Randox Laboratories has launched its Beta-Lactams Array. Using the chip, clients can detect sixteen penicillin and cephalosporin compounds in milk: amoxicillin, ampicillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, penicillin G, penicillin V, cefacetril, cefazolin, cefoperazone, cefquinome, ceftiofur, cephalexin, cephalonium, and cephapirin.
Beta-lactams are one of the most frequently used families of antibiotics in food-producing animals. For consumer protection, maximum residue limits have been set to control the amount of beta-lactam residues present in food, according to the Craigavon, UK-based firm.
Randox claims its platform allows 45 samples to be tested in under two hours. Users receive a quantitative concentration rather than a qualitative negative-positive reading. Detection capabilities using the array are as low as 0.4 – 0.8 parts-per-billion for pencillin G, ampicillin and amoxicillin; all "well below global tolerance levels or maximum residue limits," the company said.
Ingenuity Systems this week launched iReport, an online tool that supports RNA-seq and microarray gene expression data analysis.
Ingenuity began offering iReport to early-access customers last year (BAN 10/4/2011). The software provides a "standalone report" for statistical and biological interpretation of data "without the need for training, software, statistics, or informatics expertise," the company said at the time. Researchers upload their array data and receive an interactive report with a list of significantly differentially expressed genes. The report then allows researchers to explore genes "by function, biological process, role in pathway and disease, and cellular location," the company said.
The firm said this week that iReport is priced at $495.