Peaks of Interest
Ron Majors awarded gold medal; Airgas acquires Dantack; Molex acquires Polymicro
Ron Majors awarded gold medal
Ronald E. Majors, LCGC North America columnist and senior chemist for the Columns and Supplies Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware), has been awarded the 2007 Martin Gold Medal by the Chromatographic Society in the United Kingdom for outstanding contributions to the chromatography field. Majors is best known for his monthly "Column Watch" and "Sample Preparation Perspectives" columns for LCGC North America. These articles focus on chromatography, sample preparation, and surface chemistry, and can be found on LCGC's website (http://www.chromatographyonline.com).
The Chromatographic Society is an international organization devoted to the promotion and dissemination of knowledge of chromatography and related separation techniques.
The Martin Medal is the society's top award and bears the name of the Nobel Prize winner for chromatography, Archer Martin. It is awarded to individuals whose professional and scientific accomplishments have fostered progress in chromatography.
Airgas acquires Dantack
Airgas, Inc. (Randor, Pennsyvania) announced it has acquired the assets and operations of Dantack Corporation (Grand Prairie, Texas), a safety distributor with branches in Ohio and Virginia. The business generated more than $18 million in sales during 2006.
The operations will be managed by Airgas Southwest, one of the Airgas regional companies, as a stand-alone business. Later, operations in Ohio and Virginia will transition to other Airgas regional companies.
Molex acquires Polymicro
Molex Incorporated (Lisle, Illinois), a global electronic components company, announced that it has completed its acquisition of Polymicro Technologies, LLC (Pheonix, Arizona).
According to Gary Nelson, Polymicro's president and general manager, Polymicro also offers Molex penetration into the analytical, genomic, and biotechnology markets that use optical fiber, micro-components, optical fiber ferrules, capillary tubing, and assemblies.
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.
Profiling Volatile Organic Compounds in Whisky with GC×GC–MS
November 1st 2024Researchers from Austria, Greece, and Italy conducted a study to analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in Irish and Scotch whiskys using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) Arrow with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC×GC–MS) to examine the organoleptic characteristics that influence the taste of spirits.
GC–TOF-MS Finds 250 Volatile Compounds in E-Cigarette Liquids
November 1st 2024A study has used gas chromatography coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to build an electron ionization mass spectra database of more than 250 chemicals classified as either volatile or semi-volatile compounds. An additional, confirmatory layer of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis was subsequently performed.
