Drug testing compendium
Synthetic cannabinoids, commonly found in ?herbal incense? brands were recently declared controlled substances by the US Drug Enforcement Agency. To assist the drug testing industry in detecting these substances, Agilent Technologies has produced a GC?MS compendium.
Synthetic cannabinoids, commonly found in ‘herbal incense’ brands were recently declared controlled substances by the US Drug Enforcement Agency. To assist the drug testing industry in detecting these substances, Agilent Technologies has produced a GC–MS compendium.
“These compounds had not been controlled until November of 2010, when health concerns prompted the DEA to evoke an emergency ban,” said Tom Gluodenis, the company’s forensic and toxicology business manager. “They present a number of analytical challenges. Formulations are rapidly evolving. When one is banned, it can quickly be replaced by a new one. They’re often sold in botanical matrixes as ‘herbal incense’ and other products, which presents additional challenges. We published this compendium to help labs get a handle on this dynamic situation.”
The compendium contains detailed procedures for sample preparation and GC–MS methods, plus a searchable mass-spectral library to test for 35 synthetic cannabinoids and their derivatives. The method and library were developed in collaboration with the Criminalistics Division of NMS Labs, an independent forensic laboratory certified by the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.
To order a copy visit www.agilent.com/chem/cannabinoidcd
This story originally appeared in The Column. Click here to view that issue.
AI and GenAI Applications to Help Optimize Purification and Yield of Antibodies From Plasma
October 31st 2024Deriving antibodies from plasma products involves several steps, typically starting from the collection of plasma and ending with the purification of the desired antibodies. These are: plasma collection; plasma pooling; fractionation; antibody purification; concentration and formulation; quality control; and packaging and storage. This process results in a purified antibody product that can be used for therapeutic purposes, diagnostic tests, or research. Each step is critical to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of the final product. Applications of AI/GenAI in many of these steps can significantly help in the optimization of purification and yield of the desired antibodies. Some specific use-cases are: selecting and optimizing plasma units for optimized plasma pooling; GenAI solution for enterprise search on internal knowledge portal; analysing and optimizing production batch profitability, inventory, yields; monitoring production batch key performance indicators for outlier identification; monitoring production equipment to predict maintenance events; and reducing quality control laboratory testing turnaround time.
