Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out our survey at InspireTheGenome.com!
The following ten randomly selected winners received $25 gift certificates from Amazon.com:
Ying Lin
Sayed Mostafa Hosseini
Wenjun Li
Jie Wang
Andrea Semler
Dr. Nirankushk Khubalkar
Wojciech Rychlik
Osama Youssef
Gerardo Sanchez
Andy Michel
If you haven’t done so already please stop by InspireTheGenome.com to see HITACHI’s genomic data infrastructure concept. The survey link is still active too!
Please read this important announcement in order to avoid an interruption to your supply of the following products which are related to the Luminex 100/200, Bio-Plex 100/200, MAGPIX and FlexMAP 3D instrumentation:
We regret to inform you that Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. (HISAL) must stop accepting orders for the above mentioned products at 12:00pm PST on December 27th, 2011**. HISAL has the most competitive prices for most of the products affected and due to the long shelf life of some of the products (up to 3 years) you may want to consider purchasing extra inventory at our competitive prices before our distribution rights end.
Please be aware that the product descriptions, part numbers and prices for the affected products will change when you source them from another supplier. You can contact HISAL at info@miraibio.com to receive a matrix that correlates HISAL product descriptions, part numbers and prices to the manufacturer’s respective descriptions, numbers and prices.
We greatly value your business and will do our very best to facilitate the transition to a new supplier of the products affected by this announcement.
Thank you again for your business and loyalty. We look forward to serving you with HISAL products and services in the future.
Regards,
The MiraiBio Group of Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd.
**After December 27th, 2011 we recommend that you purchase these products directly from the manufacturer, Luminex Corporation. In order to facilitate the transition, Luminex Corporation has assigned 2 contacts, Debra Asgari and David Mendoza, to handle any inquiries, process initial orders and communicate the ordering process for ongoing orders:
Debra Asgari – dasgari@luminexcorp.com or 512-381-4386
David Mendoza – dmendoza@luminexcorp.com or 512-381-4302
The MiraiBio group of Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. (HISAL) has partnered with ELISAlink.com to offer ReaderFit.com, a free online curve fitting tool for ELISA analysis, to ELISAlink.com users.
ELISALink.com is an online ELISA community, knowledge base and e-commerce site focused on serving the global ELISA Industry. The site will be anchored by a community-generated ELISA knowledge base and discussion platform and also feature direct access to a wide range of ELISA kits, components, equipment and services.
ReaderFit.com is a free online curve fitting application that allows users to both fit curves and optionally interpolate unknown values off the curve. Users upload response and independent values and then choose from one of 6 model equations: 4PL, 5PL, Quadratic, Log-Logit, Log-Log or Linear and one of four optional weighting algorithms: 1/Y, 1/Y2, 1/X and 1/X2. The resulting curve image and calculated results can then be easily exported from the web application.
“ELISAlink.com is an exciting concept that leverages “web 2.0” and social media features in a way that has been missing in the life science community. People in general have come to expect and rely on some of things that ELISAlink.com offers in other parts of their life. ELISA researchers now have a place to go for all of their ELISA needs. We are excited to offer ReaderFit.com as added value at ELISAlink.com,” said Robert Lynde, Deputy Director of the MiraiBio Group of HISAL.
“The team at HISAL really got it right with ReaderFit. The program is intuitive and designed from the perspective of an ELISA user, providing a streamlined and easy to use platform that is an invaluable tool to researchers and clinical users alike. The powerful Desktop Edition and the 21 CFR Part 11 compliant Security Edition were complimented earlier this year with a completely Online Edition – a natural fit for ELISAlink.com and our mission to provide the best and most powerful ELISA resources on the web,” said David Barka, Founder of ELISAlink.com
Want to be the first to know when ELISAlink.com is launched? Sign up to receive email notifications and qualify for rewards!
Are you looking for a faster and more accurate method of strain typing? Optical Mapping could be your answer.
Optical Mapping produces high coverage, ordered, restriction maps based on hundreds of markers across the entire genome. An Optical Map offers increased accuracy and provides more genomic information than strain typing with alternative methods such as PFGE.
Below you can see a comparison of Optical Mapping and PFGE. Because Optical Maps contain hundreds of markers across the entire genome researchers obtain a much higher resolution compared to other technologies. This enables better strain discrimination among other advantages.
How are researchers using Optical Mapping?
