We are thrilled to mark International Women’s Day 2019 by making our fourth annual donation to World Cancer Research Fund, a global not-for-profit organization and leading authority on the links between diet, nutrition, physical activity, and cancer. In fact, our...
Tags
Maximize NPS analysis with accurate mass spectrometry
LC-MS/MS is a powerful analytical tool in forensic toxicology testing that can support a variety of testing regimes such as screening, confirmation and quantitative workflows. More specifically, analysis of NPS using LC-MS/MS provides many advantages, including the ability to reliably detect new drugs and their metabolites from a variety of biological matrices.
Unlock the benefits of nominal mass spectrometry for NPS analysis
The development of analytical methods for the detection and quantitation of drugs and metabolites in a range of biological matrices is a challenging process. Forensic toxicology labs need a reproducible and reliable methodology to ensure the robustness of the data and the quality of the results. They also need robust and sensitive instrumentation that can detect drugs at trace levels with high specificity, especially when it comes to novel psychoactive substances (NPS), which can be difficult to monitor and control.
What has the Echo® MS system done for the pharma industry? (And don’t just take our word for it!)
SCIEX was very proud to have an illustration of the Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry (AEMS) technology that powers the Echo® MS system on the front cover of the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in January 2023. The associated article—Ultrahigh-Throughput Intact Protein Analysis with Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry—was co-authored by scientists from SCIEX and Merck.
Back to the new basics: Part 1 | Making the leap from GC-MS to LC-MS
Producing accurate results quickly in a demanding environment is no easy feat for analytical scientists. What’s more, many of us are constantly questioning ourselves—I certainly am—about whether we are employing the best technique for the analysis at hand.
It’s an overwhelming thought, considering the wide range of tools that are available to choose from, each of which offers varying levels of capacity, sensitivity, selectivity, specificity and cost. How do you meet the unique needs of your organization without breaking the bank? I get it, and I’m not here to convince you it’s easy. My aim is to guide you through the process to help you make the right decision for you.
How does automatic calibration work on the QTOF, TripleTOF and ZenoTOF systems?
When you think about calibration of a mass spectrometer, there are actually two aspects to consider. There is the accuracy of the calibration (that it is correct when calibration is performed) and the stability or precision of the mass calibration (that it remains...
What is SWATH acquisition and what are the critical acquisition attributes?
In data-independent acquisition strategies like SWATH acquisition, an expanded mass isolation window is stepped across a mass range covering the mass-to-charge (m/z) distribution of peptides and a full scan MS/MS spectrum is collected at each step. Post-acquisition,...
Controlling the M5 MicroLC system with SCIEX OS software using contact closure
Contact closure can be used to control external devices that are not directly controlled by SCIEX OS software. A sample batch is first created in the SCIEX OS software for MS acquisition, and then a similar batch is created on an external LC device with the required...
The risky business of aflatoxins in milk
If you’re in the dairy or food testing business, you know the threat aflatoxins pose. Aflatoxins are a type of mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus parasiticus, aspergillus flavus , and rarely aspergillus nomius.1 These are likely the most extensively researched group of mycotoxins because of their adverse health effects.2 What’s more, they are widely found in a variety of crops, namely maize, tree nuts, and spices. Believed to be primarily caused by rising temperatures and humidity, these naturally occurring fungi grow on crops in the field, or during storage of feed and raw materials, where they can potentially produce toxins that enter the food chain.
Intabio acquisition expands SCIEX portfolio of impactful solutions to accelerate biotherapeutic development
Due to the nature of their production, biotherapeutics are difficult to manufacture. Growth conditions, purification protocols and formulation requirements can introduce unintended modifications into the protein structure that may affect its efficacy and safety.
Breaking down the SCIEX Triple Quad™ 7500 LC-MS/MS System – QTRAP® Ready
Sensitivity and robustness carry different meanings in the world of mass spectrometry. Generally, sensitivity refers to an instrument’s ability to achieve lower limits of detection (LOD). Robustness, on the other hand, refers to an instrument’s ability to consistently...
It’s Time to Enhance Your Food Testing
Are you looking for ways to up the ante on your LC-MS/MS when it comes to food testing? Researchers here have developed a method for the analysis of approximately 400 pesticides in food samples, and their work is available for viewing in this year’s compendium.
