Combinatorial chemistry: An excellent review of combinatorial chemistry technology can be found in the recent Novabiochem catalog. Tel. (800) 228-9622, fax (800)432-9622.
Another useful robotics newsletter: Zymark Inc, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, has announced a newsletter which will focus on the ISLAR meeting, sponsored by Zymark. This newsletter will highlight specific papers and awards that were presented at ISLAR. To obtain a copy, please contact Christine O'Neil, tel. (508) 435-9500, fax (508)435-3439.
Polyfiltronics: Whatman has recently acquired 55% ownership of Polyfiltronics, which has been an innovator in the production of microplates and plastics for use in automated systems. Whatman's CEO, David J.H. Smith, Ph.D., will become the Chairman of Polyfiltronics. However, Roy Manns will remain as chief technical officer of Polyfiltronics since he has demonstrated his mastery of the interface between biotechnology and polymer chemistry. Forty percent of the company will remain under the ownership of Roy Manns until 1998, when Whatman will have the option to purchase the remaining shares. Polyfiltronics has developed a number of innovative microplates for the rapidly growing high-throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry field. Contact them at <http//www.polyfiltronics.com>.
Terumo: Terumo Medical Corporation, Somerset, New Jersey, announced the discontinuation of their evacuated glass and plastic blood collection tube business in the United States. This move will not affect the other products offered by Terumo. Sales of blood collection tubes will continue outside the United States. Fax (908) 302-3083.
MJ Research: MJ Research has built the first commercially available 384-well microplate thermal cycler.
Techne: Techne, Princeton, New Jersey, has developed a thermal cycler in which the temperature controlled block fits on the bed of a pipetting robot which the controller sits nearby and is attached by an electronic umbilicus. This system allows the automation of the thermal cycling part of the PCR protocol as well as the pipetting. The unit is equipped with a heated lid under pneumatic control so that the tubes can be sealed and incubated automatically. This system coupled with a pipetting robot should allow an almost hands free automated PCR protocol. Contact Darren Sager, tel. (609) 452-9275.
IFCC: The IFCC will decide whether to change the name and charter of their Committee on Analytical Systems (CAS) to the Committee on Advanced Technology (CAT) in a meeting in London in July. If passed, the new committee would be charged with new duties, which should keep pace with the changing laboratory environment.
OS/2 Merlin: IBM will soon be releasing its OS/2 operating system with embedded voice recognition capabilities. The power of this new version should allow dictation of letters and voice activated computer control. Merlin will be able to recognize 10,000 words in the first version that will ship this year. An extra 2,000 words will be available in a more sophisticated version for power users. Users will be able to add an additional 20,000 words to their own voice recognition database.
Merlin will apparently run on a pentium with only 12 mB of RAM and a sound card compatible with Sound Blaster™. Several well known robotics companies are already investigating the use of Merlin for voice directed robot prograrnming. Collision avoidance will be built into their systems with generic commands such as, “watch out” and “STOP” ((Source IBM press release).
Wireless Communication: The three major wireless communication companies (Lucent Technologies Inc. with 30% of the market, Proxim Inc. with 30% of the market, and Aironet Wireless Communications with 25%) have agreed to create specifications for interoperability between their competing systems. The Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) will be more extensive than the IEEE 802.11 standard which is currently under development. (Source: GIGA Information Group).
