OFFICES ARE CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Please note that SCIREQ offices in Montreal and Phoenix will be closed during the holidays. Our last day is Friday December 21, 2012 and we will be back hard at work on Tuesday January 2, 2013.Should you have any questions before then, we would be happy to assist you.
From all of us at SCIREQ, happy holidays and we wish you a healthy and prosperous 2013!
Your SCIREQ team!
As everyone is getting on their way to the 12th Annual Meeting of the Safety Pharmacology Society, we would like to invite you to come by our SCIREQ booth No. 218 to get a hands-on impression of our systems for pre-clinical lung function measurement and inhalation toxicology.
Our flexiVent system is widely used to obtain an accurate, highly detailed and specific assessment of respiratory mechanics using the Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT). However, the flexiVent is best known for its use in rodents, and it is perhaps less widely known that larger flexiVent modules are available to measure lung function in animals up to or potentially exceeding 10 kg, including primates and dogs.
In Safety Pharmacology, FOT measurements as obtained with the flexiVent to date have been limited to "second tier" measurements because they required passive, intubated subjects and hence necessitated anesthesia. However, we have now developed new technology that promises true respiratory mechanics measurements in conscious animals. In recent tests carried out in collaboration with Dr. Simon Authier at CiToxLAB in Montreal, we were able to measure airway resistance at baseline and following MCH injection in restrained, conscious dogs and primates. Only a glimpse of these data will be available at SPS, though, with a fully detailed presentation is scheduled for SOT 2013.
While our recent tests represent an important milestone, more work will be required to bring this technology to maturity. Nonetheless, we would like to invite you to stop by our SPS booth for more details on what we have achieved so far and what the next steps will be. A discussion with you in Phoenix will allow us to make sure that we further develop this exciting technology in a direction that best meets the needs of your application and of the Safety Pharmacology community at large. We look forward to talking to you!
An international group of 14 participants took part in this year’s Jackson Laboratory workshop on phenotyping mouse models of human lung diseases. Respiratory mechanics measurements using the forced oscillation technique was the topic of three presentations and two laboratory sessions. In addition to the scheduled sessions, the workshop was set to provide a unique opportunity to gain practical knowledge on this integrative, powerful and translational technique. Participants also had the ability to discuss their individual applications with key leaders in the field during informal after-dinner discussions. Having a look at this year's schedule could give you an idea of what is waiting for you next year. Mark your calendars - we would be happy to meet you there!
For the 4th year in a row our chief scientist Dr. Annette Robichaud is a confirmed presenter at the Jackson Laboratory Workshop from September 19 to 24 in Bar Harbor, Maine. Dr. Robichaud will give a talk at the beginning of her laboratory session introducing the flexiVent and focusing on respiratory mechanics, airway responsiveness and other types of measurements. This will be followed by two hands-on experimental sessions.
Other speakers this year include:
There are still spaces available and if you wish to register you can contact Nancy Place at 207-288-6257 or via email at [email protected].
We look forward to seeing you in Bar Harbor Maine!
Happy Birthday, SCIREQ! Exactly 15 years ago, on June 1st, 1997, SCIREQ Scientific Respiratory Equipment Inc. started operating in a small loft in an old garment building on Montreal's boulevard St. Laurent, not far from McGill's Meakins-Christie Laboratories that we grew out of. A few hundred square feet of space, Ikea desks, a few tools from Home Depot and a shoestring budget... 15 years already - it's been a fun ride!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed to SCIREQ's growth and success, including our world-class staff, our tireless distributors, suppliers, business partners, and of course our loyal, committed and at times patient customers! It has been our great pleasure to serve you over the past 15 years, and we look forward to working with you and supporting your science for the next 15 years and on!
We would like to announce the release of Service Pack 2 for flexiWare 7.2. This release resolves an issue with mechanical ventilation when used with flexiVent systems.
The nature of the issue we recently identified and resolved is such that the pressure limit was not always properly applied during Controlled Mechanical Ventilation (CMV). The issue was first introduced with the release of version 7.2, therefore users of flexiWare 7.1.1 or lower are not affected. Users of flexiWare 7.2 should note that for most experimental protocols used with the flexiVent, the pressure limit is encountered only at high levels of bronchoconstriction and elevated PEEP. Therefore, with very few possible exceptions, there should be no significant impact on the outcomes of your experiments.
There are no other changes in flexiWare 7.2.2, therefore there is no need to update from 7.2.1 to 7.2.2 for users who do not work with flexiVent instruments and CMV.
To download flexiWare 7.2.2, please log into the TechNet section of our website. Upgrading from previous releases of flexiWare 7.2 does not require a new registration code or unlocking key, however a firmware upgrade will be necessary.
Approximately 7,200 scientists from academia and industry met earlier this week at the annual Society of Toxicology meeting in San Francisco. We would like to thank the numerous attendees who stopped by the SCIREQ booth in the ToxExpo exhibit hall. It was a pleasure to meet you, and to have an opportunity to present our products and discuss your applications. We will contact you to follow up on those discussions in the near future.
For those who missed SOT, the next opportunity to meet us at a conference will be at the Experimental Biology meeting that takes place April 22-24 in San Diego, CA.
