Category: Upcoming and New Events

HydroInert for Use with Hydrogen Carrier Gas

Recent concerns with the price and availability of helium have led laboratories to look for alternative carrier gases for their GC/MS and GC/MS/MS systems. For GC/MS, hydrogen is the best alternative to helium. Among the problems encountered when converting to hydrogen carrier gas in GC/MS is that hydrogen is not an inert gas and may cause chemical reactions in the mass spectrometer electron ionization (EI) source. This can lead to disturbed ion ratios in the mass spectrum, spectral infidelity, and peak tailing. Therefore, a novel EI source for GC/MS and GC/MS/MS was developed and optimized for use with hydrogen carrier gas.

To evaluate the novel EI source performance, several classes of compounds including SVOCs, VOCs, PAHs, PCBs, phthalates, and pesticides were analyzed with GC/MS and GC/MS/MS using hydrogen as the carrier gas. The results demonstrated:

  • Good spectral fidelity for compounds susceptible to hydrogenation in the source resulting in higher library match scores observed against the NIST spectral library when compared to the conventional EI source. This effect was especially pronounced for nitrobenzene and other nitro-compounds
  • Excellent chromatographic peak shape, especially for late-eluting PAHs with a fast analysis method that is known to amplify any chromatographic peak tailing
  • Good performance for the analysis of over 200 pesticides with both GC/MS and GC/MS/MS
  • Dramatically improved calibration performance for SVOCs
  • Excellent spectral matching and calibration performance for VOCs analyzed with headspace in drinking water
  • Demonstrated excellent sensitivity at the sub-ppb level for many analytes including PAHs and PCBs, exceeding that typically seen with hydrogen carrier gas with both GC/MS and GC/MS/MS
  • Stable system performance for over 5,000 injections of a heavy soil extract.

The novel EI source addresses one of the operational issues impacting the environmental laboratory industry with using hydrogen as the carrier gas.

 

Speaker

Anastasia A. Andrianova
GC/MS Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

 

Anastasia Andrianova is a GC/MS Applications Scientist in the Mass Spectrometry Division of Agilent Technologies, located in Wilmington, Delaware. She received a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) in 2017 and a combined masters’ and bachelor’s degree in analytical chemistry from the Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia) in 2014. Anastasia has been at Agilent Technologies since 2018. She has authored or co-authored over 30 journal articles and application notes, as well as 1 patent in the field of analytical chemistry, focusing on chromatography and mass spectrometry. Anastasia is currently working in GC/MS applications in multiple areas with a focus on food and environmental analysis.

 

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Optimised Analysis of SVOCs with EPA 8270E

This webinar will overview a sensitive method used to analyse semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) on an Agilent 7000E Gas Chromatograph/Triple Quadrupole (GC/TQ) Mass Spectrometer. The utilization of GC/TQ instrumentation for analysis of SVOCs offers significant advantages:

  • Excellent selectivity afforded by Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode results in faster batch review and increased confidence due to the elimination of matrix interferences often present when using GC/MS acquisition modes; and
  • Better sensitivity enables smaller extraction volumes which improves sustainability, reduces waste, and decreases costs associated with sample preparation, solvent usage, and waste disposal.
  • Key analytical techniques which facilitated this work will be discussed.
  • Manufacturer’s recommended tune protocol for mass accuracy and resolution checks in accordance with US EPA Method 8270E will also be discussed.

 

Speaker

Rachael Ciotti
GC/MS Application Specialist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

 

Rachael Ciotti is a GCMS Application Specialist at Agilent Technologies in Wilmington, DE. Previously, she was a Field Service Engineer specializing in installing, maintaining, and repairing Agilent GC and GC/MS systems. Prior to joining Agilent, Rachael worked at DuPont as an analytical chemist responsible for GC and GC/MS method development and transfer to manufacturing labs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Rutgers University.

 

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Knowing How to Make ICP-MS Easier

Knowing the right information at the right time can help you cut through the everyday complexities of your ICP-MS analysis.

Driven by insights from customers from around the world, Agilent has developed a range of Easy-fit supplies, intuitive yet powerful software and complete workflows to bring the confidence of knowing you will get the answers you need to efficiently run your lab.

Watch the presentation and learn how to make your ICP-MS applications easier to run, maintain and control.

 

What you will learn

  • Learn how our range of Easy-fit supplies can simplify your workflow
  • Discover our selection tools that can help you get your ICP-MS configured right for your analysis
  • Take a look at ICP-MS MassHunter software
  • Learn about some of the simple software tools and time-saving tips that can help you get the very best out of your ICP-MS.

 

Speakers

Gareth Pearson
ICP-MS Supplies Product Manager (Agilent, Spectroscopy Technology Innovation Centre, Melbourne, Australia)

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.

 

Gareth Pearson
ICP-MS Supplies Product Manager (Agilent, Spectroscopy Technology Innovation Centre, Melbourne, Australia)

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.