Top Five Misconceptions about Mass Spectrometry
Do you work in a lab handling precious samples yet, hesitant to make the move to mass spectrometry? Many laboratories just like yours continue to conduct sample analysis using ELISA assays, PCR scans, and amino acid tests because of their effectiveness. These processes work, so why change? Well, these type of analytical experiments can report false positive and negative results. You have trained your staff, know the process, and fingers crossed, not too many user errors have compromised analysis.
Stoller Biomarker Discovery Centre, Addressing Some of the Biggest Issues in Medicine
The Stoller Biomarker Discovery Center, developed in partnership with SCIEX, was created to develop new omics technologies for biomarker research to understand the root cause of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune diseases. We initially announced our collaboration with the University of Manchester back in October 2015.
Rapid Separation Method for Intact Monoclonal Antibodies (Mab) Merges Charge Variant, Impurity, and Glycoform Analyses into a Single Assay
Throughout all stages of development and manufacture, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) exhibit a great deal of structural complexity. After translation and folding, proteins undergo post-translational modifications, as well as spontaneous and enzymatic degradation, such that a single preparation of purified mAb exhibits a range of small structural changes, composed of various glycoforms and charge variants, as well as amino acids alterations due to oxidation, deamidation, isomerization, or other chemical reactions. This display of structural heterogeneity can influence the overall stability, efficacy, and safety profile; therefore, understanding the extent of structural modifications has become extremely important to drug manufacturers who continually assess mAb composition throughout bioprocessing to demonstrate stability, batch-to-batch consistency, and long-term shelf life.
Glycosylation Analysis Designed for the (Protein) Masses
A variety of post-translational modifications (PTMs) can impact a biotherapeutic protein’s mass, but none are as common as glycosylation.[1] Hence, the headline for a recent article in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, “Post-Translational Icing on the Biologics Cake,” featuring comments from Sean McCarthy, Ph.D., Global Market Manager of Biologics at SCIEX.
The History of Isotopic Labels for Quantitative Proteomics
Proteomics has become a vital tool for biological scientists performing research on the healthy and diseased states of living things. It involves the large scale and systematic analysis of all proteins within a given cell, tissue, or organism. Because proteins are regulated by many different internal and external stimuli, the proteome is dynamic and quantities of proteins can change from one state to the next. Therefore, in order to be of the highest utility, proteomics experiments need to both identify and quantify proteins so that comparative studies can be done, such as between healthy cells and tumor cells, or the comparison of different treatment regimens.
Struggling to Analyze Small Volume Samples with Conventional LC-MS?
The M3 MicroLC System is designed for scientists who are struggling to analyze small volume samples with conventional LC-MS and need to lower their limits of quantitation while maintaining throughput and robustness. When designing the M3 MicroLC System, we...
Legal and Illicit Drugs in Wastewater Detected and Confirmed with QTRAP Technology
What happens when you up the sensitivity and lower detection limits on influent and effluent sewage tests? For starters, low levels of illegal drugs in samples begin to emerge. This is what researchers discovered when they combined the power of LC-MS/MS with the...
Using SelexION to Increase Selectivity for the Accurate and Sensitive Quantitation of a Difficult Peptide Therapeutic
SelexION® DMS Technology Drives Advancements in Challenging Large Molecule Bioanalysis By the End of 2024, the peptide therapeutics market value is expected to reach US$46.6 billion1. However, peptide therapeutics present some of the toughest analytical...
Harnessing the Power of MRM3 for Large Molecule Quantitative Bioanalysis
In a previous blog outlining the advantages of high-resolution accurate mass measurements for protein quantitation using the TripleTOF 6600, it was noted that although the triple-stage quadrupole demonstrated high sensitivity when operated in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM), the relatively low-resolution measurement of m/z failed to discriminate Rituximab response from nominally isobaric interferences given the complexity of the proteolytically digested samples (June 28/2016). While the accurate mass filtering capabilities of the TripleTOF 6600 represents one mechanism for achieving increased selectivity over MRM, the triple quadrupole/linear ion trap (LIT) hybrid platform represented by the QTRAP® 4500, 5500, 6500 and 6500+ systems provides an alternative technique by leveraging a third stage of MS, often referred to as MRM3. In this blog, we outline the MRM3 scan function and survey several large molecule applications which utilize the additional stage of fragmentation in the LIT to yield significant improvements in achievable detection limits when compared to MRM.
