Undergraduates receive Analytical Chemistry As the 1995-96 academic year gets under way, undergraduate students will receive copies of Analytical Chemistry through two programs designed to enhance students' experience in measurement science and encourage them to consider careers in the field of analytical chemistry. The journal is funding the Instrumental Enhancement Program, which provides copies of Analytical Chemistry to undergraduate students in instrumental analysis courses. Subscriptions will go to professors at academic institutions in the United States. They will receive eight issues during the fall or spring semester and use them to enrich their courses and to encourage students to study analytical chemistry at the graduate level. Professors make the issues available to students, and some assign student projects based on material in the journal. In another program designed to stimulate interest in analytical chemistry, the journal and the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, through its Undergraduate Awards in Analytical Chemistry, will provide ~ 400 eight-month academic-year subscriptions to outstanding chemistry majors. Awardees are selected annually by chemistry faculty at U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities whose departments are approved by ACS. Recipients will also become honorary members of the Division for a year and receive the Division newsletter.
ICN acquires Becton Dickinson division ICN Pharmaceuticals (Costa Mesa, CA) has acquired the radioimmunoassay (RIA) division of Becton Dickinson (Orangeburg, NY). The acquisition adds complete thyroid, reproductive and general endocrinology, adrenal function, anemia, diabetes, and newborn profiles and screens to their product line. The expanded production facilities will allow ICN to increase its presence in Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia. This acquisition is part of ICN's strategy to solidify its position at a time when many
companies that sell RIA products are shifting their product lines to nonisotopic formats.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION • New WWW sites
Waters to purchase Phase Separations Waters Corp. (Milford, MA) has announced that it will purchase Phase Separations (Deeside, U.K.), manufacturer and distributor of chromatographic products. According to the president of Waters, Douglas Berthiaume, 'We've long admired Phase Separations for its technical achievements, quality products, and U.K. market leadership. These attributes complement Waters' own strengths, technologically and as a global market leader." Phase Separations managing director Bill Lancaster said, "Our intended alignment with Waters Corp. offers enormous opportunity to expand the availability of our products, particularly our Spherisorb packings and columns, to customers all over the world via Waters' powerful international sales and marketing organization."
Bio-Rad purchases IR technology from HP Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, CA) has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Hewlett Packard (Palo Alto, CA) to purchase the assets of the HP 5965B IR detector for Bio-Rad's Digilab Division. After a transition period, Bio-Rad will assume responsibility for customer service and support. In addition to this arrangement, HP and Bio-Rad have signed a letter of intent for both companies to distribute GC/IR/MS systems. Larry Cattran, general manager of HP's Analytical Division, says that "in addition to guaranteeing that the IR detector does not become obsolete, the transfer to BioRad's family of GC/IR products ensures our customers the highest level of continued support for their instruments." Gerry Keahl, Bio-Rad's general manager for the spectroscopy division, "looks forward to working with HP on the advancement of GC/IR detector technology on the new HP 6890 and also to developing an IR detector for gas chromatographs from other manufacturers."
AOAC International—http://www. aoac.org; includes a calendar of activities and deadlines and information on membership, publications, meeting registration, and educational programs. TopoMetrix—http://www. topometrix.com; includes a corporate profile, service and support information; office locations; and technical information on scanning probe microscopy. Varian—http://www.varian. com; includes general company information; technical publications; catalogs; and information on instruments, health care, semiconductor equipment, and electron devices.
• PCR standard NIST and the National Institute of Justice have developed Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2391 to help ensure that DNA profiles made by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method are accurate. The standard contains 20 components, including eight vials of wellcharacterized human DNA, four vials of PCR-amplified DNA, two genetic ladders, two human cell lines, and extracted DNA and PCRamplified DNA from the same cell lines. Contact NIST, SRM Program, 204 Engineering Mechanics Bldg., Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001 (301975-6776; fax 301-948-3730).
• Metals newsletter The American Society for Testing and Materials Committee E-l on Analytical Chemistry for Metals, Ores, and Related Materials has begun publishing a newsletter on the com- . mittee's work. Contact Thomas R. Dulski, Carpenter Technology Corp., P.O. Box 14662, Reading, PA 19612-4662 (610-208-2691).
Analytical Chemistry, September 1, 1995
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