 

Gareth Pearson
ICP-MS Supplies Product Manager (Agilent, Spectroscopy Technology Innovation Centre, Melbourne, Australia)

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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1,4-Dioxane in Consumer Products

1,4-Dioxane is an industrial chemical contaminant that is of concern even at trace levels in consumer products. Government jurisdictions are beginning to regulate the amount of 1,4-dioxane allowed in consumer products globally. It has already been banned and deemed unsafe in cosmetics in Canada, and it is a regulated substance in Europe. The allowable concentrations in the United States are expected to vary from state to state, typically at part per billion to low part per million levels. There have been several methods developed to test for 1,4-dioxane, but none of these methods are adequate to detect 1,4-dioxane in consumer products with complex mixtures and solutions.  A method for the high-sensitivity detection of 1-4-Dioxane was developed on the Agilent 8890B/7000 GC/QQQ triple quadrupole in Electron Ionization (EI) mode.  The extraction was performed using an Agilent PAL3 autosampler with solid phase microextraction (SPME) tool. The GC was configured with a 30 m DB-8270D column and a 1 m deactivated fused silica column using a purged ultimate union. The advantage of using a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer is that a selective precursor to product ion transition is generated, minimizing interferences. Analysis time was less than 15 minutes. Calibration curves using 9 levels from 0.1 ng/g (ppb) to 400.0 ng/g (ppb) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) Electron Ionization with an R2 value of 0.999.  Low detection limits, necessary for these pernicious compounds, were also achieved.

 

 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

Ron Honnold
Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Ron Honnold, Ph.D. is an Applications Scientist in the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group (LSAG) at Agilent Technologies; Santa Clara, CA. Ron is an experienced analytical chemist and mass spectrometrist with more than 30 years of experience using state-of-the-art analytical systems. Currently he is responsible for applications and methods development related to GC-MS products, particularly for single quadrupole (GC/MS), triple quadrupole (GC-MS/MS), and quadrupole time of flight (GC-QTOF). Ron is also a member of the Agilent Cannabis Task Group focusing on pesticides, terpenes, and residual solvents.

 

Simon Jones
GC Applications Engineer/Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Simon Jones has over 23 years of GC experience. For the last 15 years, he has been with Agilent as a GC applications engineer/scientist based out of the GC column manufacturing facility in Folsom California. In his roles he has assisted with application development, troubleshooting chromatographic issues, and assisting with instrument configurations. Prior to joining Agilent in 2005, he worked in an analytical lab for the power industry, developing and optimizing testing methodologies for insulating fluids and materials in transformers.

 

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InfinityLab OnLine HPLC Solution

In modern production of small molecule pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, and, in fact, ALL production batches, the reaction has to be closely monitored and potentially even controlled by, for instance, online reaction monitoring analytics. Therefore, connecting a UHPLC instrument by a sampling device to the reaction vessel can be helpful. The 1260 Infinity II Prime Online LC offers a combined UHPLC and integrated reactor sampling interface for automated reaction sample analysis with the Agilent 1260 Infinity II Online Sample Manager. This device enables the drawing of samples from a reactor and dilution/quenching prior to an injection.

This presentation will include a look at the hardware and software used for the Agilent OnLine LC system.  We will log into a live system to view the setup possibilities and review data acquired on the system.

 

Speaker

Bob Giuffre
Application Engineer
Agilent Technologies, Inc.

 

Bob Giuffre has been working with HP/Agilent for almost thirty years as an Application Scientist for the HPLC product line. During that time Bob has worked on applications ranging from small molecule pharmaceutics to large molecule polymers, to monoclonal antibodies. Currently, Bob is working in the area of ultra-high pressure two-dimensional liquid chromatography as a means to increase peak capacity for complex formulations. Bob has authored a chapter on the use of Diode-Array Detection in Pharmaceuticals. He is currently writing a chapter on Troubleshooting Peptide and Proteins Analysis using LC-MS.

 

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Customer Stories | Raymond Hartley

Why do laboratories across South Africa choose Chemetrix and what do we bring to the table that builds longstanding relationships?

In this episode, meet Raymond Hartley, founder and Managing Director of Microchem, as he shares his business’ journey with Chemetrix and how we’ve supported Microchem’s incredible growth.

Microchem specialises in nutritional analysis, micro biological analysis, freeborn pathogens, elemental analysis, hygiene inspections, pharmaceutical testing, and pesticide analysis.

Chemetrix provides both for Microchem, the first laboratory in Africa to acquire an Agilent Ultivo triple quadrupole LC/MS instrument.

Hear the story straight from Raymond and discover Microchem’s vision for the future and how Chemetrix supports this growth.

We are now ISO 9001 certified

Chemetrix is very proud to announce that we are now ISO 9001 certified, the ultimate global benchmark for quality management.

What is ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 sets out the steps necessary to adopt a quality management system. It is designed to help organisations ensure they meet the needs and expectations of both customers and other interested parties, based on internationally recognised quality management principles set out by the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

At the heart of the standard is a quality policy and set of systems and principles that tie together business objectives, customer needs and your marketing plan. When this approach to quality is embedded across the business every employee understands how their actions create a better customer experience and processes are put in place to continually review and improve that customer experience.

How will it impact our business?

By focusing on customer experience, ISO 9001 will better equip our business to meet our customer’s needs, improving the customer focus throughout the business. We aim to have a lasting impact in the following ways:

  • Streamlined internal processes, improved efficiency, cost containment and savings, whilst improving accountability and traceability
  • A recognised mark of quality opens us up for new business, both at home and abroad
  • Improved staff motivation through greater clarity and focus on business objectives, including time and resources spent
  • Improved customer service and referrals through customer focus

Perhaps the most important element of the standard however, is that it is not a one-off exercise. Through regular reviews we will keep quality at the forefront of our business, with continuous improvement processes driving the way we develop to better meet our customer’s needs.

You can view our certification by clicking the below link.

View our certificate

We look forward to working with you on this journey to provide continuous improvement in quality management and the services we offer you, our loyal customers.

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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