Cannabis refers to a genus of flowering plants originating from Asia.1 It's also an umbrella term that includes both marijuana plants and hemp plants, among others. With the flurry of legalization across the United States, CBD and THC derived products have been thrown...
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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...
A Smart Way to Profit from the Wealth of Biobanks
Microflow LC with SWATH® Acquisition for Digitizing Biobanks What if you could access thousands of high-quality samples for your research? What if these samples were well-annotated biological specimens? And what if they were carefully segmented into just the...
Why Conventional Flow LC-MS/MS Bioanalysis Is out and Microflow Is In
New technologies can transform a laboratory’s throughput and efficiency. At Alturas, if we try out a new technology, we ask: Does it work? Is it convenient? Is it rugged? Are we getting good results? When we look at the convenience, uptime, and overall data that we’re...
Food Testing Labs: What Technology Is Right for You?
Consumer safety is the driving force behind food analysis. From field (or ocean) to fork, there are numerous opportunities for food to become potentially hazardous to human health. As fast as new contaminants enter the food chain, changes in regulation and legislation...
Fueling Up: Eating To Stay Strong When You Have Cancer
This is the third and final post in our series in honor of International Women’s Day and our collaboration with World Cancer Research Fund. To wrap up, Deborah Howland talks about the importance of diet for anyone facing cancer – or trying to prevent it. A specialist...
5 Demands of Forensic Toxicologists and the Ultra-Fast Method That Meets Them
There just isn’t a screening approach available that can give us everything we need when throughput is the priority. Sound familiar? For many toxicology labs, there is a misconception that compromises need to be made when it comes to high throughput drug screening....
Uncovering the Links Between Childhood Growth, Body Size, and a Woman’s Risk of Breast Cancer
Welcome to the second in a series of posts marking International Women’s Day, and our ongoing support of World Cancer Research Fund. This installment is a review by Dr. Jennifer Baker, of her work, that, with the help of a WCRF grant, is studying body size and its links to breast cancer. Dr. Baker, Lead Investigator at Denmark’s Frederiksberg Hospital, has a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. Her research focuses on clinical epidemiology.
Global Trends That Will Affect Neonicotinoid Usage in 2019
Neonicotinoids have become the most widely used class of insecticide in the world, with registration in 120 countries. However, these pesticides have become embroiled in multi-year controversy in Europe and North America due to their risk to beneficial...
A Multi-Omics Database for Tomato Research and Breeding
Ace. Beefsteak. Big Boy. Kumato. Early Girl. Roma. Sun Gold. San Marzano. These are just a few of the thousands of varieties of tomato plants available today. And while all of these varieties may be very different with respect to crop yield, disease resistance,...
A Diagnosis And A “Difficult Waiting Game”
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...
Phthalates: The Everywhere Chemical That’s Hard to See, Not Anymore with LC-MS/MS
A few months back, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a technical report on the use of chemicals in food processing and the negative health effects on children. One of the main culprits is phthalates. The 411 of PhthalatesPhthalates are esters of phthalic...
The SCIEX Software Roadmap – The Journey Towards Windows 10 Compatibility is Complete
At SCIEX we are committed to providing you with the most up-to-date tools and technologies to meet the evolving needs of the laboratory. As part of that commitment, we were introducing our software product roadmap towards Windows 10 compatibility back in 2017. Many of...
10 Minutes in One Shot. That’s How Quickly You Can Screen 664 Forensics Compounds
Drug testing is a moving target. As novel psychoactive substances (NPS) rapidly emerge as a new class of designer stimulants (DS), global use has reached an all-time high over the last decade. Supposedly ‘legal’ alternatives to internationally controlled drugs, these...
Turbocharge THC-COOH Hair Analysis with Super Sensitive LC-MS/MS and Solid Phase Extraction
Do you want a more efficient workflow for the forensic analysis of THC-COOH in hair samples? Yes! Do we know a simple, highly sensitive technique? You bet! Read on to find out how you can detect THC-COOH in hair down to 0.2 pg/mg trace concentration levels with...
Fast Novel Psychoactive Substance Testing, At Your Fingertips
Why Dried Blood Spot Analysis Is the Way to Go for Novel Psychoactive Substances(And Why You Need This SCIEX LC-MS/MS Method) Anyone with children will remember that moment in the hospital when the nurse pricks the heel of your tiny new baby to squeeze out a few drops...
Take 5 with Dan Blake – 5 Minutes, 5 Questions on the World of Clinical Mass Spec
We would like to formally (or informally) introduce the new SCIEX Clinical Diagnostics blog series entitled, Take 5. Every couple of months we will ask a member of our team to answer five questions and share their responses in a format you can read in five minutes. We...
The Technology Behind Safe, Legal Cannabis
The Third in a Three-Part Series Part 1: Cannabis is Legal in Canada - How Did We Get Here? Part 2: Canada's Focus on Cannabis Quality and Safety Intensifies Welcome to the third in a series of blogs from the cannabis team at SCIEX, designed to bring you up to speed...
What is Multi Attribute Methodology (MAM)?
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...
New Methods for N-Glycan Sequencing Provide Structural Information in as Little as 1 Hour
As interest in N-glycan analysis grows within the biopharma industry, innovation continues allowing analyses to be done in less time with fewer and less tedious, sample preparation steps. One of these recent innovations was the release of the SCIEX Fast Glycan...
When Chiral Separation Turns Tricky: The Story Behind CESI-MS in Forensic Chiral Analysis
Against a backdrop of rapid growth, chirality plays a major role in the synthesis of drugs in both pharmaceutical and illicit drug development. In fact, more than half of the drugs currently in use are chiral compounds, available as either racemates or pure...
Cannabis is Legal in Canada – How Did We Get Here?
The First in a Three-Part Series Welcome to the first in a series of blogs from the cannabis team at SCIEX, designed to bring you up to speed and put you in the lead of the recently legalized cannabis market in Canada. The Canadian cannabis market has taken the plunge...