Q&A with Sean McCarthy Global Market Manager, Biologics, SCIEX MAM is an acronym for Multiple Attribute Method. In short, MAM is a method which may be applied for characterization of a biotherapeutic to understand its sequence, identify liabilities, identify...
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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...
Perfluoroalkyl Acids in Drinking Water – EPA Method 537
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), requires a new list of no more than 30 unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public drinking water systems. Known as the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR), a new list is published every five years. The last rule, UCMR3, was published May 2, 2012, and is the focus of the following application note, “Analysis of Perfluoroalkyl (PFFA) Acids Specified under the UCMR3 Using the QTRAP® 6500 LC-MS/MS system,” which can be found in the Food and Environmental Compendium.
SCIEX helps set food standards in China
One of the biggest concerns of Chinese citizens is food safety1. Even though China ranks second in global economies2, crowding, industrial pollution, labor and certain agriculture practices have contributed to this. In October 2015, however, we began to see a turnaround as the Chinese government revised its 2009 Food Safety Law in an attempt to strengthen its food supply oversight and quality.
Discover the new and accurate SCIEX way to enhance your routine food allergen testing
Food allergy is an immune-mediated, adverse reaction to an antigenic protein. Even limited exposure to an antigen can provoke a significant reaction in sensitive individuals, causing rashes, itching and swelling in the mouth, nausea, vomiting, and asthma. Additionally, food allergies are the leading cause of anaphylaxis, an acute, potentially deadly allergic reaction. The prevalence and severity of food allergies are rising, with approximately 150 million people suffering from food allergies worldwide.1, 2 Presently, there is no cure for food allergies, and sufferers must rely on the correct labeling of foods to avoid consuming allergens. Hence, the development of sensitive and accurate analytical methods to screen for the presence of allergens in food products is necessary for the prevention of potentially life-threatening health problems for allergy sufferers.
Three Infographics to Show You How to Overcome Challenges in Transitioning to Biologics Bioanalysis
The move to large molecules in Pharma is accelerating, offering unprecedented opportunities to improve human health and expand into new markets. But for those with extensive experience with small molecule bioanalysis, the shift to biologics can be challenging, from Sample Prep to Instrumentation and Software, to Methods and Training:
Rapid Characterization of Biologics using CESI-MS
Today, 30 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), have been approved for the treatment of certain cancers, autoimmune and infectious diseases. Even more are in development, and perhaps you and your team of scientists are working on one now. Keeping pace with fast development timelines while performing comprehensive characterization of biologic candidates can be challenging. However, more and more, scientists are tackling these challenges with new techniques to speed and simplify their characterization workflows. Read more in the application note, “Rapid Characterization of Biologics using a CESI 8000 – SCIEX TripleTOF® System,” found in the Biologics Analytical Characterization Compendium, which highlights how CESI separation coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry can provide a comprehensive characterization of biotherapeutics.
The Not So Hidden Truth about Climate Change How It’s Poisoning Your Food
Did you know climate change could be poisoning your food? According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) report on Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern, rising temperatures are making crops more toxic.
Guardians of Antibiotics
This second is a blog series on the global war: Rise of Superbugs! Part 1 took a critical look at the antibiotic threat we face in today’s battlefield. The waning effectiveness of antibiotics as we head into what may seem like a post-antibiotic era has impelled new reformation to at the very least control antibiotic usage to ensure food safety.
Protein Quantitation Workflows using the TripleTOF 6600: A Case Study for Rituximab
Although the triple-stage quadrupole (QQQ) mass spectrometer remains the pillar for quantitative LC-MS/MS bioanalytical assays, due in part to the platforms’ high duty cycle when operated in multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, the applicability of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has become of increasing importance for protein quantitation given the complexity of proteolytically digested samples in the surrogate peptide approach. While the QQQ demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, the relatively low-resolution measurement of m/z may fail to differentiate analyte response from nominally isobaric background interference. In contrast, HRMS with accurate mass assignment of product ion allows interference to be resolved through judicious selection of a post-acquisition mass extraction window whose tolerance is largely dictated by the effective resolution and stability of mass calibration.
Rise of the Super Bugs
The term “antibiotic-free” is becoming more and more popular in food advertising these days. Take Subway for example; in March the company elevated their antibiotic-free policy and introduced a new antibiotic-free rotisserie-style chicken sub, and they plan to, “Nix antibiotics in all its meat by 2025.”
