Combining chemistry, substrate conversion and laser energy, Sherwood Technology has developed a new technique for the marking and coding of packaging.

Véronique Vernat, Janine Abjean, Murielle Blanc, Stéphane Papilloud and David Baudraz report on a research and development collaboration between an ink supplier and end user on the potential effects of ink on packed foods.

A Dutch specialist in sole preparation is using advanced freezing technoilogy to significantly expand its freezing capacity ­ and its earnings.

Faulty fans can be a costly problem in food factories. The temptation might be to go for a quick fix but only expert assistance can get to, and solve, the root cause of the problem.

With interests stretching from palaeontology to gastronomy and a background in theoretical and mathematical physics, Nathan Myhrvold is not a man to leave a stone unturned. After working with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University, he ended up as chief technology officer with Microsoft before retiring in 2000 to set up technology commercialisation firm Intellectual Values.

In response to changing trends in the global clinical trials market TNT Express Services is now operating a new door-to-door service which is already delivering big savings in both time and money for research sponsors, laboratories and investigators the world over.

A large portion of clinical research projects are being carried out by contract research organisations (CROs) on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, and the proportion is growing.

In 2000 the global pharmaceutical industry was estimated to have spent US$58billion on R&D, with around 40percent of this being devoted to clinical trials.

Before any therapeutic product or device is approved for use in humans, it has to undergo a battery of pre-clinical and clinical studies to ensure the safety and efficacy.

Ellen-Patricia Zimmermann reports.

The aqueous solubility of a compound is a critical determinant in its success or failure as a drug candidate. Given this, one might anticipate that there is a high throughput, standardised method to measure solubility in the drug discovery and development setting.

Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies are under constant pressure to discover and develop new therapeutics at a lesser cost and within shorter timeframes. However, with investments exceeding US$ 500 million and nine out of 10 candidates failing to get drug approval, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies face a challenging task ahead.

Pharmaceutical companies that are planning or deploying a LIMS solution face significant challenges.

In an era of increased competitiveness, economic uncertainty, ever-increasing regulation and global turmoil, companies are striving to continually improve operational efficiency. Many are looking to information technology for clues.

Available from Tecan Europe the LabCD reduces all of the requisite steps for a wide variety of separation and assay procedures from a macro to a micro scale integrating them into a single low-cost disposable device.

High-resolution ultrasonic spectroscopy (HR-US) is a novel technique for non-destructive material analysis based on precision measurements of parameters (velocity and attenuation) of high-frequency sound waves, propagating through analysed samples.

Glycosylation is an important post-translational modification associated with many proteins that have a regulatory function. Several LC-MS/MS approaches have been used for analysis and structural elucidation of glycoproteins. Gargi Choudhary, Jae Schwartz, Diane Cho report.

Tong Zhang and Pilar Franco examine extended solvent versatility of immobilised polysaccharide-derived chiral stationary phases for the separation of enantiomers by chromatography.

Robust and maintenance-free hardware is the main requirement for a strong and reliable chromatography system. Büchi has recently developed a new modular Flash chromatography system which is based on medium pressure chromatography technology.

The upcoming spate of patent expirations bodes well for the European generics market. The growing loss of patent protection on blockbuster brands over the next few years, coupled with the rising need to contain spiralling healthcare costs, is set to provide a fillip to market expansion.

Typically, industrial enzymes are very sensitive to pH, temperature, humidity, and contaminants. Scientists are hard pressed to continuously improve the operating conditions of enzymes to enable their functioning on par with conventional chemicals.