• Bone Biologics (Thousand Oaks, California) said it has successfully completed the initial primate trials validating the efficacy of the proprietary bone growth regeneration UCB-1 (NELL-1) protein in spinal fusion surgery. 100% fusion was obtained in a 3-month period. No cystic lesion was observed. The successful primate surgical outcomes used the DBX demineralized bone matrix (scaffold) produced by the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF). MTF is a non-profit service organization dedicated to providing quality tissue through a commitment to excellence in education, research, recovery and care for recipients, donors and their families.

• Celerus Diagnostics (Carpinteria, California) has introduced new products for use on the Celerus Wave System, a solution to deliver precise, standardized IHC results in 15 minutes. Some of the new products are the D10, a cell surface antigen also known as CALLA (common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen), is expressed on a variety of cell types, including immature and germinal center B cells, as well as lymphoblastic leukemia cells; the CD34, a marker of lymphatic and vascular endothelium (antibodies to CD34 can be used to study tumors of endothelial origin and CD34 also is a useful marker for quantifying micro-vascular density in a variety of other tumor types); and Tyrosinase, a copper-glycoenzyme involved in the synthesis of melanin pigments. The melanin pigments can serve as markers for cells of melanocytic lineage, including malignant melanomas.