Glyphosate, a Polar Pest Put to Test
No other pesticide has courted more media attention and controversy in recent months than glyphosate, with governments and national agencies debating its use and health effects.
Using Mass Spec to Detect Trace Explosives
The importance of protecting a country’s border is a very topical issue. The war on drugs and terror is a 24/7 task 366 days a year (2016 is a leap year). The government agencies in charge must be vigilant and maintain instrumentation to prevent terrorism, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities. Mass Spectrometry is rapidly becoming the instrument of choice for border agencies throughout the world when it comes to explosive trace detection and forensic drug compounds.
Routine Food Testing Using Mass Spectrometry
These days, it is not uncommon to hear about the overzealous application of pesticides to crops or the injection of antibiotics into animals. From grocery stores to restaurants, our food is at risk. How then, can consumers be assured that chemical contaminants like these , not to mention the risk of mycotoxin compounds are not making their way to your dinner table?
Industrialize Your Quantitative Proteomics Using a More Simplified Sample Prep
in part 1 and part 2 of this blog series we discussed how you can increase your efficiency for high throughput quantitative proteomics by industrializing your sample analysis and data processing. Microflow SWATH® Acquisition on your TripleTOF® system coupled with OneOmics™ data analysis tools allow you to run samples faster, collect data faster, and process your data files faster. It all adds up to getting more meaningful biological information in a shorter amount of time.
Quantify and Identify Pesticides in Complex Food Samples Using the QTRAP 6500 LC-MS/MS System
Recent regulations on food analysis require screening for pesticides using confirmatory techniques, such as GC-MS and LC-MS/MS. More than 1000 pesticides are used worldwide and, along with their metabolites and degradation products, are present in food. There is a demand for powerful and rapid analytical methods that can identify pesticides with high confidence in a broad range of food matrices and quantify at low concentrations with good accuracy and reproducibility. Challenges for pesticide residue laboratories at the moment are the request to test for more compounds, in a wider range of samples, all without sacrificing data quality.
Industrialize Your Quantitative Proteomics with the OneOmics Project
For many labs, the days are long gone when it was acceptable to run only a few samples a week for your quantitative proteomics projects. The pressure for faster turn-around times, to support larger cohort studies, to sustain multiple research directions, and to transition from a purely unbiased discovery mode to verifying something truly unique and interesting, all demand a faster pace. Many labs are now being asked to analyze a hundred samples a week or more. In part 1 of this blog series, we saw how moving to a microflow SWATH workflow can dramatically increase your throughput with little compromise on overall results. In this part, we’ll address what to do with all of this data because it’s just no good if all we’ve done is move the bottleneck downstream.
Fast, Efficient, Disulfide Bond Mapping Using BioPharmaView™ Software
Fast LC-MS acquisition and automated data processing will help you speed up peptide mapping of your biotherapeutic, including critical disulfide bond and post-translational modification characterization. SCIEX helps you untangle the complexity of disulfide bonds, speeding up your characterization process.
Bottom-Up Proteomics: A Discussion with Christie Hunter
Biocompare recently featured an article on Bottom-Up Proteomics. I had a chance to follow up with Christie Hunter and expand on some of the questions featured in the article:
Characterize and Monitor Host Cell Proteins (HCPs) Using SWATH Acquisition Technology
During drug development, the removal of impurities and purification of a final drug product is absolutely essential in order to ensure the safety and efficacy of a therapeutic drug. Of particular concern for biologics are impurities that can stem from host cell proteins. Because biologics are developed through cell culture and fermentation within a host cell, proteins from this host cell can be co-purified with the final biologic. These host cell proteins or HCPs can cause the final product to have undesired side-effects such as eliciting an immune response in patients taking the drug, or affecting the drug’s stability or efficacy. As a result, regulating agencies require drug companies to monitor levels of HCPs during the development and purification of a biologic and to remove HCPs to an acceptable level in the final biotherapeutic product.
Simplifying Biologics Bioanalysis Sample Prep
These days, everyone seems to be furiously scratching tickets to become instant winners, but I’ll bet you didn’t expect to find sample prep tips that way. For large molecule bioanalysis, preparing your samples can be one of the biggest challenges. It’s a whole different world from traditional small molecule bioanalysis. SCIEX has developed techniques and automation that make biologics sample prep simpler and faster, with reproducible results.
Taking on Precision Medicine with Industrialized Proteomics
What if we could deliver the right treatment at the right time, to the right person to better, more effectively treat complex disease? This is the promise of precision medicine, to be able to approach complex disease treatment and prevention by taking into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.