• Applied Biosystems Group (Foster City, California), a business of Applera, together with its joint venture partner MDS Sciex (Toronto), a division of MDS, reported the launch of two new mass spectrometers, the 3200 Q TRAP and the API 3200 LC/MS/MS Systems with Turbo V Source for added sensitivity, throughput, and cost-effectiveness in mass spectrometry-based workflows. The API 3200 LC/MS/MS System with Turbo V source is a triple quadrupole for quantitation and analyte detection studies. The system provides improved performance, especially at high flow rates, allowing for easy method transfer from LC/UV to LC/MS/MS workflows, according to the company. Because the Turbo V source family is now compatible with five Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX LC/MS/MS systems, method development can be carried out on these new instruments with transfer to the higher sensitivity systems. The 3200 Q TRAP System is a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap for small molecule identification, characterization and quantification and protein biomarker discovery, validation, and quantification. The system provides greater than two-fold sensitivity increase in linear ion trap mode at all flow rates, and up to a 5-fold signal-to-noise increase in traditional triple quadrupole mode over its predecessor, the Q TRAP LC/MS/MS System.

• Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) reported that the FDA has approved enhancements to the Directions for Use of the TAXUS Express2 paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system, indicating that patients receiving the stent systems may safely undergo MRI examination immediately following implantation. The TAXUS system is the first drug-eluting stent to receive approval for immediate post-procedure MRI. Boston Scientific's Express2 (bare-metal) stent system also received approval for immediate MRI exams. Patients receiving coronary stents have typically been required to wait about two months before receiving an MRI. Testing showed the TAXUS Express2 and Express2 systems to be MRI safe at a high level of magnetic field strengths with minimal effect on temperature rise and drug release.

• NVE (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), which is focused on the commercialization of spintronics, a nanotechnology that experts believe represents the next generation of microelectronics, said that it has been notified by the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office of the issuance of a key biosensor patent. Patent No. 6,875,621 relates to the detection of magnetizable beads in connection with biological and chemical assays. Detection of magnetizable beads is a key element of proposed "laboratory-on-a-chip" systems. The company said its goal is to provide disposable nanosensor elements for handheld devices that will provide biomedical test results in minutes.

• Osiris Therapeutics (Baltimore, Maryland), specializing in adult stem cell therapy, reported receiving FDA clearance to begin enrollment in the first human clinical trial for a stem cell therapy targeted at injured tissue in knee surgery patients. Chondrogen, a formulation of adult mesenchymal stem cells, will be evaluated in a 48-patient randomized trial to at the University of Southern California's University Hospital. The Phase I/II study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the stem cell treatment for the regeneration of meniscus.