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AACR Recap #1: New Biomarker Candidates!

Monday, May 8, 2017 - 13:30
Cancer biomarkers

Most investigators agree that early detection increases the likelihood of a positive response to a given therapeutic intervention in cancer. Biomarkers are a necessary prerequisite for early detection. A healthcare provider needs some clue that cancer is likely to develop. More importantly, they need to know that the selected therapeutic intervention will be effective. It is no surprise then, that much of the work presented at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was focused on discovering and validating novel cancer biomarkers.

Mahoney and Atkins describe four types of cancer biomarkers: diagnostic,...

Actual Living Scientist – Dr. Louis Leong

Monday, May 8, 2017 - 08:33
Dr. Louis Leong of Bio-Techne

It recently came to our attention, from this article, that only one in three Americans can name an actual living scientist. As a large biotechnology company, filled with talented and dedicated scientists, we think that is ridiculous. We want to introduce you to some of our staff who are, in fact, Actual Living Scientists.

The first scientist in our series is Dr. Louis Leong. Dr. Leong has been with Bio-Techne at the R&D Systems site (and Bio-Techne Headquarters) in Minneapolis, MN for 5 years. Dr. Leong completed a Post Doc at UC-Irvine in 2000 before moving into industry at...

Travel Grant Recipients to ISSCR 2017 Announced

Thursday, April 20, 2017 - 13:27
isscr travel grant winners
 

The International Society of Stem Cell Research Annual Meeting is the largest scientific conference focusing on stem cell research. This year, scientists from around the world will gather in Boston, MA from June 14-17, 2017, for the 15th...

Emerging Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy Research

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 - 09:27
Emerging Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy Research

The most successful strategies for cancer immunotherapy have focused on targeting the T cell co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules that regulate T cell activation. Monoclonal antibodies directed against the T cell co-inhibitory receptors, CTLA-4 and PD-1 have been shown to have potent anti-tumor effects, suggesting that other immune checkpoint regulators may also serve as immunotherapeutic targets. CTLA-4 and PD-1 are members of the CD28 family and they each bind...

Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for Cell Therapy Manufacturing: What does this mean?

Friday, April 14, 2017 - 14:29
gmp cytokines and growth factor use in cell therapy process

 

Several suppliers, including R&D Systems, offer growth factors and cytokines made specifically for culturing cells that will be used for cell therapy. They are only to be used during the cell culture process and residual protein is washed away before the cells actually come into contact with a patient. These reagents are commonly referred to as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), a term that has traditionally been reserved for materials made with oversite from federal regulatory authorities like the FDA. Despite the...

Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant – March Recipient Selected!

Thursday, April 13, 2017 - 09:55
Bio-Techne travel grants

Bio-Techne launched its Go Everywhere Travel Grant Program which awards $1000 USD (or equivalent) to 1 researcher each month to attend the meeting of their choice. This grant program allows the researcher to attend more targeted meetings in their field and provides funding to support both small and large scientific associations that promote discovery and collaboration.

The recipient of the March 2017 grant is Ken Hayama, a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Irvine!

Mr. Hayama works in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Demetriou for over three years. He has chosen to attend The American Association of Immunologists...

Isolation and Culture of Primary Cells from Bone Marrow

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - 15:03

Paul Maye, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut Health Center

Bone marrow stromal cells have been one of the more intensively studied adult stem cell types over the past 50 years. There is great interest within regenerative medicine and wound healing for this adult stem cell type because of its complex biological properties including its ability to support a hematopoietic environment, possess anti-inflammatory qualities, and differentiate down multiple lineages. This webinar discusses research that helps us understand their origin, identity, and biological complexity. This includes:

  • Ways to isolate and culture stromal cells.
  • in vitro assays of multipotency.
  • Assays to quantify stromal cells.
  • Benefits of murine transgenic animal models to study stromal cells and...

Stem Cells in the News - April 2017

Monday, April 3, 2017 - 14:56
Stem Cells in the News

We have captured this month's most interesting, innovative, and maybe some of the strangest examples of stem cells in the news from around the world.

New Blood Stem Cells Identified in Mice Lungs - Nature
Scientists at UCSF have identified a previously unknown pool of blood stem cells in the lungs. These cells are capable of restoring blood production when stem cells in the bone marrow are depleted. This study was conducted in mice but has potential human application in lung transplantation success and thrombocytopenia.

...

Regenerative Medicine using iPSCs: Setting Your Research Up for Success

Sunday, March 26, 2017 - 09:10

Fabrizio Rinaldi, PhD, Scientist in Stem Cell Research and Development, Bio-Techne
Tim Manning, PhD, Proteins Product Manager, Bio-Techne

As induced pluripotent stem cells continue progress towards cell therapy use to treat neurodegenerative disease, diabetes, vision impairment, and heart repair, there are critical questions and steps for maintaining cell quality and consistency that need to be considered. This webinar is designed to get researchers thinking about the best ways to control the quality and consistency of a stem cell therapy as it begins its therapeutic transition. The first part of the webinar introduces methods and tips to efficiently validate and assess variability across human iPS cell lines, a critical step for controlling quality within iPS cell translation. The second half...

