Analyst Blog

The Federation of Analytical Chemistry & Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS), of which the RSC is a member society, has announced the winner of the 2012 FACSS Innovation Award as Rohit Bhargava, from the University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

This is a juried prize awarded to the most innovative, creative, and outstanding work making its world debut at the FACSS-organized SciX conference. The winner is selected in a special oral session featuring five candidates selected from the many talks contributed to the program.

This year’s award was given for “Advancing Infrared Microscopy Instrumentation by Theory and Computation,” Rohit Bhargava, P. Scott Carney, Rohith Reddy, Kevin Yeh, Thomas van Dijk, Matthew Gelber, Matthew V. Schulmerich; University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

Dr Rohit Bhargava, recipient of the 2012 FACSS Innovation Award

Rohit Bhargava completed his PhD at Case Western Reserve University in 2000 after first completing his undergraduate degree at the Indian Institute of Technology. Since then he has worked at the UIUC Department of Bioengineering and is a full time faculty member with the Beckman Institute Bioimaging Science and Technology group. His research interests include infrared spectroscopy imaging, molecular imaging and cancer pathology research.

Take a look at a selection of papers published by Bhargava in Analyst. They will be free to read until December 24th.

Accurate histopathology from low signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopic imaging data
Rohith K. Reddy and Rohit Bhargava
Analyst, 2010, 135, 2818-2825
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00350F

Characterization of porcine skin as a model for human skin studies using infrared spectroscopic imaging
Rong Kong and Rohit Bhargava
Analyst, 2011, 136, 2359-2366
DOI: 10.1039/C1AN15111H

Subcellular localization of early biochemical transformations in cancer-activated fibroblasts using infrared spectroscopic imaging
Sarah E. Holton, Michael J. Walsh and Rohit Bhargava
Analyst, 2011, 136, 2953-2958
DOI: 10.1039/C1AN15112F

Characterization of tumor progression in engineered tissue using infrared spectroscopic imaging
Rong Kong, Rohith K. Reddy and Rohit Bhargava
Analyst, 2010, 135, 1569-1578
DOI: 10.1039/C0AN00112K

Robin McCarley is professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University, US. His research spans liposome systems, surface chemistry, polymer chemistry, nanoscience and bioanalytical/physical chemistry. His current interests are in stimuli-responsive materials in solution and on surfaces, and modified polymers for use in lab-on-a-chip technologies.

You work on bioanalytical sensors – why is this an exciting area of research?

Robin McCarley

It’s really a nexus region where you bring together people from so many different, diverse areas of training and background. That to me is exciting because I think that’s the way we’ll solve a lot of scientific problems in the future. No one principal investigator can attack problems by themselves anymore – you need to have an integrated knowledge base. At the same time, the challenges are all over the map: food, human health and environment. It’s amazing to consider the cross-cutting nature of research right now.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Scientists in Denmark have designed a new sensor to detect cells that over-express folate receptors, including cancer cells. Jaime Castillo-León from the Technical University of Denmark and colleagues’ sensor consists of an electrochemical platform composed of graphene and peptide nanotubes with folic acid.

Cancer cells have a high requirement for folic acid as it is necessary for their metabolism, so the cells have 500 times more folate receptors compared with a healthy cell, explains Castillo-León. The receptors are like antennas on the surface of the cell membrane that seek out folic acid. The cancer cells interact with the electrochemical platform, resulting in a decrease in the current being measured. The sensor allows the detection of cancer cells at a concentration as low as 250 cells per millilitre.

The nanotube–folic acid modified graphene electrode; the interaction between folic acid and folate receptors on HeLa cells

 To read the full article visit Chemistry World

Detection of cancer cells using a peptide nanotube–folic acid modified graphene electrode
John J. Castillo, Winnie E. Svendsen, Noemi Rozlosnik, Patricia Escobar, Fernando Martínez and Jaime Castillo-León
Analyst, 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN36121C

UK scientists have used mass spectroscopy to determine the sex of a perpetrator from the peptides in fingerprints left at a crime scene.

Peptides naturally present in sweat and their relative abundance are distinctive for one sex or the other. © Shutterstock

Simona Francese from Sheffield Hallam University explains that peptides naturally present in sweat and their relative abundance are distinctive for one sex or the other. Francese and her team used matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry to detect the peptides and their relative abundance from fingerprint samples. ‘Results can be obtained in 10 minutes from sample preparation to data acquisition and analysis with 85% accuracy,’ says Francese.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World

Direct detection of peptides and small proteins in fingermarks and determination of sex by MALDI mass spectrometry profiling
Leesa Susanne Ferguson, Florian Wulfert, Rosalind Wolstenholme, Judith Marlou Fonville, Malcolm Ronald Clench, Vikki Amanda Carolan and Simona Francese
Analyst, 2012,137, 4686-4692
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN36074H

A portable and non-invasive technique to study and characterise pigments in ancient architecture has been developed by scientists in Spain.

The Palace of the Lions in the Alhambra, Spain, was built and decorated during the Nasrid period in the 13–15th centuries, the last of the Moorish dynasties in Spain. After being taken over and adapted during the first period of Christian domination in the 16th century, it was neglected for centuries before restoration began in the 19th century.

Vertical section of one vault in the Hall of the Kings and the microspectrometer set up in a vault

 To read the full article please visit Chemistry World

In situ noninvasive Raman microspectroscopic investigation of polychrome plasterworks in the Alhambra
Ana Dominguez-Vidal,  Maria Jose de la Torre-Lopez,  Ramon Rubio-Domene and Maria Jose Ayora-Cañada
Analyst, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN36027F

…of a recent paper from the RSC’s Analyst, followed by the tagline ‘tuppence-based SERS for the detection of illicit materials’.

In the paper, scientists from Manchester explain how they used a UK two pence piece (a.k.a. tuppence) to do some drug detection work!

Royston Goodacre and team from University of Manchester altered the surface of a copper two pence piece with silver to make it suitable for the vibrational spectroscopic technique surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), which they then used to differentiate between the drugs: 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone), 5,6-methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane (MDAI) and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA).

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World

2p or not 2p: Tuppence-based SERS for the detection of illicit materials
Samuel Mabbott, Axel Eckmann, Cinzia Casiraghi and Royston Goodacre
Analyst, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35974J, Paper

An analytical platform that imposes controlled mechanical strain onto live cells whilst monitoring changes in cell morphology and molecular signalling has been developed by scientists in Germany. Cellular processes induced by mechanical forces are crucial for bone healing and lung function. Understanding these processes could help to prevent and aid the development of therapies for mechanically induced lung and cardiovascular diseases and injuries.

Christine Kranz and colleagues from the University of Ulm combined fluorescence microscopy with atomic force microscopy to analyse the cells. They integrated a motorised cell stretching device into the system. ‘We combined the stretching device with biosensor technology, enabling localised measurements of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), for example, which is among the most important signalling molecule associated with mechanical stress,’ says Kranz. ‘Consequently, detecting ATP at the surface of mechanically stimulated cells facilitates investigation of the signalling cascades involved.’

The assembly includes a cell-stretching device, an atomic force microscopy head and an objective of the inverted microscope

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Combining atomic force-fluorescence microscopy with a stretching device for analyzing mechanotransduction processes in living cells
E. Hecht ,  P. Knittel ,  E. Felder ,  P. Dietl ,  B. Mizaikoff and C. Kranz
Analyst, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN36001B