In the News this Week: DNA Barcoding Detects Contamination, the Advantages of Aptamers & Atomic Spectroscopy Innovations

Read our top news stories from this week:

Supplement Contamination – DNA Barcoding Detects Contamination and Substitution
According to a recent publication in the British Medical Journal, the adulteration of herbal products is commonplace and could be problematic for consumer health. This SelectScience article discusses the study which used a sequencing technique called DNA barcoding to investigate product integrity and authenticity of herbal supplements.

Antibodies Are Good but Aptamers Can Be Better
Aptamers are oligonucleic acids that bind to a specific target molecule. These ssDNA/ssRNA ligands have demonstrated comparable affinity and specificity but benefits such as smaller size, stability, and synthetic nature make them more optimal in many research and diagnostic applications.

First Pipetting Workstation to Provide Simultaneous, Multiple Tube Decapping and Recapping
Hamilton Robotics has launched the Decapping Microlab® STAR Workstation, a fully automated tube tracking, decapping and recapping workstation that offers up to eight decapping modules for safe and secure sample preparation.

Innovative Atomic Spectroscopy Offerings
PerkinElmer Inc., has announced the launch of the NexION® 350 Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS), its newest atomic spectroscopy product and Syngistix™ for ICP-MS Software, its next generation atomic spectroscopy software platform, designed to enhance the efficiency of elemental analysis and provide more accurate detection of nanoparticles.