwall Dermatology Research for almost 10 years and has contributed significantly to three major fields of research:
- Investigation into environmental causes of DNA damage that may lead to skin cancer including UVA and UVB radiation, mercury and arsenic.
- Prevention of DNA damage that may lead to skin cancer by various antioxidant compounds including those found in green tea.
- Investigation of novel modifications to dermatological Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) to treat skin cancer.
The alkaline version of the comet assay is used which allows for the detection of double strand breaks, single strand breaks, alkali labile sites, and transient repair sites. The particular protocol is based on that reported by Singh and co-workers (1988) which was further optimised in the CDR laboratory.
Comet slides are stained using ethidium bromide and examined under excitation with a fluorescence microscope. Comet Assay IV is used to quantify the extent of DNA damage.
Find out more:
(18th Jan '08)NewGeneris team introduce comet assay training DVD
Andrew Collins and his team at the University of Olso have produced a comet assay training DVD as part of the European Commission NewGeneris project FOOD-CT-2005-016320.
NewGeneris is an Integrated Project conducted within the European Union's 6th Framework Programme, priority area Food Quality and Safety. Its objective is to investigate the role of prenatal and early-life exposure to genotoxic chemicals present in food and the environment in the development of childhood cancer and immune disorders.
For more information on the comet assay training DVD and on how to obtain it, please visit the News and events section of the NewGeneris website at http://www.newgeneris.org.
(8th Jan '08)Try the latest version of Comet Assay IV
Perceptive Instruments is pleased to announce that the latest version of Comet Assay IV has been released. You can download an evaluation version of Comet Assay IV, the world's fastest, most consistent comet assay scoring system, at http://www.perceptive.co.uk/downloads/comet4trial.php. Existing customers under warranty/maintenance should contact us for an upgrade. Some of the more significant new features are listed below:
Validate user entries with new data entry masks
New input validation masks guarantee that user-entered data such as study IDs and slide IDs matches a prescribed format, ensuring the integrity and reliability of top-level information.
Increase productivity with new keyboard shortcuts
New keyboard shortcuts have been added for common actions such as editing, deleting and adding comments to individual measurements. There are also hotkeys for saving data, loading image files and more.
Load images of any size in new scrollable interface
If you are using a very high-resolution camera to grab images to import into Comet Assay IV, then the new version of the program will be of particular benefit. You can now resize the main application window and scroll the image area to focus on particular regions of the image for scoring.
Download the trial version
An evaluation of the latest version of Comet Assay IV is now available for download at http://www.perceptive.co.uk/downloads/comet4trial.php.
(7th Jan '08)Visit us at the SOT annual meeting in Seattle, 16-20 March 2008
Perceptive Instruments will be exhibiting at the 2008 Society of Toxicology annual meeting in March at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle. If you are attending the meeting, this will be a great opportunity to see our systems first-hand.
We will be able to demonstrate all of our core products including Comet Assay IV, Sorcerer Colony Counter, Ames Study Manager and more. If you would like a demonstration, please feel free to visit booth 2148 in the South hall.
(3rd Jan '08)Colony counters for Ames tests achieve record sales
Following a record year in 2007, Perceptive Instruments now have colony counting systems for Ames assays in the vast majority of leading pharmaceutical and contract research organisations worldwide. Sorcerer is widely recognised as the most reliable, regulatory-compliant colony counting system available on the market today.
The program includes highly detailed encoded audit trails which automatically record all system activity including settings, measurement data and edits. Measurement and audit data can be sent to an Oracle database for increased security of data. The program has tiered user access, GLP prompts for changes made and can be used in conjunction with the System Access Manager where compliance with the FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Final Rule on Electronic Records and Electronic Signature is paramount.
Perceptive Instruments offer guidance through all stages of the validation process and have considerable experience working with some of the world's largest pharmaceutical corporations, helping to integrate systems into their laboratories.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Sorcerer colony counter, please see the Sorcerer product overview, download a PowerPoint demonstration of the system or get in touch with our sales team.
(8th Oct '07)New version of Ames Historical Controls
Perceptive Instruments have now released a new improved version of Ames Historical Controls with more powerful searching and filtering capabilities and highly configurable audit settings.
The Ames Historical Controls module provides a friendly easy-to-use method of reporting, auditing and producing statistics from your historical control data and is an important part of the Ames Study Manager suite of software for regulatory Ames assays.
(24th Sep '07)Comet assay: mutagenicity testing for chemical risk assessment
The World Health Organisation has issued a draft document for public and peer review on a revised strategy for mutagenicity testing. This has been produced as a result of the harmonisation project conducted within the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS).
This suggests the use of the Comet Assay where appropriate as one of the in vivo tests used in the mutagenicity testing strategy. The main attributes cited for the comet assay are that it can be applied to many tissues, improved specificity with enzymes and that cell division is not required.
As yet there is no OECD Guideline in place for the assay, but guidance has been published by the IWGT, the most recent being Burlinson et al (2007).
(16th Aug '07)New addition to Ames suite on display at EEMS 2007
Perceptive Instruments have now added management and reporting of historical control data to the Ames Study Manager suite of software for regulatory Ames assays. If you are attending the European Environmental Mutagen Society meeting in Basel on the 9th-13th September 2007, this will be the perfect opportunity to see the system first-hand. The Ames Historical Controls module makes it easy for you to produce summary tables, graphs and statistics from you historical control data.
If you are looking to achieve GLP and FDA 21 CFR part 11 compliance in your Ames studies, then the Ames Study Manager software suite will provide you with everything you need.
(8th Aug '07)Visit us at the 6th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences
Perceptive Instruments will be exhibiting at the 6th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences later this month where we will be giving a presentation on the use of the comet assay and Comet Assay IV - the world’s fastest, most consistent comet assay scoring system. This will also be the perfect opportunity to come and discuss our other systems including the Ames Study Manager and Sorcerer Colony Counter.