News
SLAS 2017: New Product Families Unveiled
BioInformatics LLC was pleased to meet with many clients in town for the annual SLAS conference held February 4–8 in Washington, DC. Attendance was down 19.3% from last year, when the show was held in San Diego, California, but boasted an additional 400 participants compared to 2015, when the show was last held in Washington, DC. The West Coast edition of the show is typically more popular, according to SLAS. The number of exhibitors fell 8.1% to 320. SLAS 2018 will be held February 3–7 in San Diego, California.
BioInformatics’ Vice President of Consulting Services, Mike Tice, gave a special presentation to SLAS exhibitors, highlighting SDi market data and trends for five categories of life science instrumentation and product markets: genetic assays and technologies, cellular and biochemical assays, and automation and equipment. The fastest growing markets over a five-year period within these categories are expected to be imaging techniques, cellular and biochemical assays, and analytical technologies.
Reporters from Instrument Business Outlook fanned out across the exhibition hall to find the most exciting new product introductions. Notable new products for Liquid Handling included Beckman Coulter Life Sciences’ Biomek i-Series Automated Workstations, The Dragonfly Discovery from TTP Labtech, and the AcouTrap 2.1 from AcouSort.
In the Analysis space, BioTek Instruments showcased the BioSpa Live Cell Imaging system and the Lionheart platform, optimized for live-cell imaging. Nanomedical Diagnostics introduced the Agile R100, a lower-cost, compact, label-free biosensor assay while Berkeley Lights (BKI) launched its first commercial platform, the Beacon, that enables fully automated nanoscale cell assays.
There were a number of interesting introductions in the area of Sample Prep. Thermo Fisher Scientific presented the KingFisher Presto system, which uses magnetic particle–based technology for automated nucleic acid and protein purification. Launched by Analytik Jena in Europe last year and now available in the US, SmartExtraction kits are designed for high-yield extraction of high–molecular weight DNA. While in Sample Management, SmartExtraction kits are designed for high-yield extraction of high–molecular weight DNA from Analytik Jena is now available in the US.
The full report on these and other products introduced at SLAS 2017 is available to IBO subscribers in the 2/15/17 issue. Not an IBO subscriber? Click here to sign up for a free trial subscription.