Several clusters of Salmonella Typhimurium infections appeared in Denmark in 2008 and 2009. The paper Molecular characterization of salmonella typhimurium highly successful outbreak strains published in the Foodborne Pathogens and Disease journal discusses how Optical Mapping was able to show that the strain in the largest cluster did not contain an increase content of virulence genes. However Optical Mapping did find a large insert, which was most likely a prophage, in one of the strains. The knowledge of this insert, which may confer a competitive advantage for that strain, is valuable information for epidemiologists.
In a paper titled A sustained hospital outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium bacteremia due to emergence of vanB E. faecium sequence type 203 published in the Journal of infectious Disease, researchers, with the aid of Optical Mapping, analyzed samples of Enterococcus faecium collected over a 12 year period. The results showed that over this time the strain acquired the vanB locus which resulted in an epidemic clone that exhibits vancomycin resistance.
In the figure below you can see the Optical Map similarity cluster of the German Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak of May 2011.
Figure. Optical Map similarity cluster of German EHEC O104:H4 outbreak.
Optical Mapping played a critical role in identifying and tracking strains in this outbreak. The paper Prospective Genomic Characterization of the German Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O104:H4 Outbreak by Rapid Next Generation Sequencing Technology was published about this outbreak and discusses how Optical Mapping accelerated the characterization of the various strains and isolates collected.
The paper Optical genetic mapping defines regions of chromosomal variation in serovars of S. enterica subsp. enterica of concern for human and animal health published in the journal of Epidemiology and Infection discusses how optical mapping was used to establish 2 geographical lineages (based on the presence of prophage sequences) of strains of Salmonella enterica subsp. enteric.
Some of the differentiating technical advantages of Optical Mapping are:
How can you access the Optical Mapping technology?
Recently Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. partnered with OpGen Inc. to offer the MapIt® Optical Mapping Service to its customers. Click here to learn more about Optical Mapping and the MapIt Optical Mapping Service. You can also view a webinar that describes Optical Mapping and its key application areas.
Remember when multiplex analysis first emerged? It changed the way we analyzed data from tedious one-analyte assays to a multiple-analyte analyses in a single run. Using platforms such as Luminex’s bead based xMAP platform we are able to analyze hundreds of analytes at a time with great sensitivity. However the cost of multiplexing platforms was prohibitive for many labs. With the release of the new lower-cost MAGPIX instrument, which uses Luminex’s MagPlex® magnetic beads, multiplexing has become affordable for many more labs.
I stumbled upon an interesting article this week in the Journal of Food Protection titled “Microbead-Based Immunoassay Simultaneous Detection of Shiga Toxins and Isolation of E. coli O157 in Foods”. It shows how the implementation of the xMAP technology has improved the sensitivity of current technology, specifically in detecting food-borne pathogens and toxic markers. With improved sensitivity and specificity, the article also states that when using the xMAP technology, you can develop rapid and reliable results.
How can I get even more value out of the xMAP technology?
Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. has engineered analysis software called MasterPlex QT to ultimately save you time through its ease-of-use interface while providing versatility of analysis tools and customization of reports. MasterPlex QT allows MagPlex and/or MAGPIX users to save time by simply selecting the Best Fit curve-fitting button to create the optimum curve fit for your data. This feature automatically selects the optimal model equation and weighting algorithm with different parameters to optimize for: Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), R-Square, or lowest Standard Deviation of % Recovery.
MasterPlex QT’s optimized model equations present accurate and precise curve-fitting from one experiment to the next, offering reliable and reproducible results.
Reporting has not been this easy to do as MasterPlex QT has highly flexible graphing capabilities and a Custom Report Generator, allowing you to create a report that fits your current report templates.
This one-two combination of xMAP technology and the power of MasterPlex QT can help you achieve more consistent results in less time.
For more tips on optimizing xMAP data analysis, refer to our “Top 10 Tips Luminex/Bio-Plex Data Analysis.”
Reference:
Microbead-based immunoassay for simultaneous detection of Shiga toxins and isolation of Escherichia coli O157 in foods. Clotilde LM, Bernard C 4th, Hartman GL, Lau DK, Carter JM. J Food Prot. 2011 Mar; 74(3):373-9.
Hitachi has been around for more than a 100 years but there are still little known facts about this company. I’m going to refer to this list as the Hitachi “Did you know” list.
Did you know…
