Laboratory Equipment and Instruments

The authors describe how a combination of imaging techniques can be used to provide topographic and chemical information to characterize a sample.

Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced the MassHunter BioConfirm application, which allows users to rapidly create targeted screening methods.

Bruker Chemical and Applied Markets offers three LC-triple quadrupole (LC-TQ) mass spectrometers, the EVOQ Qube, the EVOQ Elite, and the EVOQ Elite ER.

Shimadzu's LCMS-8040 combines newly improved ion optics and collision cell technology with proprietary ultrafast technologies.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. launched new software, instruments, consumables, and services for analytical applications at Pittcon 2013.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments introduced several new products at Pittcon 2013.

At Pittcon 2013, Water Corp. announced improvement to chromatography systems and software.

Ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) is enabling faster product development and production batch approvals with increased sensitivity.

New product reviews for March 2013, featuring automation, IT, and process control systems.

New systems that combine Raman spectroscopy with automated imaging support the efficient gathering of such data, including information concerning size and shape distributions for individual components within a formulation.

The author discusses current expectations in bioprocessing and lays a framework for using NMR to enhance a QbD approach.

New product reviews for August 2012.

Extensive physicochemical characterization of the innovator product and the proposed biosimilar provides the foundation for demonstrating biosimilarity.

New product reviews for April 2012.

Combining olfactometry analysis with multidimensional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry provides an extremely useful analytical method for identifying aroma or odor notes from a sample.

The authors describe the benefits of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) compared with traditional monitoring techniques. They also discuss how NMR reaction monitoring provides a new process analytical technology tool for industry.

Powder Systems Ltd's (PSL's) new GFD™ isolator combines the latest innovation to provide a high containment lab scale filtration and drying solution with the same reliability and benefits as PSL high containment production size filter dryers.

The way in which a suspension nasal spray product interacts with the body depends not only on the droplet size of the delivered droplet, but also on the particle size of the suspended API.

Nanotechnology is an important area of drug and biomedical research, and advancing nano-analysis is crucial for its further development.

The author assesses the power and limitations of NIR chemical imaging and its future.

With pressure to cut costs, shorten the pipeline life cycle and maximize return on investment, pharmaceutical manufacturers need tools that help them improve enterprise-wide communications, reach critical decisions faster and produce timely, accurate reports on how compounds are progressing.

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography is advantageous in a contract laboratory because it is faster, more sensitive, and relies on smaller volumes of organic solvents than HPLC.

An LC–MS/MS method for the quantitative determination of vitamin D3 in human plasma has been developed and validated with positive atmospheric chemical ionization sources.

A new book inspires readers to seek ways to apply NMR spectroscopy to their own purposes.

Michigan State University researchers have discovered a technique for viewing whole cells to gain an understanding of protein inclusion bodies.

A book about pharmaceutical analysis engages the reader with history and unexpected asides.

Efficiency is more than just a buzzword in today's pharmaceutical industry; declining productivity and diminishing returns on investment have made it an over-arching mindset that is critical to corporate survival.

The authors developed a method to accurately measure the average molecular weight of large poly(ethylene glycols) (PEGs) using ion-mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with gas-phase ion–molecule reactions.

Combining atomic force microscopy and infrared spectroscopy, scientists at the University of Illinois have demonstrated a method for simultaneous structural and chemical characterization of samples at the femtogram (10-15g) level.

My personal experience of lab automation is limited to supervising a peptide synthesiser back in the late 1980s. The machine was eye-wateringly expensive - but it was soon paying its way in terms of productivity and research publications. So if I were a stake-holder in a company pondering whether to invest in a well-designed gadget that could automate a routine operation, I'd say: 'go for it'.