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Nanopipette probes cells without killing them

17 May 2017

A research team from Japan has developed a method for sampling tiny amounts of fluid from single cells without killing them. They hope their technique will allow scientists to better study cellular mechanisms from differentiation to cancer formation.

Advances in analytical detection methods enable processing and detection of analytes, even individual molecules, from single cell samples. But before chemical analysis can take place, a sample must be extracted from the cell – a procedure the cell usually doesn’t survive.

Takehiko Kitamori’s team from the University of Tokyo now managed to form a 100nm-wide hole in a human cell membrane and connect this hole to a tiny pipette to extract a sample – all while keeping the cell alive. Instead of piercing the cell by force, they coated their nanopipette with a lipid bilayer, the same material the cell membrane is made out of, which causes the two to fuse.

Read the full article in Chemistry World >>>

Micro/extended-nano sampling interface from a living single cell
L. Lin, K. Mawatari, K. Morikawa, Y. Pihosh, A. Yoshizaki and T. Kitamori
Analyst, 2017, 142, 1689-1696
DOI: 10.1039/C7AN00220C, Paper

This paper is free to access until 16th June

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Professor Ryan C. Bailey: New Analyst Associate Editor

16 Jan 2017

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Ryan C. Bailey as Associate Editor to the Analyst Editorial Board.

Ryan C. Bailey received his PhD from Northwestern University in 2004 and then was a joint Post-doctoral Fellow at Caltech and the Institute for Systems Biology. He joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006, with affiliate appointments in the Department of Bioengineering, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, and Institute for Genomic Biology.

In 2016, Professor Bailey was appointed as the Robert A. Gregg Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Professor Bailey’s research generally focuses on the development of new microscale analytical methods for detecting biomarkers and characterizing (bio)molecular interactions with applications in personalized clinical diagnostics and fundamental biochemistry/biophysics. To this end, his group has developed chip-integrated optical detection methods and microfluidic approaches that are being applied to translational transcriptomic, proteomic, and epigenomic analyses.

Professor Bailey has received various awards, including the Pittcon Achievement Award (2015), Arthur F. Findeis Award for Achievements by a Young Analytical Scientist (2013), and a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2007), and was named to the TR35: 35 Top Innovators under 35 list by Technology Review in 2012.

We welcome Professor Ryan C. Bailey and his expertise to the Analyst Editorial Board as Associate Editor alongside Takehiko Kitamori, Lanqun Mao, Jean-Francois Masson, Boris Mizaikoff, Steven Soper and Evan Williams. Submit your article to Professor Ryan C. Bailey today!

You can keep up to date with the latest developments from Analyst by signing up for free table of contents alerts and monthly e-newsletters.

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What we do in the shadows…

19 Aug 2016

What goes up, must come down...

We are all passionate scientists, but we all have a “dark” side. I know for example that Professor Pat Unwin at Warwick University is an accomplished musician, likewise, Professor Dermot Diamond at Dublin City University. And myself? I run. I run trail races. I run ultra trail races.

What’s the meaning of “ultra”? Well, anything beyond a marathon: 45k… 50k… 70k… 100k… 160k… and beyond! I just ran across the beautiful island of Corsica – 5 days, a whopping 185k, 12,000m of altitude up and all the way down again. Tough? Yes… but doable! Admittedly, you go through 10 “runners highs” and 25+ “runners lows”. But in the end – doable! And after that adventure, I asked myself, how different are profession and passion actually? Maybe we should explore this a little further…

Let’s consider an example – writing an EU proposal or an ERC grant? Tough? Yes… but doable! And honestly, there are at least 10 “proposal highs” and 25+ “proposal lows” you go through. So, how different are profession and passion? Let’s see by comparing writing a major proposal versus preparing for an ultra trail race!

1. It’s all about preparation – A clear “yes” for both!

2. You need to focus – True, relevant in both cases!

3. Preliminary results are important – It’s all about knowing what you are up to… tick the box for both!

4. Step outside your comfort zone – No new achievements without breaking new ground. Ticked!

5. Physical and mental fitness – A prerequisite, right?

6. You never know whether you will be successful, unless you try – Guess we agree! Ticked!

7. If you fail, try again, fail better – Ticked for both!

8. Never give up – Who would ever do that?

After all, not so different right? Seems there is a lot of analogy between preparing a proposal and preparing for an ultra trail race! Whether you are a musician, an ultra trail runner, a scientist or an interdisciplinary combination, if you do it with passion, it may be tough, but it is doable!

See you on the next (ultra) trail! And don’t forget 9. Any step is a step closer to the finish line 😉 Cheers, Boris

More stories on Europe’s toughest trek: Corsica GR20 can be found here

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New technology may spell the end of having to discard liquids from hand luggage before boarding a plane

01 May 2014

An image of the Cobalt Light Systems team

The Cobalt Light Systems team, from left to right: Pavel Matousek, Chief Scientific Officer; Guy Maskall, Data Scientist; Stuart Bonthron, VP Product Development; Craig Tombling, Chief Operating Officer; Paul Loeffen, Chief Executive Officer.(Credit: Cobalt Light Systems)

Analyst Editorial Board Member Professor Pavel Matousek at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Central Laser Facility explains, “The technology works using the technique of Raman spectroscopy. When combined with advanced algorithms to distinguish between the container and its contents, the technology is able to identify the chemical composition in seconds, and with greater reliability than any other existing system.”

