Syngene’s ChemiGenius2 at Harefield Helps Advance Research in Treating Heart Failure

January 19th 2004, Cambridge, UK: Syngene, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions, is delighted to announce that its ChemiGenius2, premium chemiluminescence and fluorescence image analyser is being used at the world famous Harefield Heart Science Centre, as part of its molecular studies on heart failure therapies.

Scientists in Professor, Sir Magdi Yacoub’s Group at the Harefield Heart Science Centre use the ChemiGenius2 to help determine the effectiveness of heart failure treatments such as the left ventricular assist device. The Group is using the system to rapidly visualise and analyse RNA obtained from patients, enabling it to quality control RNA prior to quantitative real-time PCR analysis of important marker genes. 

Dr. Martin Cullen, Laboratory Manager at the Harefield Heart Science Centre said: “We installed a ChemiGenius2 to complement Syngene’s GeneGnome chemiluminescence image analyser, which we have been very impressed with. We chose it because out of the three systems we evaluated, it has the most high tech features, yet is the easiest to use.”

Dr. Cullen continued: “It is clear the ChemiGenius2 software has been thought about from the users’ point of view. With one button processing, finding lanes and bands is simple, as is capturing the best images of raw data. The software is also great because it allows us to transfer results to Excel immediately, a real boon for analysis. We are currently using the ChemiGenius2 as a gel documentation system to analyse RNA from heart samples and have found it to be such a reliable work horse that we will soon be using it for chemiluminescence too.”

Paul Ellwood, Syngene’s Sales and Marketing Director added: “It is an immense compliment for Syngene to see the ChemiGenius2 being routinely used for such essential research at this internationally renowned centre of excellence. Their use of the system to save time with assessing RNA quality shows how beneficial a ChemiGenius2 can be in molecular studies of life threatening conditions.”

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For Further Information Contact:
Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.
Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com  Web site: www.syngene.com  

Dr. Martin Cullen, Harefield Heart Science Centre, Harefield Hospital, Hill End Road, Harefield, Middlesex, UB9 6JH, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1895-453834
Email: m.cullen@imperial.ac.uk  Web site: www.med.ic.ac.uk 

Editor Contact:
Dr. Sue Pearson, PO Box 170, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 3GD, UK.
Tel/Fax + 44 (0) 1462-635327 Email: sue6.pearson@ntlworld.com 

Note to Editors

About Syngene

Syngene is a world-leading supplier of integrated imaging solutions for analysis and documentation of gel-based information. Syngene’s systems are used by more than 10,000 research organisations and over 50,000 individual scientists world-wide and include many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies and major research institutes. 

Syngene, founded in 1997 is a division of the Synoptics Group based in Cambridge, UK. The Group’s other divisions, Syncroscopy and Synbiosis, specialise in digital imaging solutions for microscopy and microbial applications respectively. Synoptics currently employs 50 people in its UK and subsidiary operation in Frederick, USA. The Group has profitable revenue of almost $10 million and continues to grow rapidly.
About the Harefield Heart Science Centre

The Heart Science Centre at Harefield Hospital has a comprehensive scientific and clinical programme on heart failure. Under the direction of Professor, Sir Magdi Yacoub, scientists in the laboratories are carrying out a multidisciplinary, integrated programme of research in the area of cardiovascular disease and transplantation. The main research groups are: Protein Biochemistry; Transplant Immunology; Vascular Biology; Homograft Research; Confocal Microscopy; Metabolic Research/ Myocardial Protection; Molecular Genetics; Molecular Virology; Circulatory Support and Research Haematology.