Author: Francois

Novel Front-end Strategies to Increase Sample Throughput in LC/MS

Imagine if you could perform ‘LC/MS’ analysis in a comparable time to Usain Bolt’s 100-metre world record!  Over the last 15 years through iterative technological product enhancements and by the replacement of a traditional UHPLC with a simple sample cleanup step, the RapidFire system has accelerated MS analyses in many fields ranging from HTS, ADME, biopharma, synthetic biology, food, and the life sciences.

However, sometimes when there is an unavoidable requirement for good chromatographic separation, then an alternative, low-cost strategy exploiting Ultra-Fast LC can be adopted to reduce analysis times from minutes to seconds. This webinar presents the new RapidFire400 system for HTS and will contrast its analytical merits to the complimentary Ultra-Fast LC approach.

 

What you will learn

•    How the RapidFire400 meets the needs of  today’s high throughput requirements
•    Learn how a standard Agilent LC can be configured to the Ultra-Fast LC mode
•    Understand the advantages and limitations of both high sample throughput strategies

 

Speaker

Andreas Mielcarek
Pre-Sales Applications Scientist
Agilent

 

Andreas Mielcarek is a pre-sales Applications Scientist with Agilent Technologies. He has been with Agilent for 5 years developing LC, RapidFire, and mass spec methods on a wide range of molecules. Prior to joining Agilent, he worked as a LC-MS Core-facility scientist at the University Marburg, were he obtained his PhD in bioanalytical chemistry.

 

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Ultra-High Sensitivity for Targeted Mass Spectrometry Applications

The Evosep One is a powerful and standardized platform for LCMS workflows that require a sensitivity boost achieved at low flow rates between 100nl/min to 4ul/min. The robustness and throughput of the standardized methods on the Evosep One combined with the sensitivity of the Agilent 6495C triple quadrupole support targeted analysis of proteomes with ultra-high sensitivity down to the single cell level.

We demonstrated this by targeting selected peptides in a complex background of sub-nanogram material and generated dilution curves spanning several orders of magnitude. To ensure seamless integration of the Evosep One with the Agilent 6495C triple quadrupole, we have developed a native driver for MassHunter and a robust solution for the Agilent nanoflow ion source.

 

 What you will learn

•    The application of the Evosep One chromatography system to high-throughput analysis of large cohorts.
•    How there is a growing demand for high throughput and standardized workflows to allow  the  analysis of increasingly large cohorts of samples for proteomic research
•    How high sensitivity is achieved for the accurate measurement of low abundant biomarkers
•    How the Evotip was designed to improve efficiency and recovery associated with sample purification and loading ahead of MS analysis.

 

Speaker

Angela McArdle
Evosep Senior Scientist
Evosep Biosystems

 

Angie is a proteomics scientist on the application team at Evosep BioSciences. Her work focuses on bringing standardization, throughput, and depth into translation proteomic research studies. During her PhD at University College Dublin studying proteomics in inflammatory arthritis and postdoc at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles, Angie conducted large scale biomarker studies, where she gained considerable experience with the Evosep One and the Agilent triple quadrupole mass spectrometers.

 

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Adding an Extra Dimension of Separation

With the increasing demand for high throughput LC/MS analyses, there is a temptation to reduce chromatographic run times, but in some instances, this can give rise to significant interferences, thus compromising the result. Or perhaps, despite improvements in column resolution you still observe a reduction in sensitivity and selectivity due to ion suppression or elevated background noise caused by matrix effects? Could it be that you need to carry out discovery work and need to confidently identify ‘unknown’ compounds using a high-resolution MS strategy?

Maybe all your analyses could benefit from further separation of sample components?

We will discuss the 6560C Ion Mobility LC/Q-TOF system and explain how it exploits ion mobility as an extra dimension of separation to increase feature coverage whilst reducing background noise to avoid losses in sensitivity. An exemplary workflow detailing a bona fide 4-dimensional LC/MS method to characterize compounds including proteins without increasing analytical run times will be described.

 

 What you will learn

•    The principles and benefits of ion mobility (IM) and how it can help multiple applications
•    How adding an orthogonal gas phase separation (IM) allows faster chromatography to be used to separate isobars and matrix components
•    How accurate Collisional Cross Sections (CCS) values from drift time measurements delivers higher confidence for untargeted workflows
•    How to separate and characterize different protein conformers present in a single solution

 

Speaker

Hannah Florance
Application Scientist
Agilent

 

In 2006, Hannah gained her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in non-covalent protein interactions in solution and the gas phase under the tutelage of Prof. Perdita Barran.

Hannah is currently an LC/MS applications specialist for Agilent, based in Cheadle, UK and has had multiple roles in the life sciences research, starting as a protein chemist, before moving into the proteomics and metabolomics fields.

 

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AFSW2022: The Food Safety Event of the Year!

Africa Food Safety Workshop 2022 is happening at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg from 27 June until 1 July. The event brings together food safety stakeholders from across the continent to enhance networking and to facilitate the sharing of analytical knowledge and transfer of developed technologies that pertain to all areas of food safety control systems. 

