Drug Discovery, Pharmaceuticals & Cannabis Testing


Size Reduction of Cannabis Flower and Hemp with Stainless Steel Cutting Mill


Retsch’s Heavy-Duty Cutting Mill SM 300 is now available in a corrosion-resistant 316L stainless steel version. All parts in contact with the sample material (hopper, housing, rotor) are made of 316L stainless steel, making this mill ideally suited for applications in the pharmaceutical or food industry.


A 30-litre receptacle of the same material is available for grinding large sample batches. With features like variable speed from 100 to 3000 rpm and a wide range of accessories, this new SM 300 model is perfectly suited for cutting large volumes of cannabis plant material, like up to 40 kg/h flower buds without warming effects and loss of ingredients. It achieves grind sizes in a range between 1 and 20 mm, depending on the material. The obtained pulverised sample is suitable for extraction via ethanol or supercritical CO2.


A fold-back hopper and smooth surfaces ensure quick and easy cleaning. Retsch offers a whole range of mills and grinders for sample preparation of Cannabis and related products.


More information online: ilmt.co/PL/p1LL 59410pr@reply-direct.com


New Cryo-TEM to Help Accelerate Drug Discovery Research


The Thermo Scientific Glacios 2 Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope (Cryo-TEM) is a powerful microscope with new automation and high-resolution imaging capabilities designed to help cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) researchers of varying experience levels accelerate structure-based drug discovery. This advanced, fast and cost-efficient method for drug design may enable customers to accelerate the pace of research for debilitating disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases, as well as research for cancer and gene mutations.


The Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM includes automation features designed to extend accessibility to a range of cryo-EM techniques, including single particle analysis, cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED). Additional highlights include fringe-free imaging for the acquisition of more usable images per foil hole, increased throughput compared to other commercially available optical alignment solutions and a new enclosure and hardware improvements built to offer enhanced performance compared to prior models.


This next generation solution can generate <2 angstrom 3D reconstructions and produce images faster than its predecessor.


These capabilities can help users of all experience levels increase productivity at a time when rapid innovation and emerging cryo-EM applications are placing increasing demands on expert microscopists.


“Using the Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM, we developed a workflow that enables us to determine structures of small, asymmetric complexes at high resolution and with high throughput,” said Basil Greber, principal investigator for The Greber Laboratory at the Institute of Cancer Research and beta user of the new Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM. “Uncovering such structures provides us with detailed insight into inhibitor binding and suggests a mechanism for target selectivity in cancer therapeutics that we are currently testing.”


The new system also includes Thermo Scientific Smart EPU Software, which contains components needed for automated data acquisition, including microscope alignment and readiness assistance, plus an open API to allow for the development of solutions tailored to a user’s needs.


For pharma and biotech companies, the Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM offers high-throughput screening and imaging to enable the routine structure generation of druggable targets, including key targets of <120 kDA in size. For labs with growing demand for cryo-EM, the Glacios 2 solution helps increase accessibility to near atomic resolution structures, while improving ease-of-use and reproducibility across a variety of workflows.


More information online: ilmt.co/PL/Y0wp 58936pr@reply-direct.com Streamlining Contaminant Testing of Medical Marijuana


Talon Analytical, a cannabis testing laboratory in Long Island, New York, is using Integra Biosciences’ ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot with 8 channel VIAFLO electronic pipettes to aid contaminant testing of hemp, CBD, and medical cannabis products. The instruments are integral to the company’s workflow, streamlining its testing process and ensuring robust and reliable processing.


The potency of medical marijuana products can vary significantly between manufacturers, and the cannabis plant itself is a hyperaccumulator, absorbing and retaining toxins such as heavy metals and pesticides from the soil in which it grows. Talon Analytical was founded in 2019 to perform routine testing of cannabis-based medical products for the numerous companies involved in medicinal marijuana production across the state. It uses the ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot in combination with 1250 μl and 300 μl 8 channel VIAFLO electronic pipettes to provide precise dilution of extracted samples for HPLC analysis.


The company chose the ASSIST PLUS to streamline its workflow and ensure robust and reliable sample dilutions. Brynn Vitrano-Stocker, Quality Manager at Talon Analytical, explained: “Previously, we carried out all our dilutions by hand, which was prone to manual error and extremely time consuming. Now we have the ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot, our entire pipetting takes only eight minutes, which means we can process more samples every day and keep up with the increasing demand for testing.”


Chelsea Bissondayal, Head Analyst, added: “The ASSIST PLUS and VIAFLO electronic pipettes consistently lead to the highly precise and accurate results that manufacturers and the government require. This means that we don’t have to waste time or materials repeating tests. The instruments also significantly speed up our workflow and improve the lab’s overall throughput.”


More information online: ilmt.co/PL/LaE3 and ilmt.co/PL/O9lj 59392pr@reply-direct.com


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