PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
Each frozen aliquot contains 1 mL of a pure, titered culture Gardnerella vaginalis. The identification of this organism was confirmed by 16S sequencing. The purity of the culture was monitored by Gram staining and by additional culturing. The titer was performed on one aliquot after freezing. The freezing medium contains 15% glycerol as a cryoprotectant. Please see the Certificate of Analysis for the specific freezing medium used.

INTENDED USE:
Live, titered microorganisms can be used to determine a limit of detection (LOD), in diagnostic assay development or crossreactivity studies. When used as a control for nucleic acid tests, the same protocols as those used to amplify clinical specimens should be employed.

BIOSAFETY:
Gardnerella vaginalis is a biosafety level 2 microorganism and must be used within Biological Safety Level 2 facility or cabinet. Please consult your institution’s regulations regarding the use of this organism. For a detailed discussion on biological safety see
the 5th edition of Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), published by the CDC.

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Dear Customers,

Gentaur Worldwide is happy to announce that our new product MultiGel-21 is available for sale. It is capable of working on common DNA Gel documentation and also Chemiluminescence detection for western blot and other blot. All our image system is equipped with cool CCD and this high sensitive CCD mount on our common DNA gel documentation lead to more accurate quantitative data. The product is also very affordable.

Specifications:

1. CCD Capture system, 1/2" microlens, grayscale image.
2. -25C cool CCD, high sensitivity for weak signal.
3. Resolution: 1392(H)x1040(V), (1,447,000 pixels/ expandable5, 790,000 pixels).
4. Preview resolution: 1392(H)x1040(V), twice faster.
5. filter selector: mounted on top of machine, easy to insert filter or take off filter. 4 filter well, rotated selection, dark box with EtBr filter. (Option: other
wavelength / SYBR Green filter, SYPRO Ruby filter)
6. Quantitative resolution: 16 bits, 65535 scale.
7. Filter wavelength: 600 nm x 1ea
8. Exposure time: 0,001 seconds to 100,000 seconds (>24 hours).
9. Application: EtBr Gel, SYBR Green Gel, SyPRO Orange Gel, SYPRO Ruby, western blot, X-ray film, TLC, Tissue Selection, Commasie blue Gel, Coloty plate, Realtime
electrophoresis, chemiluminescence.
10. Computer connection: be able to connect with notebook, or PC
11. Zoom Lens: 8-48 mm / f1.2, (option: 8-48mm / f1.0)
12. reflectance light: white, 8wX2. (option: UV light, 254nm, 306nm, 365nm)
13. safety door: automatic shut down UV when door is open, can switch to continue light on when door is open for gel cutting.
14. quantitate each band intensity, can merge different color image, image calculation, area calculation, length calculation, 3D image display.
15. Option: flexible fluorescent lamp for real time electrophoresis or fluorescent sample, wavelength 440 nm, flexible tube, can be adjust any angle position.
16. UV wavelength: 306 nm, 15W x 6 tubes, fast lighting up, high and low intensity switch, UV view size = 200 x 200 mm (Option: other wavelength selection, 2254 nm, 365nm
or dual wavelength 254 + 365 nm, view size = 20x35cm).
17. Realtime Electrophoresis: continuously tracking and record the proceeding gel images, prevent DNA band run over from gel area.
18. UV LightBox can move in and out freely. Convenience for cutting gel operation.
19. Two hand-operated doors located on the left and right side. UV resistant window open with two layers of UV resistant protection.

Super MiniStar is a versatile, personal microcentrifuge for quick spin-downs of small samples.
Super MiniStar is supplied complete. It comes with a 6-place fixed angle rotor for 1.5mL to 2mL tubes, 6-tube adapter for 0.2mL & 0.5mL tubes, a rotor for 16 x 0.2mL PCR tubes or 2 PCR tube strips, and a separate “3 in 1” fixed angle rotor. Each rotor can be easily interchanged by the user.
The transparent lid allows the operator to view the samples. The rotors stop once the lid release button is pushed. The centrifuge is small but mighty. It quickly accelerates to a maximum speed of 12000 rpm (7,000xg) and stops within seconds. Super MiniStar stands stable on rubber feet. Themotor provides a super quiet, vibration-free operation.

- Maximum speed 12,000rpm
- Small footprint, compact design
- Supplied complete
- Accelerates and stops quickly
- Super quiet
- Running safely - The rotors stop once the lid release button is pushed; rubber feet for vibration-free operation
- Ideal for quick spins

Rotor and Adaptor

Specifications of Super MiniStar:

Download Datasheet

Price: 

Check out the newest antimicrobials and cell biology reagents below.

