Quarter 4 Newsletter 2022
20 December 2022
Highlights of 2022
Looking back over 2022, we are pleased to have supported a broad spectrum of research both inside and outside Cardiff University, by both undertaking service work and supporting users whilst they access our facilities.
We are also pleased to have maintained our ISO 9001 certification and to have supported TeloNostiX, the Cardiff University in vitro diagnostics spin-out located in Central Biotechnology Services, to gain their ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation.
Returning to face-to-face training has been another highlight.
Read on to find out more about our activities, services and upcoming events!
Quality Management Update
By successfully completing the annual surveillance audit of our facility in March 2022, we have maintained our certification to ISO 9001. Due to the pandemic, this was our first face-to-face audit since February 2020.
This means that our quality management system continues to demonstrate its ability to provide services that consistently meet customer and regulatory requirements. We remain the only UK Multi-Core Facility to have this accreditation, supporting both our Cardiff University users and external customers.
To complement our ISO 9001:2015 certification, we are also accredited for Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP), our next biennial external audit being in summer 2023.
Returning to hosting face-to-face training events....
It has been great to return to offering face-to-face events in 2022, giving attendees more options to network alongside their learning. Thanks to everyone who attended our recent face-to-face training events, including the flow cytometry courses by InCytometry, the Thermo Fisher Gene Expression workshop, the IPA training by Qiagen and the nCounter seminar by Nanostring.
And returning to attending face-to-face conferences!
We have also enjoyed returning to attending face-to-face conferences in 2022. We have welcomed being able to promote Central Biotechnology Services and Cardiff University whilst learning about new technologies and trends in our sector. We were thrilled that Sumukh Deshpande, our CBS Bioinformatician, was awarded a fully funded place to attend Biohackathon Europe in Paris. Congratulations Sumukh!
Equipment here in Central Biotechnology Services
In our Quarter 2 Newsletter this year we reminded you about the key technologies in Central Biotechnology Services. We'd now like to remind you about the lesser known smaller instruments that you can use. Read on and click on the instrument names below to find out more...
gentleMACS™ Octo Dissociator
This instrument homogenises and dissociates up to eight tissue samples in a fully automated and standardised way.
Neon™ Transfection System
This instrument enables the fast and efficient delivery of nucleic acids into all mammalian cell types, including primary, stem, and difficult-to-transfect cells.
Nanodrop One Spectrophotometer
This is a compact, stand-alone UV-visible spectrophotometer for the measurement of highly concentrated samples across a wide variety of analytes without the need for dilution.
TissueLyser II
This instrument simultaneously disrupts multiple biological samples through high-speed shaking in plastic tubes with stainless steel, tungsten carbide, or glass beads.
2100 Bioanalyzer system
This is an automated electrophoresis tool for the sample quality control of biomolecules. It can be used for sizing, quantitation, integrity and purity measurements of DNA, RNA, and proteins.
Looking forward to 2023...
We continue to encourage Cardiff University researchers and external businesses to contact us about our services and quality management advice.
We will hold a range of technical training events in 2023, some face-to-face and some virtual, some free and some on a cost recovery basis, to support researchers as much as we can. Please continue to check our website and follow us on Twitter for details of upcoming events, many of these being open to both internal and external researchers...Here are some below to whet your appetite!
Flow Cytometry webinars
Dr Graham Bottley from InCytometry will be giving the following on-line training webinars on 17th, 18th and 19th January:
Nanostring GeoMX DSP seminar
We are in the process of setting up a face-to-face seminar by Nanostring on the GeoMX Digital Spatial Profilertechnology that is in Cardiff University. This seminar will be held on Thursday 2nd March, 11am onwards in the Henry Wellcome Building on the Heath site. Please save the date and look out for details to follow!
BD High dimensional flow cytometry seminar
We are also in the process of setting up a face-to-face seminar by BD on Tuesday 31st January in the Henry Wellcome Building on the Heath site. This flow cytometry seminar will cover multi colour flow cytometry, including panel design, to introduce our high dimensional flow cytometer, the BD FACSymphony™ A3 Cell Analyzer. Please save the date and look out for details to follow!