Luminex® High Performance Assays 101: Consistency

Friday, March 24, 2017 - 15:46

Luminex HP Assays 101 - Consistency

Consistent assay performance is critical for research. Without reliable performance how can you be sure which results to trust when analyzing data and coming up with conclusions? From experiment to experiment, project to project, and graduate student to graduate student, you’ll never have to worry about consistent performance with our Luminex High Performance Assays. Here’s why:

Rigorous Validation Testing

All Luminex High Performance Assays undergo extensive validation testing. We test for sensitivity, intra-assay precision, and inter-assay precision to ensure assay linearity for validated sample types. Spike recovery values for individual samples in validated sample types are also tested to ensure specificity. Review our High...

Bio-Techne Marches for Science

Thursday, March 23, 2017 - 14:23

Bio-Techne employees are joining the global network of scientists in the March for Science to demonstrate our values of education, communication, and respect for the communities in which we live and work.

We believe in the preservation of scientific integrity, funding for research, and the open network of sharing results with each other and the public.

Join us on April 22, 2017 at the March in D.C. or at your local satellite event. #BioTechneMarches

We will be marching in our Bio-Techne communities:
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN...

Stem Cells in the News - March 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017 - 14:15
Stem Cells in the News

We have captured this month’s most interesting, innovative, and maybe some of the strangest examples of stem cells in the news from around the world.

Stem cell experiments blast into space - PostBulletin
Stem cells from the Mayo Clinic Florida campus were launched into space heading for the International Space Station. Why? The researchers behind the cells would like to see if stem cells can be produced more quickly in a microgravity environment.

...

Luminex® HP Assays 101 – Sensitivity Matters

Monday, March 13, 2017 - 13:49
cartoon phd lab data

Sensitivity is critical for immunoassays so that analytes present at low levels can be accurately measured. Without proper sensitivity, low abundance analytes can be missed completely even if they are present in a sample. Additionally, it can be difficult to compare healthy vs. disease samples since analytes that are overexpressed in disease states are often present at very low levels in healthy individuals. Our Luminex High Performance Assays provide superior sensitivity, and here's how:

Proven Assay Development Expertise

R&D Systems has over 25 years of experience designing, testing, and optimizing immunoassays to ensure the highest level of performance in analyte quantification. Luminex High Performance assays are driven by the same expertise...

Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant – February Recipient Selected!

Thursday, March 9, 2017 - 13:16
Bio-Techne travel grants

Bio-Techne launched its Go Everywhere Travel Grant Program which awards $1000 USD (or equivalent) to 1 researcher each month to attend the meeting of their choice. This allows the researchers to attend more targeted meetings in their field and provides funding to support both small and large associations to further promote scientific discoveries and conversations.

The recipient of the February 2017 grant is Dr. Abhishek Kashyap from The University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland! 

Dr. Kashyap is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Zippelius at the University Hospital Basel. He has chosen to attend the...

Bio-Techne Profiled in the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Monday, March 6, 2017 - 09:58
diagnostic division instrument process - Anthony Soufflé

Anthony Soufflé • anthony.souffle@startribune.com

 

Bio-Techne was recently highlighted in the Star Tribune’s Sunday Business section. The article highlights Bio-Techne as Minnesota’s largest biotech business, the types of products we produce, and the incredible growth the company has experienced under the relatively new leadership.

Read the full article on Star Tribune.

Luminex® HP Assays 101 – Overcoming Multiplexing Challenges

Friday, March 3, 2017 - 09:02
cartoon phd lab vial closeup

Assay diluents matter because the simultaneous detection of multiple protein analytes presents many challenges. This includes assay non-specific binding, cross-reactivity, and antibody interference. R&D Systems recognizes these unique difficulties. The diluents provided with R&D Systems Luminex High Performance Assays have been tested and specifically formulated to overcome the challenges listed above that are unavoidable in multiplex assays.

Defining Interference, Non-specific Binding, and Cross-reactivity

Reagents provided in R&D Systems Luminex Assays are carefully designed and tested to minimize assay interference and ensure an optimally functional sandwich immunoassay (Figure 1). Immunoassay interference occurs when a substance within the assay prevents

...

Why Use Standardized Kits When Differentiating Pluripotent Stem Cells

Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 13:35

Standardized pluripotent stem cell differentiation kits, such as the StemXVivo® Differentiation Kits from R&D Systems, offer a number of benefits over both home-brew protocols or the direct purchase of pre-differentiated iPS cells. This post provides a brief discussion of those benefits:

Consistent Method for Assessing Pluripotency – Researchers creating iPS cell lines must verify the pluripotency of their newly generated cells. The teratoma assay and the embryoid body assay are the historical standard for validation. However, they are time consuming and inconsistent. Differentiation kits are ideal for applying a fast and standardized method to pluripotency validation because they...