Antimicrobials

Ethambutol DiHCl (E005) - anti-tubercular antibiotic, inhibits cell wall synthesis in Mycobacterium species.

Cefmetazole sodium (C052) - broad spectrum, second generation cephalosporin. 

Cefotetan disodium (C117) - cephamycin antibiotic, especially effective against anaerobic bacteria. 

Thiostrepton, Ultrapure (T042) - cyclic peptide antibiotic, inhibits protein synthesis. Thiostrepton, ultrapure is >98.0% pure. 

Cell Biology Reagents

Avermectin B1a, EvoPure® (A063) - Macrocycline lactone used in agricultural and veterinary applications as an insecticide and anti-parasitic agent, respectively.

Omeprazole (O011) - Antacid compound which inhibits enzymes that aid in gastric acid secretion.

Paclitaxel (P045) - Anti-tumor agent active in the G2/M growth phase during mitosis.

Zymosan A (Z001) - Stimulates TLR-2, an immunologic receptor which recognizes surface proteins in bacteria.

Click here to see full list of products 

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University's Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered that decorin, a naturally occurring protein that circulates in the blood, acts as a potent inhibitor of tumor growth modulating the tumor microenvironment.

The study, published June 24 online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests it may be possible to harness the power of this naturally occurring anticancer agent as a way to treat cancer, including metastases.

In several different publications it has been described the ability of decorin to affect a number of biological processes including inflammatory responses, wound healing, and angiogenesis.

In this new article, the study's senior investigator, Renato Iozzo, M.D., Ph.D., has labeled decorin a "soluble tumor repressor" -- the first to be found that specifically targets new blood vessels, which are pushed to grow by the cancer, and forces the vessel cells to "eat" their internal components. This reduces their potential to feed the cancer overall causing an inhibition of tumor progression.

"The tumor suppressors we all know are genes inside tumors that a cancer deletes or silences in order to continue growing. I call decorin a tumor repressor because its anti-tumor activity comes from the body, outside the cancer," says Dr. Iozzo, Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Kimmel Cancer Center.

"Decorin is a soluble compound that we found has a powerful, natural protective effect against cancer -- an exciting finding that we believe will open up a new avenue for both basic research and clinical application," Dr. Iozzo says. "Acting from the outside of the cells, decorin is able to modify the behavior of the cancer cells and of the normal cells in order to slow down the progression of the tumor. For this reason, decorin acts as a guardian of the matrix, the complicated structure built around the cells in our body."

Absence of decorin promotes tumor growth

Decorin has long been known to be involved in human development. It is so named because deposits of decorin "decorate" collagen fibrils after the human body forms.

A second pool of decorin has been found circulating in blood after production by connective tissue throughout the body. This connective tissue is part of the extracellular matrix, which provides both structural support and biological regulation of tissue cells.

But no one has understood the biological function of this second pool of decorin, according to Dr. Iozzo.

The research team, including the two co-first authors, Simone Buraschi, Ph.D., and Thomas Neill, a graduate student, who work in the laboratory of Dr. Iozzo, decoded the function of soluble decorin. They found that addition of exogenous decorin to the tumor microenvironment induces autophagy, a mechanism by which cells discard unnecessary or damaged intracellular structures. "This process regulates a lot of cellular activities," says Dr. Iozzo.

The researchers specifically found that decorin evoked autophagy in both microvascular and macrovascular endothelial cells -- cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels.

"This matters because autophagy can exert a potential oncosupressive function by acting to discard critical cell components that would otherwise be involved in promotion of tumor growth through angiogenesis, the production of new blood vessels that can provide nutrition to the tumor," Dr. Iozzo says. "In contrast, absence of decorin permits tumor growth."

Therefore, the presence of decorin in the surroundings of the tumor is essential to control tumorigenesis and formation of new blood vessels, he says. Moreover, Dr. Iozzo's laboratory has characterized for the first time Peg3, a known tumor-suppressor gene, as a master player in the autophagy process induced by decorin. "This discovery is important as it opens up to the study of new unexplored genes and signaling pathways in the field of autophagy," he says. 

"Circulating decorin represents a fundamental cellular process that acts to combat tumor angiogenesis," Dr. Iozzo says. "Treatment based on systemic delivery of decorin may represent a genuine advance in our ongoing war against cancer."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health grants R01 CA39481, R01 CA47282, and R01 CA120975.

