STEMCELL Technologies Introduces STEMprep™ Tissue Dissociator System to Accelerate Research Discoveries
Article content
New instrument automates tissue processing for researchers in cancer, immunology and other science fields
Article content
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — To help scientists accelerate their workflows, STEMCELL Technologies has commercially launched the STEMprep™ Tissue Dissociator System —a new benchtop instrument that automates, standardizes, and streamlines tissue dissociation, the process of breaking down tissue samples into single-cell suspensions for research purposes.
Article content
Article content
'Tissue dissociation is incredibly important for making advancements in research fields, like cancer and immunology, yet this manual process demands significant time and effort and can lead to inconsistent results,' said Dr. Allen Eaves, President and CEO, STEMCELL. 'With efficient and consistent tissue processing, STEMprep™ helps researchers to work smarter and improve data accuracy, leading to accelerated scientific discoveries.'
Article content
STEMprep™ ensures efficient, reproducible, and high-yield single-cell suspensions from a wide range of solid tissues while preserving cell functionality and integrity, which is critical for accurate cell isolation and analysis.
Article content
Researchers can run validated STEMCELL protocols or customize workflows for a range of tissue types and experiments.
Article content
'As Scientists Helping Scientists, we are excited to provide a solution that allows flexibility and scalability in support of scientific progress and discovery,' said Dr. Eaves. 'We hope every lab involved with tissue research will embrace the STEMprep™ instrument to optimize their time as they work toward their achievements.'
Article content
supports life sciences research with more than 2,500 specialized reagents, tools, and services. STEMCELL offers high-quality cell culture media, cell separation technologies, instruments, accessory products, educational resources, and contract assay services that are used by scientists performing stem cell, immunology, cancer, regenerative medicine, and cellular therapy research globally.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Contacts
Article content
Media Contact
Article content
Article content
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBC
34 minutes ago
- CBC
N.B. Museum set to add 1st rare owl specimen found in the province in over 100 years
The New Brunswick Museum is set to add a rare great grey owl to its extensive bird collection in July. This owl will become the first specimen of its kind found in New Brunswick to be held at a Canadian museum in over 100 years, according to Greg Jongsma, the museum's acting curator of the zoology department. Jongsma said the department is excited for the new bird specimen. He believes this addition will be a great resource for scientific research globally, adding to their collection of 13,000 bird species, the largest in Atlantic Canada. "As sad as this is, the loss of this individual's life, this great grey owl, it's of tremendous value to the museum and the research community," said Jongsma. "Because this is one of the first specimens for New Brunswick, [and] it's certainly the first specimen from New Brunswick in any Canadian collections." The great grey owl is one of the largest owls in North America in terms of height. The bird is often found in northern areas and it usually migrates down southern latitudes when there's a lack of food supply, which are often rodents for these birds. According to Jongsma, the owl is considered a rare bird in the province because New Brunswick is too far away from these owls' natural habitat, explaining that they will often find prey closer to their habitats. The New Brunswick museum only knows of nine confirmed sightings of the bird, according to records vetted by the New Brunswick Bird Committee, an organization created in 1992 and sponsored by the museum to come up with an official bird list for the province. The committee, in collaboration with the museum, maintains the official bird list by screening and acting on reports of potential new species, ensuring accuracy. Jim Wilson, previous chair of the committee, said in an emailed statement that the owl joining the museum is considered to be the ninth great grey owl that has reached New Brunswick "for certain" in the past 125 years. According to Wilson there are two other existing specimens that were collected in the province in the late 1890s. The collectors were not recorded, so the museum has little information on how these owls were discovered, and both specimens currently reside in American museums. One can be found in the American Museum of Natural History and the other in the Field Museum in Chicago. The owl joining the New Brunswick Museum was found this past April in Lakeside near Hampton, with a hip and eye injury due to being struck by a car. The bird was put under the care of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute, who identified her as a female, and attempted to rehabilitate the owl, who was in overall good condition besides the injuries it sustained. According to the AWI director Pam Novak, joint injuries can be fatal for birds who need their leg strength to hunt like the great grey, which needs to be able to pounce over snow to catch their prey. However, due to the overall good health of the bird, the institute decided to operate. "We knew we were up against a low prognosis of this going well, but knowing she was in good condition we said 'let's give this a try,' because maybe something might be different with this particular case," said Novak. Despite the surgery being a success, the recovery of the owl wasn't. Novak explained that the owl struggled to regain strength and muscle tone in the injured leg, even with her hip joint being realigned. Taking into consideration the owl's deteriorating condition and her quality of life with an unusable leg, the institute decided to humanely euthanize the bird in June. Novak said this was a hard decision to make as they were hoping to release the owl back in the wild, and track her movement to figure out the owl's flying patterns in order to do further research on the species in the province. "It would have been really interesting to see if she can continue the story of where she came from," said Novak. "Would she go back or would she stay in this area trying to establish a territory? "Unfortunately those are questions we are not going to be able to get." However, Novak believes the owl's death wasn't in vain. She agreed with Jongsma and said that the bird's transfer to the museum would facilitate crucial research on its species for both the museum and other researchers around the world. "There's a lot that can be told from just them being able to analyze some of the tissue samples, some of the DNA ... there's a lot of opportunity for further research into the species itself," said Novak. Jongsma intends to retrieve the owl in early July. The owl will provide samples to study the owl's genetic diversity, population trends, or distributional shifts. For Jongsma the addition of the owl will not only be valuable to understand the species within a New Brunswick context but also for the scientific community overall. "It's an exciting rare occurrence to have this great grey owl specimen from New Brunswick, but it's now become a part of a larger collection that [is] greater than the sum of its parts," he said. "[It's] all together where the value really comes out for research and understanding life on our planet."