Taking care of your mass spectrometer—Onsite troubleshooting and maintenance training for today’s lab
Recently, we asked customers to tell us about their biggest challenges so we could customize training programs to meet the needs of today’s growing lab. Without hesitation, most of you said uptime and employee training are your most critical needs. As a result, our...
A Sting in the Tale for Neonicotinoids
Did you know one out of every three mouthfuls of your meal is a product of honeybee pollination—almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits, vegetables? To put numbers behind it, honeybee pollination amounts to about $15 billion of U.S....
The detection of acid herbicides and urons by large volume injection
Pre-treatment versus direct injection – that is the question posed in the application note, “The Detection of Acidic Herbicides and Phenyl Ureas by LC-MS/MS with Large Volume Injection and Automated Column Switching.” It’s just one of the dozens of articles you will find within the Environmental Compendium (pages 1 to 4, pesticides) now available for download.
See What More You Can do With 360 Degree Biologics Characterization
Ever wish you had your own team of mass spectrometry experts at your side when working through biologics development and characterization challenges? With SCIEX 360° Innovations complex biologics characterization is streamlined with a full suite of mass spectrometry (MS), capillary electrophoresis (CE) systems, software, and services from SCIEX experts.
The Promise of Precision Medicine
Here is the latest update on the Worldwide Efforts to Accelerate Precision Medicine
The NIH recently issued a press release in early July announcing $55 million in awards. According to the release, the $55 million award in the fiscal year 2016 will go towards building the foundational partnerships and infrastructure needed to launch the Cohort Program of President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI). The PMI Cohort Program is a landmark longitudinal research effort that aims to engage 1 million or more U.S. participants to improve the ability to prevent and treat disease based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and genetics.
You’ve Seen It… Now Try It! BioPharmaView Software 2.0
At ASMS this year, the newest version of BioPharmaView Software was released. This software simplifies the processing of biotherapeutic data for characterization and comparability which can dramatically improve your productivity. BioPharmaView 2.0 Software accelerates characterization and comparability studies and simplifies reporting, so you can make better decisions, faster.
Quantitation of Antibiotics and Insecticides in Poultry Feed using LC-MS/MS
Quantitating antibiotics and insecticides in poultry is serious business. Overuse can lead to antibiotic resistance while insecticide residuals can cause harmful side effects in humans. In the United States, for example, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), has offered up a plan to limit common antibiotics in feed, which are used to encourage growth. However, this is a voluntary plan, and as the following application note, “Quantitation of Antibiotics and Insecticides in Poultry Feed using LC-MS/MS,” points out, antibiotics have been shown to accumulate in poultry feathers, which are in turn used for nutritional elements in the feed.
Screening Novel Psychoactive Substances with Confidence
How do you know what you can’t see? This is the challenge many a lab faces as they relentlessly test for novel psychoactive substances (NPS) as unknown samples with an ever-changing ingredient list make discovery difficult work at best. There are many reasons for the complexities of which you can discover in this application note, “Accurate Mass Screening Workflows for the Analysis of Novel Psychoactive Substances.” However, the biggest of which is that non-targeted findings can turn up thousands of molecular features in a single sample. Sifting through the peaks is laborious, and many are normal besides.
Why Study Lipids?
I had an opportunity to follow up with Steven M Watkins, Ph.D. to talk about the importance of studying lipids in disease. Steve has been working in the lipids field for over 20 years and is one of the foremost experts in lipid biology. Steve founded Lipomics in 2000, an early metabolomics company focused on quantitative lipidomics and had followed that company through a series of changes that led to its involvement in the clinical diagnostic development and global metabolomics. Steve authored over 70 peer-reviewed publications including several book chapters on lipids and lipid metabolism. His presentations on this topic are fascinating and very informative, so I wanted to capture some of his thinking here!
Improved complex sample processing for higher quality of results, reproducibility and depth of proteomic analysis
SCIEX partners to improve depth of proteome coverage
SCIEX and Pressure BioSciences address a major challenge for researchers performing complex sample preparation by marketing a complete solution to increase the depth, breadth, and reproducibility of protein extraction, digestion, and quantitation in all tissue types, especially challenging samples like tumors.