50
May / June 2013
Automated Approaches in Modern Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry
Chromatographic Society One-Day Symposium 10 Apr 2013 - MSD, Hoddesdon, Herts
The day was started by Chromatographic Society president Alan Handley, welcoming the audience and thanking MSD for hosting, also the organisers and sponsors. With the theme of automated approaches to improve LC(MS) and GC(MS) throughput, a selection of techniques were presented, currently being used by the separation science industry to tackle day-to-day analyses. Sponsors included ThermoScientific, who followed the talks with workshops on their latest Chromeleon 7.2 and Tracefinder 3.0 software. Being a doctoral student with a mere stipend to support myself, I was pleased at the array of promotional freebies available. These included delightful rubber ducks, inspirational molecular modelling kits for those uncomfortable with more modern software-based ‘in silico’ tools, and whimsical light-up bouncing balls.
Talk 1: The Real Life Application of Automated Instrument Data Management – A Forensic Case Study
The first talk was from Sarah Perry, Principal Consultant at LIMS logical consultancy. With a background as a forensic scientist, she specialised in lab IT (Laboratory information management systems: LIMS). She outlined projects completed through her employer, primarily public- serving contract analysis including road traffic accident alcohol analysis by GC-MS, DNA profiling unit, the drugs analysis unit and anti-doping tests for a ‘significant sporting event’ in England last year in 2012.
Each of these projects required LIMS expertise to analyse a huge throughput of samples: the RTA alcohol analysis unit process 20- 30,000 biological samples per year from the police as blood and urine, sample prep followed by alcohol analysis by GC-MS. The DNA profiling unit process around 30,000 samples per month for DNA profiling. During the ‘sporting event’ of 2012, the anti-doping laboratory were required to archive over 1.4 million data files, with ca. 180,000 records extracted for review.
Automation of lab procedures led to astounding gains in productivity. Replacing handwritten paperwork with electronic barcode scanning and automated calculation, the RTA alcohol analysis unit reduced their
Meeting venue - MSD, Hoddesdon, Herts.
turnaround time from 21 days to a mere 5. The DNA profiling unit pre-LIMS were dependent on somewhat cottage-industry like tools such as T-cards and handwritten paperwork. Through implementing LIMS, they reduced turnaround time from 5-14 days for the mostly- manual process to 9 hours for their near-fully automated approach.
Joe Russell,University of the West of England
The drugs analysis unit was much-simplified post-LIMS. Before implementation, data processing was laborious and error-prone, relying on manual use of 10 spread sheets. Sarah focussed on the analysis of heroin and cocaine in particular, since these were the first to be fully automated. This was just one benefit: LC-MS results could now be calculated automatically, near-eliminating the need for spreadsheets. Since reports are now generated automatically, they are less reliant on handwriting being legible.
The case studies presented highlighted the legal requirement for drug species ‘in vivo’ to be within defined limits for either the general UK population or for dedicated athletes.
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