"Scientists of the Hertie institute for clinical brain research (HIH), University medical center Tübingen (University Tübingen, Germany) have identified a new mechanism that could be involved in the formation of frontotemporal dementia development (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). They discovered that the absence of the nucleic acid binding protein TDP-43 within the cell causes a downregulation of the enzyme HDAC6. HDAC6 plays a regulatory role in important cellular processes, especially in the elimination of cytotoxic proteins. Without presence of this protein the rate of apoptosis is increased. In Germany approximately 10.000 patients are affected by these degenerative diseases of the neuronal system of which the causes remain unclear until now..."

"Lipofectamine can also be used in conjunction with a range of tools, such as the AmpliCell from Advalytix, which is headquartered in Munich, Germany. "In order to do transfection, cell growth, and PCR [polymerase chain reaction] all in one place, we attached an eight-chamber device on top of the AmpliGrid," says Frank Feist, executive director at Advalytix. The AmpliGrid is a slide-based product for PCR. "You add the cells you want to transfect to the chamber, let them grow in a monolayer, and transfect them with just 100 microliters of volume." Moreover, eight different transfection reagents can be tried with the same slide-and-chamber combination. Later, a researcher can use the same slide to do PCR on the transfected cells, all without reformatting. "It cuts out handing steps, which minimizes cellular stress and leads to more representative gene expression, saves reagent, and it's multiplexed," Feist says. The AmpliGrid with added chamber is called the AmpliCell, and is expected to launch later in 2009.

In addition to making the slides, chambers, and reagents, Advalytix provides protocols. "Many of our customers are oncology, immunology and stem cell researchers," Feist says. "So we have many research protocols related to oncology, immunology and stem cells."

"Cancer is characterized by genetic heterogeneity that is caused by tumorigenesis. Several research groups have begun to research the degree of genetic heterogeneity in tumors to establish the impact of heterogeneity on cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and selection and monitoring of treatment. This tutorial shows how researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, the Klinikum Rechts der Isar in Munich, and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center use Advalytix’ AmpliGrid single-cell molecular analysis platform in their quest to improve cancer diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment...."

"Genetic heterogeneity, even within the same patient, can push clinical decisions to depend on analysis at the single-cell level. … In just a couple of hours from start to finish, DNA from a single cell is amplified by the AmpliSpeed instrument and ready for standard RT-PCR analysis." The article is pubished in Clinical Lab Products http://www.clpmag.com/issues/articles/2008-10_1.asp

"Recent advances in microscopic instrumentation allow direct visualization, dissection and catapulting of defined cells and tissue sections from microscope slides using a focused laser beam. This approach is called laser microdissection and pressure catapulting (LMPC). LMPC is a high-precision laser-manipulation technique that yields pure cellular preparations (1). In the field of forensic medicine, laser microdissection has been reported previously for isolation of sperm and dissection of tissue sections (2–4).

Robust amplification methods that generate reliable profiles from very few individual cells are necessary for success. Downscaling reaction volumes is one possible solution to improve genotyping success. When working with chemically structured chips, complete short tandem repeat (STR) profiles from as little as 32 pg of genomic DNA have been reported (5).

So why not use these techniques together? We have developed a technique that directly links LMPC with low-volume on-chip PCR."

"We have developed a microfluidic chip-based qualitative assay for sensitive (10 RNA copies) detection of multiple transcripts in single cells. We determined the expression patterns of 17 developmentally important genes and isoforms in individual mouse preimplantation embryos from superovulated matings and blastomeres."

In their product focus Nature is highlighting our CellEvator as one of the „Hottest new technologies“. Designed for the BD FACSAriaTM  CellEvator prevents cells settling and adhesion mixing vertically without the creation of air-bubbles. Inducing surface acoustic waves into the sample the CellEvator operates non-invasive and without any moving parts therefore being virtually maintenance free.

"Advalytix’ AmpliGrid technology is playing a key role in enabling researchers to discover how just a single cell can lay a huge role in complex biological systems."

"Tumor cells escape. In fact, scientists learned long ago — as early as 1869 — that cancer cells can end up in the blood. By the mid-1950s, some researchers thought that these so-called circulating tumor cells (CTCs) might help clinicians catch cancer earlier or measure the efficacy of a treatment." This story first appeared in the July 2008 issue of Bioscience Technology www.biosciencetechnology.com.

"The analysis of copy numbers of genetic sequences is of fundamental importance in biology and medicine, and Digital Counting (DigC) is a new method to determine copy numbers at the single-cell level. Researchers at Olympus’ Advalytix division have applied DigC to detect trisomies from single human fibroblasts."

"Despite general awareness of the significance of microplate mixing, it is still a relatively low priority in most laboratories. Microplate mixing has largely been ignored as a serious problem, although potentially it could undermine the generation of meaningful data."