Best of the Week: Inside the Grinias Lab, ACS Satinder Ahuja Award

This week, LCGC International published a variety of articles on the hottest topics in chromatography and beyond. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most popular articles, according to our readers. Happy reading!

Top stories symbol. Concept words Top stories on wooden blocks on a beautiful blue table white background. Business story and top stories concept, copy space. | Image Credit: © Dzmitry - stock.adobe.com

In the Lab: Grinias Research Lab at Rowan University, Part I – Jim Grinias Interview

Patrick Lavery

This latest edition of our Inside the Laboratory series gives us an in-depth look at the laboratory of James Grinias, a professor in Rowan University’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. Jim’s work has frequently been featured in the publications under the LCGC International umbrella, and we have also featured him in various conference video interviews. The Grinias Research Lab has supplied portable liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) systems to the pharmaceutical industry, and recently the laboratory received funding from the United States Army to use small-scale LC–MS instrumentation to study and detect signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the blood of service members. In this video interview, Grinias discusses his background, teaching philosophies, students, and lab equipment.

Read More

Chinese Herbal Medicine Analyzed for Its Effectiveness in Treating PCOS,

Aaron Acevedo

A recent study out of Zhejiang University and Zhejiang GongShang University in Zhejiang, China had scientists analyzing Cang-Fu-Dao-Tan Formula (CFDTF), a Chinese herbal medicine, to determine what makes it effective in treating polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a common endocrine disease that can affect between 5–18% of reproductive-age women, with the exact cause of the disease being unclear. CFDTF, which is a mix of nine Chinese herbs, has been useful in combatting PCOS. However, the medicine’s effects on glucose metabolism, reproductive hormones, and blood lipids needed examining for adverse effects. For this study, the scientists used techniques like ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS) to clarify how CFDTF specifically treats PCOS.

Read More

Pittcon 2024: An Interview with Tom Linz

Patrick Lavery

Tom Linz is a widely recognized scientist who was the 2023 recipient of the ACS Analytical Division Satinder Ahuja Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science. Currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Wayne State University, Linz leads his own laboratory that develops “innovative” lab-on-a-chip technologies. These devices integrate sample preparation, preconcentration, and different analytical technologies like microchip electrophoresis and immunoassays. Linz’s team hopes that these integrations can enhance biochemical measurements and surpasses conventional instrumentation capabilities. In this video interview from Pittcon 2024, Linz discusses his presentations at Pittcon 2024, what the Satinder Ahuja Award means to him and his career, and what is coming next for him and his team.

Read More

Analytical Chemistry’s Role in Science

William Wetzel

Analytical chemistry can be applied in various fields, from food analysis to pharmaceuticals and beyond. However, amongst the public, analytical chemists can go unrecognized for their contributions. In a recent Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry article, Erwin Rosenberg of Vienna University of Technology and Rudolf Krska of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) discussed how analytical chemistry has influenced different scientific disciplines; namely, life sciences, material sciences, and environmental science. First, they look through the history of analytical chemistry in the respective fields. Then, they discussed how analytical chemistry evolved from being viewed as an “enabling science” to being its own discipline that has not received enough recognition by the broader scientific community.

Read More

A Review of Advancements in Detecting New Psychoactive Substances

LCGC Staff

Illegal narcotics and other drugs are becoming an international concern, with new drug policies needing to form regulations on these new psychoactive substances (NPS). NPS are drugs meant to mimic established illegal narcotics, such as cannabis, MDMA, LSD, and cocaine, though these drugs’ chemical structures are meant to circumvent the drug policies of different countries’ manufacturers. NPS use is linked to numerous health issues, such as seizures, and using these substances can potentially lead to dependencies in some people. Scientists are thusly working to refind methods to detect and identify these compounds. In a recent Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry review, Bartlomiej Feigel from the Jan Sehn Institute of Forensic Research and Krakow University of Technology discussed how analytical techniques are being used to combat the rise in designer drugs.

Read More