
CURRENT ISSUE | VOLUME 8 - ISSUE 7 | August 2013
COVER STORY
2013/2014 Product Resource Guide
Your go-to source for technology trends, best purchasing practices, latest product offerings, and manufacturer listings
Editor's Buzz
Lab Product

Instrument noise, particularly from cooling devices, can take its toll on laboratory workers. Noise interferes with conversations but can also induce stress, leading to irritability, anxiety, and poor performance. Lab workers are particularly susceptible, as decibels in busy labs can add up quickly from refrigerators, freezers, aspirators, fume hoods, and chillers. Noise is therefore an important factor when choosing a chiller.

The new Parker Balston H2PEMPD Hydrogen Generator will replace dangerous, expensive cylinders of hydrogen fuel gases and helium carrier gases in the laboratory, allowing users to supply, control, and automate all hydrogen gas supplies.

Taking some time to investigate the lab’s operations to uncover inefficiencies is a key part of successful lab design. It’s important to note any complaints regarding lab ergonomics: benches that are too high or crowded, not enough space for computer-related work, workflows scattered around the lab instead of being concentrated.



Chromatography data systems (CDSs)— the data “back end” for gas, liquid, ion, and supercritical fluid analytic chromatography—have evolved over the decades from simple chart recorders to onboard processors with minimal storage and analysis to personal computer-based and, finally, to connectivity with “peer” instruments and supervisory software systems. Today’s CDS is multifunctional, multitasking, and often vendor-neutral.





Refractometers come in all sizes, shapes, capabilities, and prices. Some readers may recognize refractometry as a “high school” analysis method or a specialized technique for measuring specific analytes like sugar in water. Increasingly, lab and process engineers employ refractometry to provide quick measures of key quality attributes that under normal circumstances would require much lengthier assays on significantly more expensive equipment.

Assays from academics to industry require shakers. In the life sciences, for example, one expert says the new uses of shakers basically mimic what you see in the industry, which is an increase in the use of genomics. He adds shakers are used in almost every application in some fashion. For example, shakers are widely used in cell culture work.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, a subset of infrared (IR) spectroscopy, uses a mathematical algorithm, Fourier transform, to translate raw infrared data into a spectrum. FTIR is useful for the analysis of organic and inorganic compounds that exhibit changes in polarity as a result of the vibration, spinning, or perturbation of molecular bonds. FTIR methods are common in such industries as foods, materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, forensics, and others. Advantages of FTIR over conventional IR are higher resolution, better signal-to-noise, easier analysis of very small samples and poorly-absorbing species, and much more rapid analysis.

Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry is arguably the most common as well as one of the oldest forms of absorption-based analysis. UV and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are contiguous: UV wavelengths range from 10 to 4000 angstroms; they are visible from 4000 to 7000 angstroms.

Thermal analysis is the broad category of at least 20 techniques that measure some fundamental property of matter as a result of adding heat. For example, dilatometry measures volume changes upon heating, thermomechanical analysis quantifies the change in dimension of a sample as a function of temperature, and thermo-optical analysis detects changes in optical properties on heating or cooling.

While titration is a basic analytical method, titrators are specialized instruments that perform titrations with minimal operator intervention. They can thus minimize errors, improve throughput, and facilitate documentation. There are two major titrator types: potentiometric acid-based designs and Karl Fischer titrators.


Vacuum pumps are an essential piece of equipment and are used in a wide variety of processes in most laboratories. Over the past 25 years, vendors have made significant innovative improvements to vacuum pumps, with important developments in high vacuum technology, corrosion resistance, vacuum control, and improvements in the efficiency and ecological impact of vacuum pumps.

Products in Action

NuAire, Inc. offers two Biological Safety Cabinet designs, the LabGard® ES and the CellGard™ ES (Energy Saver) Class II, Type A2 models, available in four widths (3ft., 4ft., 5ft., & 6ft.). The LabGard® has a straight front 0° (vertical), the CellGard™ model features a 10° sloped front window, with a vertical sliding window encased in a frame that opens 30° to aid in cleaning behind the sash.

Cell Culture and other laboratories that isolate and work with cells require the tools to safely and effectively remove wash and culture media away without harming their cells, and maintaining a safe laboratory environment. The new BVC fluid aspirators are third-generation systems that provide fine control, while providing the highest level of safety.
White Papers and Application Notes

The Nexar Optimized for Real Time Nucleic Acid Processing is a fully automated solution for low-volume, high-throughput sample processing that integrates liquid handling, DNA amplification, and real-time fluorescence detection in a single instrument. When combined with Douglas Scientific Array Tape™ and EnviroLogix DNAble®* chemistry, it provides a fast, high-quality alternative to real-time PCR for many research applications.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are a group of brominated flame retardants used primarily as additives in various plastics and polymers. Due to their widespread use as well as their tendency to leach from the polymer matrices, PBDEs have become a major class of environmental pollutants. The ability to bio-accumulate and the structural similarities to PCBs have led to concern over the possible health effects of PBDE exposure.





