 

The programme

The AFSW2022 programme boasts diverse discussion panels along with influential scientists and key role players delivering presentations that aim to boost systems and enhance trade across the sector. Q&A sessions give attendees the opportunity to engage with the speakers and get additional insights on the exciting range of topics. The event will also have a dedicated exhibition for various Food Safety instrumentation and equipment suppliers, like Chemetrix. 

You can view the full programme here

 

Why should you attend?

With the globalisation of the food chain, there is a greater demand for consistent quality, uncompromising safety and a commitment to protecting consumers while also adopting sustainable solutions. Chemetrix leads the industry with products and services to help you deliver what your customers demand. Our instruments, systems, and supplies are used throughout the food production chain, including incoming inspection, new product development, quality control and assurance, and packaging. We are excited to showcase our products at AFSW2022 along with our expertise, and we look forward to networking with the industry professionals in attendance. 

This event is important to members of various communities connected to food safety, including: 

  • Food testing laboratories (analysts and managers)
  • Quality infrastructure institutions including Accreditation, Standards, Scientific and Legal Metrology institutes
  • Regulators
  • Research/academia
  • Industry (food manufacturers/distributors)
  • International and non-governmental organizations
  • Professional associations

 

The event will be led by Keynote Speaker Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa (African Union Commission – Director of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE), AU, Ethiopia).

 

For more event information, visit afsw2022.co.za to purchase your tickets and you can see the discussion and speaker programme here. 

 

CE/MS: From Small Ions to Biomolecules – Think CE!

Capillary Electrophoresis is extremely well suited to the separation of charged molecules whether they are small pesticide metabolites (<110 Da)  or large biomolecules such as whole proteins and antibody-based drugs (>150KDa). The technique is characterized by high-efficiency separations, allowing high peak capacity, and speed, only requiring very small sample volumes (ca. 10ul).

When coupled with Mass Spectrometry, CE/MS provides maximum separation power and sensitivity for compound identification, particularly when coupled to High-Resolution QTOF MS instrumentation. This webinar will provide a direct comparison of CE with LC separations and will highlight areas of complementarity and orthogonality. With examples of analyses ranging from small pesticide metabolites to antibody-drug investigations and specialized isoelectric focusing applications (cIEF), this webinar will demonstrate the true power of CE/MS in a modern laboratory.

 

 What you will learn

•    When to use CE separations over UHPLC
•    How to couple CE to MS
•    Why CEMS is Complementary to LCMS.
•    How cIEF can be used with mass spectrometry

 

Speaker

Gordon Ross
Application Scientist
Agilent

 

Gordon has worked in the field of separation sciences using CE and LC since the 1980’s and with mass spectrometry for 25 years. He has been with Agilent for 28 years and is currently a Senior Applications Scientist. He has worked in many analytical areas from metabolomics to environmental analysis and has interests in Target, Suspect and Non-Target Screening using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

 

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Improved Metabolomics Analysis Using an Iron-Free Flow Path

Metabolomics is a tool to decipher and understand the physiological state of a cell or organism. In recent times, LC/MS emerged as the prevalent analytical technique of choice, still with significant potential for improved robustness and ease of use.

In this webinar, we will demonstrate the advantages gained by using a biocompatible flow path over stainless steel by direct comparison of the Agilent 1290 Infinity II Bio LC and Agilent 1290 Infinity II LC. The 1290 Bio LC showed improved peak shape and resolution for phosphorylated compounds like nucleotides and sugar phosphates without apparent adsorption effects, compared to the Agilent 1290 Infinity II LC. Analyzing intracellular metabolite extracts derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, excellent retention time RSD values of 0.1% were generated, and essential metabolites for physiological parameters like the adenylate energy charge could be analyzed consistently. These results show that the 1290 Bio LC is the ideal choice for the seamless and robust analysis in metabolomics.

 

 What you will learn

•    How HILIC/MS separation is used for the detection of metabolites.
•    How an iron-free flow path delivers superior performance for phosphorylated metabolites.
•    Improved tailing factors of nucleotides
•    Robust performance in analyzing metabolites in a complex yeast extract

 

Speaker

Andre Feith
Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies

 

André Feith is an HPLC application scientist at Agilent Technologies, focusing on biopharma and biotechnological topics. He was involved in testing and validation of the Agilent 1290 Infinity II Bio LC regarding bio-specific applications and more recently he has focused on analyzing new modalities like oligonucleotides and online analysis of critical quality attributes with process analytical technology (PAT). During his Ph.D., he researched at the Institute of Biochemical Engineering, University of Stuttgart, in the field of Bioanalysis, Metabolomics, and Metabolic Engineering.

 

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SFC – Only the Solvent is Critical

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) was first developed in the 1960s, using supercritical carbon dioxide and this technology has been commercially available from Agilent for over a decade. Often known for its application to the analysis of chiral compounds, SFC is the ‘greener’ alternative over normal phase separations, further increasing the demand and acceptance of this technology.

This webinar will explain the basic scientific principles of SFC as a highly powerful liquid separation technique for the efficient separation a wide range of analytes. Examples will be given to illustrate, how an SFC system can be coupled to a mass detector to form an integrated LC/MS system to deliver high throughput applications.

