Students and clinicians alike have a shiny new tool in their educational toolbox this week. Whether they are learning new skills and knowledge relating to anaerobic bacteria or merely brushing up on anaerobes, Sheldon Manufacturing has just made it easier to do—with the first release of the SHEL LAB Anaerobic Education Tool. This new interactive educational tool offers a five-section course specially geared to professional clinicians or to students who are just starting out. It includes a slideshow and 22-question quiz designed to help students and professionals learn new material, review concepts and test their new knowledge. Some features of the slideshow include:

•    An overview of common pathogens

•    Proper culture techniques

•    Anaerobic media characteristics

•    Culture, isolation and identification protocol

Anaerobic Microbiology Tool

“Sheldon wanted to create a tool that benefits both clinicians and students,” says Amy Schulties, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sheldon Manufacturing. “We wanted to find a way to keep students interested and engaged while learning about these organisms, and this website offers just that while still providing a tool for learning and evaluation.”
The SHEL LAB Anaerobic Education Tool includes nearly 50 slides, but students and professionals can easily move through sections at their own pace, skipping sections if they are already comfortable with the material or going back to chapters that need additional time for review . Correct answers to quiz questions are provided immediately following a student’s answer choice for quick review of any questions missed, and you can email yourself the results to impress your Microbiology Professor or Lab Supervisor.

You can test your knowledge at – http://anaerobe.shellab.com

We can’t wait to return to the largest annual meeting and event for Microbiology, ASM 2011. We have a slew of new equipment and constant temperature units to be featured in New Orleans. Contact Us now and let us know you will be there or stop by our booth at the show. See you there!

Don’t miss us, BOOTH # 525, we have lots of new things to show off including hypoxic control for the Bactron Anaerobic Chamber.

Register to win an iPad 2, 32gb at the show!

May 21 2011 – May 24 2011
Ernst M. Moral Convention Center
900 Convention Center Boulevard
New Orleans, LA

Given our passion for quality anaerobic microbiology technique, you can imagine how excited we were to see the Bactron IV/900 in this news article about the new DANONE Research Centre for Special Nutrition in Singapore.  Recently we have been answering a lot of inquiries about using anaerobic techniques for food and beverage quality assurance, and would encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have about the Bactron line.

From the Article:
Danone to invest S$70m in R&D centre in Singapore

SINGAPORE : International food company Danone will be investing some S$70 million over the next five years in a specialised research and development centre in Singapore.

The global player said the Danone Research Centre for Specialised Nutrition focuses on child and maternal health and is the first of its kind in Asia Pacific.

It is targeting to have a team of 50 scientists based at the centre in the next five years.

The centre looks at areas such as the impact of nutrition on gut bacteria, immune system and the overall growth and development of babies and children.

Danone said that it hopes to provide state of the art products, and added that one of the reasons for positioning the centre in Singapore was to be close to business.

Eline Van Der Beek, research director at Danone Research, said: “Asia Pacific is very important to us, and Singapore is a very important starting place to meet the whole Asia Pacific region. The second reason is of course the scientific environment here in Singapore being very open and very mature.”

Danone is present in over 120 countries on five continents. In 2010, Danone had more than 160 production plants and around 100,000 employees, generating sales of over S$30 billion, of which 50 per cent were in emerging economies.

Julian Ho, assistant managing director at the Economic Development Board Singapore, said: “Singapore is proud to host Danone’s Asia-Pacific hub for research and innovation – the first in Asia for Danone to focus fully on science for child and maternal health.

“The new centres at Biopolis would be able to benefit from the synergies between Singapore’s world-class biomedical research capabilities and access scientific insights in Asia Pacific.”

- CNA/ms

On February 25th, Sheldon Manufacturing held a Bactron Training Seminar for USA customers who purchased a SHEL LAB Bactron Chamber. The training’s purpose was to help users operate the Bactron Systems and to offer proper anaerobic techniques for daily procedures in the Lab.

The 2 day event included 3 hours of  discussion and a presentation regarding theoretical aspects of obligate anaerobiosis – types of infections involving anaerobic bacteria and the anaerobic organisms most frequently involved in infections – including techniques covering specimen collection, primary isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing.

The Workshop also included an in depth laboratory session presenting unknown organisms for identification using rapid, inexpensive and reliable procedures.

The head instructor for the event was Dr. William Uicker, and the Bactron users at the seminar ranged from Clinical Microbiologists and Bio-Fuels researchers to Educators and Research Biologists.  While the amount of participants was minimal for the first seminar, attendee numbers will only increase as the overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  One research biologist was highly impressed with the educational value of the the session:

“My main goal was to learn how to use and maintain the Bactron IV. The didactic training, however, was a very nice touch.”

Hotel accommodations and meals were provided by Sheldon Manufacturing, adding to the overall value for the attendees. “Overall, everything was great. Both the food and the hotel were awesome.  The seminar classroom was nice and worked great during my visit,” added Mauricio.

With the excellent response and clear benefit for everyone involved, the Bactron Training will be a reoccurring event, 2 to 3 times a year. Check back for future dates and email sales@shellab. with any questions.