The equipment developed by the Cobalt Light Systems team characterises the contents inside non-metallic containers, protecting travellers by screening for liquid explosives and has been shortlisted to win the UK’s premier engineering prize, the MacRobert Award.

To read more about this story and the MacRobert Award 2014 head over to the Science & Technology Facilities Council website.

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2013 Dreyfus Prize awarded to Graham Cooks

21 May 2013

2013 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences

The 2013 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences has been awarded to Graham Cooks

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has selected chemical instrumentation as the topic of the 2013 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences. The Dreyfus Prize, awarded biennially, recognizes an individual for exceptional and original research in a selected area of chemistry that has advanced the field in a major way.

This year the Dreyfus Prize has been awarded to R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, Advisory Board member of Analyst and Chemical Science. Graham Cooks is recognized internationally as an innovative giant in the field of mass spectrometry who has enriched analytical chemistry in unparalleled ways. Virtually every pharmaceutical and biotechnology company relies on mass spectrometry at a level that has become possible, in part, through Cooks’s innovations. Click to read more.

Take a look at a few of Graham’s recent papers in Analyst and Chemical Science below they will be free to read until the end of the month:

Rapid analysis of whole blood by paper spray mass spectrometry for point-of-care therapeutic drug monitoring
Ryan D. Espy, Nicholas E. Manicke, Zheng Ouyang and R. Graham Cooks
Analyst, 2012, 137, 2344-2349
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35082C

Accelerated bimolecular reactions in microdroplets studied by desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
Marion Girod, Encarnacion Moyano, Dahlia I. Campbell and R. Graham Cooks
Chem. Sci., 2011, 2, 501-510
DOI: 10.1039/C0SC00416B

Paper spray: a simple and efficient means of analysis of different contaminants in foodstuffs
Zhiping Zhang, R. Graham Cooks and Zheng Ouyang
Analyst, 2012, 137, 2556-2558
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35196J

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18th Australian Electrochemistry Symposium, 15 April 2012

17 Feb 2012

The 18th Australian Electrochemistry Symposium, sponsored by Analyst and Analytical Methods, runs all day on Sunday 15th April, at the Resources and Chemistry Precinct, Curtin University, Australia.

As well as a contributed lecture programme and poster session, there will be three keynote lectures by the 2012 medallists of the Electrochemistry Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (ED-RACI):

Joe Wang (University of California – San Diego), speaking on motion-based biosensing, is the 2012 Breyer Medallist
Justin Gooding (University of New South Wales), speaking on dispersible electrodes, is the 2012 Stokes Medallist
Jie Zhang (Monash University), speaking on reactions in ionic liquids, is the 2012 Bond Medallist

The meeting is being coordinated by Analyst Advisory Board member, Damien Arrigan, and further information can be found online.

Read some papers from the keynote speakers below:

Stamp Transfer Electrodes for Electrochemical Sensing on Non-Planar and Oversized Surfaces
Joshua Ray Windmiller, Amay Jairaj Bandodkar, Serguey Parkhomovsky and Joseph Wang
Analyst, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35041F

Wearable electrochemical sensors for in situ analysis in marine environments
Kerstin Malzahn, Joshua Ray Windmiller, Gabriela Valdés-Ramírez, Michael J. Schöning and Joseph Wang
Analyst, 2011, 136, 2912-2917
DOI: 10.1039/C1AN15193B

Development of an electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of HbA1c in serum
Guozhen Liu, Sook Mei Khor, Sridhar G. Iyengar and J. Justin Gooding
Analyst, 2012, 137, 829-832
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN16034J
From collection: Future Electroanalytical Developments

Critical Review: Practical considerations associated with voltammetric studies in room temperature ionic liquids
Jie Zhang and Alan M. Bond
Analyst, 2005, 130, 1132-1147
DOI: 10.1039/B504721H

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New scanner for liquids at airports

14 Feb 2012

The Insight 100 scanner which uses SORS to scan liquids

Insight 100 (Credit: Cobalt Light Systems)

The early-stage company Cobalt Light Systems has received European approval for its revolutionary INSIGHT100 bottle scanner, which could enable aircraft passengers to have liquid items larger than 100ml in their carry-on luggage.

The scanner uses Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS), a technique developed by Analyst Editorial Board member, Prof. Pavel Matousek of the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Pavel says, “Since STFC made the breakthrough in discovering SORS a few years ago, we have worked closely with the team at Cobalt Light Systems to develop and refine this technology. It is particularly exciting to see how this particular scientific development could now go on to make a real difference to the safety and wellbeing of our society.”

Find out more in the full STFC press release here.

