Freezers are among the biggest energy consumers in a lab, and as a result they can cost a lab a lot of money. The International Freezer Challenge promotes best practices in cold storage management and awards the labs who have done the most to save energy and improve their sample storage.

When influenza viruses enter our body, the immune system recognises them as being foreign by means of various receptors and starts a defence programme.Scientists of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg recently studied the detailed role of a certain receptor in this first line of defence. They discovered that the receptor activates natural killer cells, which use messenger substances to activate other immune cells and then eliminate body cells that are infected by viruses.

Identifying the source of infection is essential for taking action in outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease. The combination of immunomagnetic separation and flow cytometry delivers precise results in less than two hours and knows virtually no limits to the variety of applications.

The board game Go was long considered to be a bastion reserved for human players due to its complexity. Nowadays, however, the world’s best players no longer have any chance of winning against the “Alpha Go” software. Researchers at the University of Münster have now demonstrated that the recipe for the success of this software can be put to excellent use to plan chemical syntheses. The study has been published in the current issue of the “Nature” journal.

Bremen and MS — both linked by a tradition extending over many years. No surprise, then, that one of the most outstanding MS technologies in recent history has made its way in the world from there. Where will this journey take us next?

The Düperthal safety storage cabinets Battery line type 90 acc. to DIN EN 14470-1 (resp. DIN EN 1363-1), are specially designed for the high requirements of safe storage and charging of Li-ion batteries.

Tattoo removal using laser radiation can carry health risks depending on the breakdown products formed. Scientists have now shown that pyrolysis GC/MS can be used to simulate the breakdown process and determine the compounds formed from a given ink during laser treatment. Phthalocyanine blue (B15:3), for example, was shown to form a cell poison in the process.

Much better treatment options now exist for many illnesses compared to what was available ten years ago. Their effectiveness depends, however, on early detection. Laboratory diagnostics create a highly dynamic bond between scientific progress and medical applications.

Dr. Thomas Schinecker talks about demographic change, health policy and how increasing complexity can be managed for the benefit of patients, physicians, laboratories and the health care system. The interview was conducted by Dr. Ilka Ottleben from the LP editorial team.

A study conducted by scientist of the Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, proves the viability of recovering viral DNA from ancient samples, and shows the hepatitis B virus has been circulating in Europe for at least 7.000 years.