We caught up with Mr Neil Kipling, founder and CEO of software giants IDBS, to discuss future prospects and products in advanced solutions software, to serve the ever demanding life sciences industry.

ToPics Applied Knowledge Centre plans and implements professional continuing education programmes. Our activities are designed for both seasoned staff members and newcomers to the biomedical industries, start-ups, incubators, medical centres and laboratories.

For many years Applied Biosystems has continued to provide robust, reliable tools to analyse DNA and RNA, small molecules, and proteins, in order to make scientific discoveries, develop new pharmaceuticals and conduct standardised testing. Applied Biosystems has developed and introduced dozens of technologies that have catalysed the genomic and proteomics revolutions and are now essential to life science research and applied fields. The company’s biggest contribution has almost certainly been in the development and commercialisation of robust and reliable DNA sequencer technology, and the provision of quality reagents and consumables needed to ensure effective and comparable experimental data. Through the years, our DNA sequencers have remained the gold standard. The first automated DNA sequencer, introduced in 1986, could run 16 samples in a 12-hour cycle, analysing approximately 4,800 base pairs of DNA per day.

Neil Kipling, CEO of leading advanced software solutions provider for the life sciences industry, IDBS, talks to us about current and future functions of biology and data capture within the life sciences industry.

Late last year, Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific merged to become Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., the world leader in serving science. European Pharmaceutical Review spoke to Marc Casper, vice president of Thermo Fisher Scientific and president of its analytical technologies group to discover the impact this has had on the industry.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), the world’s premier measurement company, brings 35 years of experience and knowledge to the industry by developing solutions that support the complicated workflows in the pharmaceutical industry. Throughout all stages of the pharmaceutical value chain, from early drug discovery to launching successful products, there is increasing pressure to obtain reliable results quickly. Markus Jaquemar explains why.

Europe is buzzing with new companies spun out from universities, offering all manner of products and services to the life sciences industry. One such company is making a name for itself on the international circuit, with a disruptive technology for the analysis of macromolecules. Tim Lloyd met with Anthony Baxter, CEO of deltaDOT, to find out why now is the time for spin-outs to shine.

Marc Casper, Senior Vice President, Thermo Electron Corp., believes there are exciting times ahead for R&D and that collaborations will speed the development of the tools required. Tim Lloyd found out more.

After more than a year of planning, eleven of the USA’s top universities have joined forces to establish a common plan to further the science of drug development and manufacturing. Mandy Drabwell spoke with Prabir Basu, Executive Director of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, NIPTE, to find out more.

In the world of spin-out companies and commercial exploitation of intellectual property, there are some technologies that stand ‘head and shoulders’ above the others. TeraView is one such example: Tim Lloyd discovers why.

Speeding up the progress of science is a critical issue and it takes a co-ordinated, collaborative approach to make it happen. One such example is the Genome-Wide RNAi Global Initiative. Tim Lloyd spoke with Mike Deines, Vice President of Marketing, Dharmacon, to find out more.