CBC
34 minutes ago
- CBC
Islanders are being asked to help track the rare smooth greensnake this summer
Social Sharing If you spot a smooth greensnake in the wild on Prince Edward Island this summer, the province's Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division wants to hear from you. Officials are hoping to gather data on the elusive reptile, which is considered the rarest snake on the Island. The smooth greensnake is harmless and typically lives in grassy fields, in open woodlands and on the edges of wetlands. But little is known about its population or whether it's at risk on P.E.I., said Julie-Lynn Zahavich, a forest conservation specialist with the province, given that the species has never been formally studied on the Island. "Knowing where the species are and what habitat they're using is the first step to being able to help conserve a species. So it's really important that we figure out those key puzzle pieces that we can put things together," Zahavich told CBC's Island Morning. "In the future, if things change — you know, with climate change or if insect populations go down — we'll be able to know what we had before, so that we know if we've lost the species, we can act on that." Bright green and hard to miss Zahavich said the smooth greensnake is about 30 to 50 centimetres long and, as the name suggests, has a vivid green back. Its underside or belly is typically whitish or yellowish. It's also the only egg-laying snake on the Island. The other two commonly seen species, the garter snake and the red-bellied snake, give birth to live young. The smooth greensnake is easy to distinguish from those two species. Garter snakes are larger and can be more than a metre long, and have a brown or grey back with stripes. Red-bellied snakes have a dark back and a vibrant red belly. Though the smooth greensnake may bite if it feels threatened, Zahavich said it is not venomous. "They're very small, and the bite is not going to hurt you," she said. How Islanders can help Zahavich said the division is hoping Islanders can help gather data on the species by snapping a photo if they happen to see one of the snakes. "Make note of the habitat that they're using... whether you're on a lawn or near a wetland or an open woodland," she said. People are also being asked to use their phone to get the GPS co-ordinates of the location or check Google Maps for a sense of where they were when they saw the snake. Photos and location information can be submitted to the Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division via Facebook, by email or by phone. Submissions are being accepted throughout the summer, when the snakes are active. Knowing where the species are and what habitat they're using is the first step to being able to help conserve a species. — Julie-Lynn Zahavich, forest conservation specialist The division is also interested in hearing about historic sightings. "If you remember seeing them as a kid or many years ago, we'd also love to hear about that," Zahavich said. As well, Islanders can upload photos and sightings to the iNaturalist app, which helps researchers gather data for scientific and conservation purposes. Zahavich said her team is monitoring the platform for smooth greensnake sightings on P.E.I. While public reports are key, Zahavich said her team is also doing its own monitoring. Next year, they hope to expand their efforts across more parts of the province and potentially work with watershed groups and other organizations that can help track down more sightings of the reptiles.


CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
How to keep your home bug-free this summer
How to keep your home bug-free in the summer. Summer has officially arrived and that means it's an important time to stay protected from ticks and mosquitoes. While it's important to protect yourself from bugs while hiking or camping in the woods, they could also be lurking in your backyard. Ticks and mosquitoes are the most common critters that bring not only bites, but illnesses and viruses as well. CTV Morning Live spoke with Dr. Paul Roumeliotis to talk about ways to protect your backyard from bugs this season. Ticks Roumeliotis says personal protection is key when preventing ticks, including long sleeves and insect repellent, but knowing how they move and breed is equally important in keeping them away. Lyme disease can be transmitted by ticks, an infection that is spread to humans from bites. Ticks can also carry other diseases. 'There's a lot of things we need to do to understand where ticks live. Ticks like to live in the dark, foresty, grassy areas,' he said. Homeowners living by a forest or grassland are most at risk of being affected by ticks on their property. Roumeliotis recommends building a barrier of mulch or gravel to surround your property. 'You can prevent the ticks from entering your property because they don't fly,' he said. 'If there's a lot of shrubbery, old branches, get rid of them too because they like to hide in there.' Ticks How to keep ticks off your property from Dr. Paul Roumeliotis. (CTV Morning Live) The higher the grass, the more likely they will lurk in that area, he says. Making sure your grass is mowed properly is also important. 'If you have picnic tables, you can put gravel or sand or keep the grass as low as possible,' he said. Roumeliotis says reports of tick bites are increasing in the summer months. He says it doesn't just impact kids, but those working in shrubbery and landscaping as well. 'The amount of ticks that we see in the area has risen. Right now, we see them across eastern Ontario, Ottawa, between the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River.' Mosquitoes Outside of an itchy and painful bite, mosquitoes can also carry diseases such as West Nile virus, making it even more important to prevent them from growing near your home. Roumeliotis says knowing their habits and where they thrive is important in learning how to prevent them. 'When we talk about personal protection, it's great, but you need to be aware of these mosquitoes and ticks and where they breed and then we can actually diminish the amount of them in our backyard,' he said. Roumelitois says mosquitoes like to lay their eggs in pooled water. He recommends checking your property to limit areas that collected water, including pales and tires. 'Similarly, pots, wheelbarrows, recycle bins, all those things left out in the rain that create a puddle or a pool, can actually promote mosquito growth in your area,' he said. Roumeliotis says some may have noticed an increase in mosquitoes this year, linked to higher amounts of rain in the region this year.