Collaborating researchers from LifeCell Corporation, in Branchburg, New Jersey, and Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, also contributed to the study.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in collaboration with colleagues in Germany and the Netherlands, have identified a previously unknown group of nerve cells in the brain. The nerve cells regulate cardiovascular functions such as heart rhythm and blood pressure. It is hoped that the discovery, which is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, will be significant in the long term in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in humans.

The scientists have managed to identify in mice a previously totally unknown group of nerve cells in the brain. These nerve cells, also known as 'neurons', develop in the brain with the aid of thyroid hormone, which is produced in the thyroid gland. Patients in whom the function of the thyroid gland is disturbed and who therefore produce too much or too little thyroid hormone, thus risk developing problems with these nerve cells. This in turn has an effect on the function of the heart, leading to cardiovascular disease.

It is well-known that patients with untreated hyperthyroidism (too high a production of thyroid hormone) or hypothyroidism (too low a production of thyroid hormone) often develop heart problems. It has previously been believed that this was solely a result of the hormone affecting the heart directly. The new study, however, shows that thyroid hormone also affects the heart indirectly, through the newly discovered neurons.

"This discovery opens the possibility of a completely new way of combating cardiovascular disease," says Jens Mittag, group leader at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Karolinska Institutet. "If we learn how to control these neurons, we will be able to treat certain cardiovascular problems like hypertension through the brain. This is, however, still far in the future. A more immediate conclusion is that it is of utmost importance to identify and treat pregnant women with hypothyroidism, since their low level of thyroid hormone may harm the production of these neurons in the fetus, and this may in the long run cause cardiovascular disorders in the offspring."

The study has been financed with grants from the European Molecular Biology Organisation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Fredrik and Ingrid Thuring Foundation, Karolinska Institutet Foundation, the American Thyroid Association, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Söderberg Foundations, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, and the Ludgardine Bouwman Foundation.

Two patients have been taken off their HIV drugs after bone-marrow transplants seemed to clear the virus from their bodies, doctors report.

One of the patients has spent nearly four months without taking medication with no sign of the virus returning.

The team at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in the US, caution that it is far too soon to talk about a cure as the virus could return at any point. The findings were presented at the International Aids Society Conference.

It is difficult to get rid of an HIV infection because it hides inside human DNA, forming untouchable "reservoirs" in body. Anti-retroviral drugs keep the virus in check within the bloodstream - but when the drugs stop, the virus comes back.

The two men, who have not been identified, had lived with HIV for about 30 years. They both developed a cancer, lymphoma, which required a bone-marrow transplant.

Bone marrow is where new blood cells are made and it is thought to be a major reservoir for HIV. After the transplant, there was no detectable HIV in the blood for two years in one patient and four in the other.

It is far too early to call this a cure for HIV. And even if it was a cure, it wouldn't be a very good one.

It is very expensive and often leads to "graft-v-host" disease. There is a 15-20% mortality rate within the first few years after the transplant.

This occurs when new immune cells produced by the graft treat the rest of the body as foreign and attack it.

The two patients in this study have replaced their regimen of anti-retroviral drugs, with those to suppress the immune system.

The procedure was carried out in these patients only because they had cancer that needed to be treated. The real value of this research for the majority of people with HIV will come from a deeper understanding of the virus and HIV reservoirs. The pair came off their anti-retroviral drugs earlier this year.

One has gone 15 weeks, and the other seven, since stopping treatment, and no signs of the virus have been detected so far.

Dr Timothy Henrich told the BBC the results were exciting. But he added: "We have not demonstrated cure, we're going to need longer follow-up.

"What we can say is if the virus does stay away for a year or even two years after we stopped the treatment, that the chances of the virus rebounding are going to be extremely low. "It's much too early at this point to use the C-word [cure]."

It is thought that the transplanted bone marrow was initially protected from infection by the course of anti-retrovirals. Meanwhile the transplant also attacked the remaining bone marrow, which was harbouring the virus.

However Dr Henrich cautioned that the virus could be still be hiding inside brain tissue or the gastrointestinal track.

"If the virus does return, it would suggest that these other sites are an important reservoir of infectious virus and new approaches to measuring the reservoir at relevant sites will be needed to guide the development of HIV curative strategies," he said.

The two US cases both received bone marrow from normal donors. There was also a report of an HIV cure in a baby born in Mississippi, US. She was treated with anti-retroviral drugs at birth so it is thought the virus was cleared from the body before reservoirs were established.