 

 What you will learn

•    Similarities and differences between SFC and conventional HPLC
•    Why SFC is the green technique in separation sciences.
•    The advantages of SFC with application examples
•    Theoretical background to SFC
•    How to set up an SFC system with MS detection

 

Speaker

Dr. Jens Trafkowski
Product Specialist HPLC
Agilent Technologies

 

Jens Trafkowski studied food chemistry and received his PhD at the Institute of Legal Medicine from the University of Bonn for his work on applications of HPLC-MS/MS in forensic and clinical toxicology.

Prior to joining Agilent in 2011, Jens spent more than 6 years as LC-MS as an application specialist in the industry before leaving to undertake a global HPLC product management responsibility at Agilent Technologies. Later, in 2017 Jens moved into his current role as an HPLC product specialist where he is based in Basel Switzerland.

 

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Boost your Performance with 2D-LC Separation

This scientific presentation is for analytical chemists, chromatographers, and mass spectrometrists that want to learn, how an additional chromatographic dimension can deliver deeper insights into their samples, particularly when integrated with a mass selective detection system.

Several concepts of the different types of 2D-LC will be explained to enable a comprehensive understanding of this well-established technology.

The benefits of comprehensive Multiple Heart-Cutting, High-Resolution Sampling 2D-LC and the unique technique of Active Solvent Modulation will be explained in detail. Real-life examples will be shown to illustrate the advantages that incorporating an additional separation dimension brings to LC and LC/MS analysis.

 

What you will learn

•    First principles of 2D-LC technology
•    How to configure a mass detector with 2D-LC
•    How 2D-LC technologies enhance the quality of MS detection
•    Where 2D-LC makes a positive difference with several application examples

 

Speaker

Dr. Jens Trafkowski
Product Specialist HPLC
Agilent Technologies

 

Jens Trafkowski studied food chemistry and received his PhD at the Institute of Legal Medicine from the University of Bonn for his work on applications of HPLC-MS/MS in forensic and clinical toxicology.

Prior to joining Agilent in 2011, Jens spent more than 6 years as LC-MS as an application specialist in the industry before leaving to undertake a global HPLC product management responsibility at Agilent Technologies. Later, in 2017 Jens moved into his current role as an HPLC product specialist where he is based in Basel Switzerland.

 

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Customer Stories | Jimmy Woodley

How many GCs can one lab need? In all the years Chemetrix has been supplying top-quality instruments to labs across the country, there’s one customer who surprised us with an ambitious request.

Jimmy Woodley is the now retired lab manager of the chromatography division of Sasol in Secunda. He guided the division through a period of incredible growth and, when he decided to take his team to the next level, he trusted Chemetrix to help equip his lab with Agilent GCs to set them far apart from any other operation in South Africa.

By the time Jimmy retired, his division was working with 160 dual channel GCs and, at a stage, he had over 40 Agilent GCs in a single order. This was a customer relationship that spanned years and Chemetrix had the honour of working with Jimmy and his team to drive the growth of their analysis as well as enhance their capabilities as a laboratory.

Watch Jimmy tell the story in his own words and reflect on a fond relationship with the team at Chemetrix.

Chemetrix Backs Yes 4 Youth

SA Youth is supported by the Presidency, YES, National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention.

The initiative is explained best by the pledge that we are signatories to.

“Through my company’s participation in the YES initiative, I hereby register my organisation with the Youth Employment Service (RF) NPC (registration number 2017/267641/08). I agree with the CEO pledge, acknowledging the critical role that youth play in shaping our economy and our country. I acknowledge that my participation in the programme is giving youth their first chance at a work opportunity and I undertake, as far as possible, to ensure youth are nurtured and encouraged in their placement.

Together with my organisation I am committed to being a co-creator in a future that works for all South Africans, with an understanding that we are subscribing to the values and philosophy of YES. This is based on humanitarian development and socio-economic principles, in the building of a pathway to guide and empower young unemployed South Africans into economic participation. Given the scale and implications of South Africa’s youth unemployment situation, the country and YES must succeed together.”

Chemetrix believes that, through our participation in this program, we are doing our bit however small it may be, to be better corporate citizens. Through this program Chemetrix has an opportunity to not only provide job opportunities, but also provide much needed skills to equip our youth for the future.

 

We are very proud to announce that we have appointed no less than 11 youth for the 2022 calendar year:

Collen Tshakhosi
Warehouse Clerk Trainee

Thulani Hlatshwayo
Warehouse Clerk Trainee

Rachel Londanie
General Cleaner

Boipelo Motsamai
Transactional Sales Intern

Ongezwa Mangindana
Transactional Sales Intern

Nompumelelo Tamara Ndelu
Transactional Sales Intern

Tankiso Lawrence Ngake
Customer Technical Support Trainee

Thembelihle Nkosi
Sales Office Assistant

Andiswa Msomi
Transactional Sales Intern

Samukelisiwe Shabalala
Trainee Administrative Clerk

Ipeleng Rakgotla
Computer Support Assistant