Take a look at some of Pavel’s work below:

Minireview: Non-invasive analysis of turbid samples using deep Raman spectroscopy
Kevin Buckley and Pavel Matousek
Analyst, 2011, 136, 3039-3050
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00723D
From collection Grand Challenges in Analytical Chemistry

Towards a safe non-invasive method for evaluating the carbonate substitution levels of hydroxyapatite (HAP) in micro-calcifications found in breast tissue
Marleen M. Kerssens, Pavel Matousek, Keith Rogers and Nicholas Stone
Analyst, 2010, 135, 3156-3161
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00565G
From themed issue Optical Diagnosis

Critical Review: Emerging concepts in deep Raman spectroscopy of biological tissue
Pavel Matousek and Nicholas Stone
Analyst, 2009, 134, 1058-1066
DOI: 10.1039/B821100K
From themed issue Optical Diagnosis

Subsurface probing of calcifications with spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS): future possibilities for the diagnosis of breast cancer
Nicholas Stone, Rebecca Baker, Keith Rogers, Anthony William Parker and Pavel Matousek
Analyst, 2007, 132, 899-905
DOI: 10.1039/B705029A

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Editorial Board member Duncan Graham to receive Coblentz Society Craver Award

25 Jan 2012

Professor Duncan Graham

The Coblentz Society has announced that Professor Duncan Graham, Reviews Editor of Analyst, has been selected as recipient of the 2012 Craver Award.

The Craver Award was established in 2006 to recognize the efforts of young professional spectroscopists that have made significant contributions in applied analytical vibrational spectroscopy. The society has named this award for Clara D. Craver in recognition of her pioneering efforts in promoting the practice of infrared vibrational spectroscopy and her many years of service to the Coblentz Society. Previous winners of the Award include another Analyst Editorial Board member, Boris Mizaikoff.

This award is presented to Professor Graham in recognition of his pioneering work in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to generate ultra-sensitive and highly selective methods of detection for a range of analytes, especially bio-analytical targets.

The Craver Award will be presented at the FACSS annual meeting, newly re-named SCIX, to be held in Kansas City, USA, 30 September – 5 October 2012.

Duncan will present the Coblentz Society’s Craver Award Plenary Lecture in Applied Vibrational Spectroscopy and a separate half-day award symposium of six invited presentations will be held following his lecture at this conference.

Take a look at Duncan’s recent Grand Challenges review below, and contact us if you’d like to discuss the submission of a review to his office.

Critical Review: Surface enhanced optical spectroscopies for bioanalysis
Iain A. Larmour and Duncan Graham
Analyst, 2011, 136, 3831-3853
DOI: 10.1039/C1AN15452D

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HOT article: Detecting water in fuel

02 Dec 2011

Take a look at this HOT paper from Editorial Board member Boris Mizaikoff.

Water is a common contaminant in industrial oils and petroleum products. It impairs the performance and longevity of machinery, so it’s important to detect it in these products. A previous approach has involved off-site analysis, but this method is time consuming and may be compromised because of the potential variability in water concentration introduced by storage, transportation or shipment of a sample.

Here, Professor Mizaikoff and colleagues have focused on quantifying trace amounts of water in hydrocarbons using hexane as a model system for industrial oils and petroleum using mid-infrared evanescent field absorption spectroscopy.

They used a silver halide fibre optic waveguide to interrogate in situ water-in-hexane emulsions. The limits of detection and limits of quantification of water in hexane using tin-crosslinked polyacrylic acid modified fibres were 76 and 170ppm, respectively. The IR absorption signature of water in hexane was detected at concentrations as low as 10ppm.

The strategy requires a single measurement, requires no sample preparation and has the potential for direct in situ detection.

Detecting trace amounts of water in hydrocarbon matrices with infrared fiberoptic evanescent field sensors
Yuliya Luzinova, Bogdan Zdyrko, Igor Luzinov and Boris Mizaikoff
Analyst, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1AN15521K

Take a look at some of Boris’ other recent work:

Nitrogen-doped diamond-like carbon as optically transparent electrode for infrared attenuated total reflection spectroelectrochemistry
Nicola Menegazzo, Markus Kahn, Roswitha Berghauser, Wolfgang Waldhauser and Boris Mizaikoff
Analyst, 2011, 136, 1831-1839
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00503G

Communication: Surface-modified ZnSe waveguides for label-free infrared attenuated total reflection detection of DNA hybridization
Carla S. Riccardi, Dennis W. Hess and Boris Mizaikoff
Analyst, 2011, 136, 4906-4911
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00504E

Don’t forget that Boris is our Associate Editor for Europe. If you are a European author, why not submit your next paper to his office?

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New Associate Editor for the Americas: Professor Evan Williams

30 Sep 2011

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Evan Williams of the University of California, Berkeley as our second Associate Editor for the Americas.

Professor Williams received his B.S. from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. from Cornell University; he has held positions at Stanford University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, been a Visiting Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and received numerous awards. His current group at Berkeley develops and applies novel instrumental and computational techniques in mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, separations, and laser spectroscopy to solve problems of fundamental interest in chemistry and biochemistry.

We’d like to welcome Evan and his expertise to the Analyst Editorial Board as Associate Editor alongside Professor Steve Soper – together, we look forward to further meeting the needs of our authors.

So, if you’re an author in the Americas, why not submit your paper?

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