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W. John Lough from the University of Sunderland, UK, in conversation with (old) friends from academia and industry to celebrate 60 years of advances in chromatography.

Antibody related biopharmaceuticals represent one of the most dynamic segments of the pharmaceutical market. The analysis and monitoring of product titers in CHO cell cultures is one of the key tasks during development of new products. Cell line selection, optimization of expression rates, and process control need fast and efficient antibody quantification. Besides ELISA assays with known limitations with regard to reproducibility and precision, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis using affinity chromatography is applied. This application note summarizes some performance data of a new Protein A affinity column for mAb titer analysis.

This study describes a simple, quick approach for the sampling and analysis of nicotine, impurities, and flavour compounds in e-cigarette vapours. Combining thermal desorption (TD) with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis results in a versatile screening method for tackling the challenge of regulatory compliance and quality control in this rapidly expanding industry.

Analyzing a broad range of semivolatile environmental pollutants at low levels requires a sensitive detector as well as an inert sample pathway. While semivolatiles analysis by methods such as EPA 8270 and EPA 625 typically does not require reporting sub nanogram-on-column concentrations, the latest generation of sensitive mass spectrometers and inert GC columns and inlet liners allow analysts to take advantage of the benefits of split injection while maintaining standard method reporting limits.

Whole column imaging detection capillary isoelectric focusing (iCIEF) has been recognized as a powerful tool for biopharmaceutical development and quality control. Unlike conventional single point detection capillary electrophoresis (CE) systems, in which light absorbance or emission at a specific point along the separation capillary is monitored, iCIEF detects a line of light that is passed through and radiates from the entire separation capillary. As a result, sequential snapshots of the whole separation capillary at different times are obtained. This allows sample separation and interaction in real time to be observed during electrophoresis, enabling fast analytical method development, high resolution separation, and high sample throughput.

This application note describes the transfer of a conventional LC method for the analysis of antihistaminic drugs from an Agilent 1100 Series Quaternary LC to an Agilent 1260 Infinity II LC, and demonstrates that equivalent results can be obtained.

Proteins - especially monoclonal antibodies (MABs) - have become increasingly important in pharmaceutical work. However, there are some important differences between conventional, chemically-synthesized drugs and proteins. Because of the complex and weak structure of proteins, even a slight change in conditions, such as pH value, temperature, or mechanical stress, may lead to aggregation and a loss of activity or stability.

There has been a significant resurgence in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) as target-directed therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. Among the factors critical to effective ADC design is the Drug Antibody Ratio (DAR). The DAR describes the degree of drug addition that directly impacts both potency and potential toxicity of the therapeutic, and can have significant effects on properties such as stability and aggregation. Determination of DAR is, therefore, of critical importance in the development of novel ADC therapeutics.

Click the title above to open the LCGC Asia Pacific September 2016 regular issue, Vol 19, No 3, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the LCGC Europe September 2016 regular issue, Vol 29, No 9, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open the LCGC North America September 2016 regular issue, Vol 34 No 9, in an interactive PDF format.

The future of biological and clinical research will depend on technological innovations and cross discipline co-operation as science seeks a deeper understanding of increasingly complex biological systems. The 2016 recipient of the AES Mid-Career Award, Amy Herr, and her team at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, have explored these areas using a combination of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering with strong foundations in biology, material science, and analytical chemistry to innovate new microfluidic analytical technology. She recently spoke to LCGC about this work.

Eurofins Scientific has announced the acquisition of Agfirst Bay of Plenty, a fruit maturity testing laboratory in New Zealand. Agfirst Bay of Plenty provides independent kiwifruit maturation sampling and testing services across two facilities in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand.

Activated Research Company (ARC), producers of the Polyarc reactor, has announced a new partnership with Wasson-ECE to bring the system to the international market for the first time.

Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have identified the source of toxic emissions within electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) using headspace gas chromatography in tandem with mass spectrometry (HS-GC–MS) and high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Incognito ruminates on the woes associated with connecting liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC) columns correctly, and ponders a future where everything is connecting differently.

Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC): two liquid chromatographic methods in direct comparison. This article discusses the differences between the two techniques with particular emphasis on the requirements of their respective analytes.

The International Symposium on GPC/SEC and Related Techniques will be held at the Novotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 27–29 September 2016.

Click the title above to open The Column August 22, 2016 Europe & Asia issue, Volume 12, Number 15, in an interactive PDF format.

Click the title above to open The Column August 22, 2016 North American issue, Volume 12, Number 15, in an interactive PDF format.

Continuing MilliporeSigma’s series of podcasts on the impact of water quality on chromatography techniques, Joe Plurad discusses the practical effects of ultrapure water in a specific area of analysis: The importance of water quality on perchlorate analysis by ion chromatography (IC).

I’ve done that thing where I’ve stated a very interesting title-I hope I can deliver something which lives up to it. I dislike it when people “overstate” their talk or poster titles at conferences to draw me in and then don’t deliver against the promise-I’ll let you judge how we go here.

The 33rd International Symposium on Microscale Separations and Bioanalysis (MSB 2017) will be held from 26–29 March 2017, at Conference Center de Leeuwenhorst, The Netherlands, in the “largest flower garden of Europe” near to Amsterdam International Airport and North Sea beaches.

Top-down protein quantitation, especially using triple-quadrupole MS, but even in general, has hardly been pursued. To help fill this gap, we recently reported a systematic investigation of intact-protein quantitation using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) on a triple-quadrupole MS system, and we believe that this approach can be a promising alternative route to consider going forward.

A group of researchers has studied the migration of monomers and plastic additives from plastic food packaging in microwave heated homemade food and packed liquid food using QuEChERS and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.

Sciex has announced that it will work with the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Cambridge to build a metabolism-centric proteomic map.