Laboratory Products 19 Calprotectin Testing Goes Fully Automated
Let’s be honest, Faecal calprotectin testing has historically never been anyones favourite test. Sample preparation is challenging, smelly and time consuming; and the assays have previously taken a long time to run. The CALEX®
Cap from Bühlmann already eased the sample preparation challenges, providing rapid, clean and consistent preparation, offering a simplified workflow
solution for faecal calprotectin extraction without the need to decant or further dilute samples. Now modifications to the blue and white caps at either end of the CALEX device, enable them to be used on laboratory track systems for a truly automated hands off approach to faecal calprotectin testing.
The white cap has been rounded so that once the stool has been sampled the CALEX can fit easily into the racks and pucks of laboratory track systems for front loading or full random access mode. The CALEX is then automatically identified from the barcode and centrifuged. The modification to the blue cap enable automated de- capping after which the CALEX is transported on the track to the appropriate analyser for the calprotectin analysis using the Bühlmann fCAL turbo before being moved to the automatic sealer and storage area. Results are then automatically reported on the laboratory LIM system.
Combined with the speed of result and wide assay range (20 - 8000µg/g) of the Bühlmann fCAL turbo, the new Track CALEX truly revolutionises the approach to Calprotectin testing. You can watch the Track CALEX video online at
www.alphalabs.co.uk/track-calex or for further information contact Alpha Laboratories.
46181pr@reply-direct.com Porvair Ultravap Mistral IntLabmate_Layout 1 09/04/2018 14:53 Page 1
System Helps Scientists Study the Effects of Changes in Humidity in the Development of new APIs
Dr James McCabe is an Associate Principal Scientist in the Early Product Development Group (EPD) of Astra Zeneca based in Macclesfield in the UK. His research aim is to find the optimal solid form of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for drug development and understand the risks and opportunities associated with that solid form. To this end, Dr McCabe is always looking for optimum instrumentation to provide the maximum amount of data.
Talking about his experience in using humidity controllers and how he settled on the use of the RH95 system from Linkam, Dr McCabe said: “I have used many humidity systems including dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) from various vendors as well as using them when making environmental X-ray powder diffraction measurements. The advantage of the Linkam RH95 humidity system used in conjunction with one of their temperature stages (THMS600) is that visual changes in crystal/particle morphology (size, shape etc.) can be observed in real time. The stage provides the added ability of then dehydrating samples via elevated temperature as part of the same experiment. This capability is also available on DVS systems, but the images are then macro as opposed to micro. An additional advantage is that in principle a single crystal of material could be assessed using the Linkam humidity system, a sample amount too small for other techniques.”
Dr McCabe’s work with optical temperature stages has included the use of a new technique called TASC – Thermal Analysis by Structural Characterisation. TASC provides spatially resolved information on thermal transitions to images/movies acquired by temperature stage microscopy. It highlights any structural changes in the sample providing excellent complementary information with traditional forms of differential and modulated differential scanning calorimetry, DSC & MDSC, both being macro techniques.
Dr McCabe is optimistic for future exploitation of TASC in the pharmaceutical industry. “TASC appears to be a powerful thermo- optical technique for measuring optical changes within a sample. Glass transition and melting temperatures can quickly be measured, and complex mixed-phase systems can be assessed. I will carry out further work to apply this technique to other areas such as crystal growth (induction times), dissolution and physical stability of amorphous materials when exposed to the combination of both temperature and humidity change.”
45896pr@reply-direct.com
New Sample Preparation and Concentration Platform Significantly Advances GC–MS Workflow Automation Markes International has launched Centri®
Ultravap Mistral – saving you time every day
, a fully automated multi-mode sampling and concentration
platform for GC–MS. Centri uses marketing-leading robotics to reliably automate sampling and pre- concentration of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) through the following sample introduction modes – HiSorb™ high-capacity sorptive extraction, headspace, headspace-trap, SPME, SPME-trap, and thermal desorption.
Analyte flows from all modes can then be concentrated on a sorbent-packed cryogen-free focusing trap, using the same highly successful technology found in Markes’ range of thermal desorption (TD) instruments.
It’s this trapping and valve technology, said Markes’ Technical Marketing Director, Dr Massimo Santoro, that underpins several key advantages of the new system: “As well as enabling ppt-level sensitivity and allowing selective purging of interferents such as water and solvents, the trap and valve design used in Centri allows samples to be split and re-collected onto a clean sorbent.
A principal feature of the new platform is that it automates the entire process of sampling, pre-concentration and GC injection for solids, liquids and vapours. As Santoro says, this allows major productivity improvements to be made: “The use of robotics for all operations makes Centri ideal for many laboratories, especially those who are currently struggling with time-consuming manual sample preparation techniques, such as liquid–liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction. With Centri, you can set up a complex sequence of runs for a variety of samples and injection modes, and then literally walk away to get on with other tasks.”
Amongst Centri’s many features is the ability to automate high-capacity sorptive extraction from liquids and solids using Markes’ HiSorb™ probes. By using a relatively large volume of PDMS sorbent fixed on a robust and inert metal probe, HiSorb simultaneously allows high sensitivity and robustness to matrix interferences.
Centri can also automate sampling using a number of well-established and widely-used techniques, enabling the analyst to select the best method for their sample. Headspace (HS) and solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) are popular in many laboratories, and Centri offers the benefits of trap-based focusing and sample re-collection to extend the sensitivity and applicability of these injection methods.
In addition, Centri can desorb industry-standard thermal desorption tubes in compliance with standard methods. These tubes can either be packed with sorbents and used in conjunction with pumped, diffusive or dynamic-headspace sampling, or used to contain small samples of materials and foods, which are then desorbed directly.
46381pr@reply-direct.com
Introducing a fully robot- compatible dry down station with a plate shutle that sends and retrieves plates direct from your robot deck.
Intuitive graphical colour touch screen display
Up to 15 stored evaporation programmes Up to five programmable steps per method On board gas management
Built in fume management and duct connector with fan
Choice of 24-, 48-, 96- and 384-well heads Small footprint to fit in your hood
www.porvair-sciences.com/ resources/ultravap-mistral-brochure
9272ad@reply-direct.com
WWW.LABMATE-ONLINE.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