Dr Michael Brady, the medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "It is too early to know whether HIV has been eradicated from these men's bodies or whether it might return.

Doctors say it is far too soon to talk about a cure for HIV, as James Gallagher reports "However, the case suggests that what happened to Timothy Brown, the Berlin Patient was perhaps not a one-off.

"A bone marrow transplant is a complex and expensive procedure, which comes with significant risks. "For most people with HIV, it would be more dangerous to undergo a transplant than to continue managing the virus with daily medication.

"So while this is by no means a workable cure, it does give researchers another signpost in the direction of one."

The head of the Foundation for AIDS Research, Kevin Frost, said: "These findings clearly provide important new information that might well alter the current thinking about HIV and gene therapy.

"While stem-cell transplantation is not a viable option for people with HIV on a broad scale because of its costs and complexity, these new cases could lead us to new approaches to treating, and ultimately even eradicating, HIV."

A new report suggests that the concentration of one human cytokine, interleukin 7 (IL-7), in the semen of HIV-1-infected men may be a key determinant of the efficiency of HIV-1 transmission to an uninfected female partner. In their study published February 7 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens, a research group from the Eunice Kennedy-Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) led by Leonid Margolis report that the increased IL-7 concentration in semen facilitates HIV transmission to cervical tissue ex vivo.

Semen is a complex biological fluid containing not only spermatozoa but also cytokines, a group of extracellular proteins that modulate immune responses. As a result of HIV infection, the concentrations of various cytokines in semen is profoundly modified, in particular the concentration of interleukin 7 (IL-7) is greatly increased. Despite this evidence of strikingly elevated IL-7 levels in seminal plasma, there was limited knowledge about any effects this cytokine might have on HIV-1 sexual transmission.

To investigate the question about the effects of this increased IL-17 on HIV-1 sexual transmission, Andrea Introini and colleagues from the Margolis lab developed a system of explants of cervico-vaginal tissue that can be maintained outside of the body in culture for up to two weeks while preserving the cytoarchitecture of the tissue. In this system, HIV transmission can be simulated and studied under controlled laboratory conditions. When researchers added IL-7 in concentrations comparable to that found in the semen of HIV-1 infected men, HIV was transmitted more efficiently and replicated to a higher level than without IL-7. Normally, HIV-1-infected cells quickly die as the result of apoptosis, a programmed death triggered by HIV infection. IL-7 inhibits apoptosis of infected cells, allowing them to produce more virus and thus increasing the chances of the incoming virus to disseminate through the tissue. Also, IL-7 stimulates T cell proliferation, thereby also providing to HIV even more potential targets to infect.

The authors speculate that IL-7, together with other cytokines, may determine sexual transmission rates of HIV-1 and that changes in the seminal cytokine load may explain differences in HIV transmission from different individuals. However, whether the effect of IL-7 that has been demonstrated ex vivo occurs also for sexual partners in vivo, is a subject for future research. If this increase does occur in vivo, then it should be investigated whether HIV-1 infected individuals that have been treated systemically with IL-7 in order to increase their T cell counts may have also resulted in the unintended increase of their seminal IL-7 levels. Finally, this study suggests that seminal cytokines may become new targets for HIV-preventive strategies.

TotalLab Quant is a suite of core analysis tools for quantitative image analysis applications in the Life Sciences.

New for v12 

   

TotalLab Quant contains modules for:

• 1D electrophoresis gel and Western blot analysis
• Array / dot blot / slot blot analysis
• Colony counting & basic 2D spot measurement
• General feature-based image analysis

A wide range of image formats can be analysed, maximising the image capture instruments you already have in your lab.

1D DNA gel	1D Protein gel	Western Blot	Protein Array	Colony Counting

Workflows to suit your analysis requirements

Analysis of such images is rapid, automated to a high level and reproducible.

The user has the ability to review each stage of the workflow analysis and intervene / edit if required. Combining high levels of automation with final user review allows rapid and accurate quantitative analysis.

The user then has full control of the visualisation tools and data display - outputting only those data fields that are of importance as well as the images of choice.

  

Fast Accurate Quantitation and Reporting

For 1D gels, highly developed algorithms accurately detect lanes and bands even on distorted gel images. Results can be verified using the range of visualisation tools which aid further examination of lane and band data.

Calibrate the bands using one or more Molecular Size standard lanes and derive accurate quantitation from known band volumes.

For the Arrays and Colony plates, rapid identification and quantitative measurements of all relevant features allow for speedy analysis and accurate data.

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Price: 956 860 Euro