Bio-Techne Go Everywhere Travel Grant – January Recipient Selected!

Monday, February 13, 2017 - 10:53
Bio-Techne travel grants

Bio-Techne continues to support the work of researchers worldwide with travel grants awarded to specific conferences throughout the year. In 2017, we launched our Go Everywhere Travel Grant Program which awards 1 researcher each month in 2017 with a $1000 USD (or equivalent) travel grant to attend the meeting of their choice. This allows the researchers to attend more targeted meetings in their field and provides funding to support both small and large associations to further promote scientific discoveries and conversations.

The first recipient of 2017 is Dr. Olalekan Ogundele from Louisiana State University!

...

Xeno-free, Serum-free, What’s for me? - Mesenchymal Stem Cell Media

Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - 07:46

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) hold significant promise for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. While the use of MSCs for both translational and basic research requires their efficient expansion, the desired media formulations for growing MSCs can vary by application. Specific formulations of MSC media now exist to address these various applications, including serum-containing, serum-free, xeno-free, animal component-free and GMP-grade media. For many researchers, deciphering which variant of MSC media best suits their needs can be a daunting prospect. This post is meant to help clarify MSC media nomenclature and provide a quick reference for understanding the various media options and when to use them in your research.

...

Bio-Techne's Karen Padgett Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award from CiteAb

Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - 15:22
Karen Padgett Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award CiteAb

Each year, CiteAb recognizes several companies and individuals for their excellence in the research antibody market. This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded to Bio-Techne’s own, Karen Padgett. Join us in congratulating her for her dedication and drive she brings to this business.

Karen started Novus Biologicals in the summer of 1996 to be a company that licenses, produces and markets antibodies for niche and emerging areas of research. She successfully ran Novus Biologicals with consistent growth for 18 years out of Littleton, CO. She sold Novus

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Induction and Analysis of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Friday, December 16, 2016 - 08:50

Joy Aho, PhD, Manager of Stem Cells Research and Development Bio-Techne
Ernesto Resnik, PhD, Manager of Antibody Research and Development Bio-Techne

In this peer-reviewed video publication, featured in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), Bio-Techne scientists provide data supporting new methods for reliably inducing epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro. EMT is essential for proper morphogenesis during development. Misregulation of EMT is attributed to fibrosis and the progression of carcinomas metastasis. Creating reliable cell culture models for EMT induction and analysis is key for gaining insights into the field of wound healing and cancer metastasis. In this video, we demonstrate a straightforward method for the induction of EMT in a variety of cell types,...

R&D Systems® Immunoassays and Luminex® Instruments Video

Thursday, November 10, 2016 - 08:54

This video describes the strengths of R&D Systems immunoassays and the effective partnership with Luminex to answer your multianalyte questions.

Luminex High Performance Panels

 Luminex® is a trademark of Luminex Corporation.

What does Bio-Techne Bring to Regenerative Medicine?

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - 12:57

The use of stem cells for regenerative medicine and cell therapy is closer than ever to therapeutic application. As researchers navigate their stem cell research into the translational landscape, maintaining quality and consistency becomes an important issue. That’s where Bio-Techne can help. Bio-Techne, consisting of the prestigious life science brands of R&D SystemsNovus BiologicalsTocris Bioscience, takes pride in its roots as a company devoted to reagent quality and consistency. Because we offer both research and GMP-grade reagents, we can be a resource to researchers and biopharmaceutical companies as they think about out how they are...

A Guide to the Colony Forming Cell Assay: Methods and Tips

Sunday, October 16, 2016 - 09:39

This video protocol provides step-by-step instructions on how to consistently perform the Colony Forming Cell (CFC) Assay. The colony forming cell assay, also commonly called the methylcellulose assay, is used in the study of hematopoietic stem cells to investigate their proliferative and differentiation potential. Using the tips provided throughout this video, researchers using the CFC assay will be able to more accurately evaluate and score colony formations.

This video includes:

  • An overview of the CFC Assay
  • How to aliquot methylcellulose
  • Cell preparation techniques
  • Tips for cell plating
  • Methods for cell counting
  • Tips for colony identification
  • Benefits of R&D...

5 Tips to Increase the Reproducibility of MSC and iPSC Differentiation

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - 13:50

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are being utilized for the development of multitude of regenerative therapies. Establishing standards and practices for characterizing MSCs and iPSCs is an important quality issue for the future of stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Simple steps can be taken to improve the quality and efficiency of both MSC and iPSC expansion and differentiation.

Check out this article we wrote on Regmednet that provides 5 tips that could get you the quality and quantity of cells that you desire.

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