Focus on forensics – UKIAFT, Glasgow

The meeting covered a range of topics within the field of forensic toxicology

UK & Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists held its second annual meeting from the 6th to 7th of September at the University of Glasgow.

Plenary talks were given by Dr Marilyn Huestis, Chief of Chemistry and Drug Metabolism, NIDA and Dr Leslie King, Advisor on New Psychoactive Substances, DoH & EMCDDA, with other speakers covering themes such as hair analysis, immunoassay screening and drug detection in saliva.

Dr Gail Cooper, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Forensic Toxicologist at Glasgow, described the meeting as “a real success”.

Our congratulations go to Miss Lorna Nisbet, recipient of the Analytical Methods poster prize –  we hope to see your work in the journal soon!

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Top 10 most-read Analytical Methods articles

The latest top ten most downloaded Analytical Methods articles

Read the most-read papers of August 2010 here:

Jan Vacek, Jitka Ulrichová, Bořivoj Klejdus and Vilím Šimánek, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 604-613
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00042F
 
Don Brian Clarke, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 310-325
DOI:
10.1039/B9AY00280D
 
S. Shahnawaz Sajid, M. Saeed Arayne and Najma Sultana, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 397-401
DOI:
10.1039/B9AY00278B
 
Rashmin B. Patel, Mrunali R. Patel, Kashyap K. Bhatt and Bharat G. Patel, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 525-531
DOI:
10.1039/B9AY00276F
 
Valerio Causin, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 792-804
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00115E
 
Claire E. J. Emanuel, Bill Ellison and Craig E. Banks, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 614-616
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00200C
 
Satoshi Migita, Kei Funakoshi, Daiju Tsuya, Tomohiko Yamazaki, Akiyoshi Taniguchi, Yoshimasa Sugimoto, Nobutaka Hanagata and Toshiyuki Ikoma, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 657-660
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00039F
 
Linda Monaci, Jørgen V. Nørgaard and Arjon J. van Hengel, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 967-972
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00151A
 
Panagiotis Tavlarakis, Jonine Greyling and Nicholas H. Snow, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 722-727
DOI:
10.1039/B9AY00284G
 
Douglas C. Kirkpatrick, Christiana Antwi and R. Scott Martin, Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 811-816
DOI:
10.1039/C0AY00294A
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Hot Article – microfluidic device for designing cancer treatment: a step away from animal testing?

Abigail Webster, Charlotte E. Dyer, Stephen J. Haswell and John Greenman
Anal. Methods, 2010, 2, 1005-1007
DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00293C

(A) Channel schematic of the device. (B) Photograph showing the glass microdevice with attached nanoport. (C) General schematic of the assembly showing the pumping system, gassing to media reservoir and flow of the system

John Greenman and colleagues from the University of Hull, UK have developed a new microfluidic device capable of maintaining the long-term culture of viable tissue biopsies.

Culturing tissue biopsies in a microfluidic device provides a more holistic model for detecting cellular response to changes, such as drug stimuli, because the device can accurately reproduce many of the key parameters of the in vivo environment.

This new system has so far been tested with human colorectal tissue biopsies, and demonstrates that tissue samples can be cultured for more than 3 days, currently considered as long-term.

The authors proprose that the simplistic and flexible design of the current device allows real time analytical interrogation of various tissue types.  The microfluidic tissue device could then be used for a variety of diverse applications in guiding drug treatment selection in a clinical setting.

This research is timely in driving towards less animal-reliant testing in the pharmaceutical industry and more personalised care in the medical arena.

Read the article for free in the latest issue of Analytical Methods.

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Brett Paull wins ion chromatography award!

We are delighted to see that Anaytical Methods Editor-in-Chief, Brett Paull will be presented with the 2010 IC Achievement Award, at the upcoming International Ion Chromatography Symposium (IICS 2010) in Cincinnati. Well done Brett!

Brett’s award lecture will be given on Monday 20th September entitled “Polymer Monolithic Phases: The Future or a Fading Novelty”.

Pick up a complimentary copy of Analytical Methods at the Symposium or access the latest issue online for free!

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Greenhouse gas detection

From next year, the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency will require operators of large carbon-emitting operations to submit annual emissions reports for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse gases.  These firms will require analytical tools to monitor their emissions and to create estimates based on energy consumption.  But they face a dilemma on how they will gather the data.  Read the full article at Chemical & Engineering News.

Equally important are the tools to determine levels of harmful gases in the general environment.  Published online in Analytical Methods, Jason Horn and colleagues use Clark-type amperometric gas sensing methodology to investigate hydrogen sulfide in the air:

Amperometric measurement of gaseous hydrogen sulfide via a Clark-type approach
Jason J. Horn, Tom Mccreedy and Jay Wadhawan
Anal. Methods, 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0AY00338G

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Organophosphate detection made easy

Calcium chloride and ammonium hydroxide precipitation removes the inorganic phosphate

Enhancing determination of organophosphate species in high inorganic phosphate matrices: application to nerve agent degradation products
Yaofang Zhang, Kevin M. Kubachka and Joseph A. Caruso
Analytical Methods, 2010, DOI: 10.1039/c0ay00230e

Joseph Caruso and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati have developed a precipitation method for the removal of inorganic phosphates from samples to allow more effective identification of organophosphates by ICP-MS.

High concentrations of inorganic phosphates were successfully removed from apple juice and cola drink, leaving the organophosphates intact.  In this study, nerve agent degradation products were analysed, as they have the potential to contaminate food and environmental systems after their initial formation.

Caruso’s results indicate that this method could be suitable for more complex matrices containing relatively high levels of inorganic phosphate.

Access the article for free via the Analytical Methods homepage.

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Analytical Methods Poster Prize

Congratulations to Sangeeta Tanna from De Montfort University, who was awarded an Analytical Methods poster prize at the recent Analytical Research Forum held at Loughborough University.

Sangeeta’s poster described her work on a dried blood spot sampling system which enables the measurement and monitoring of drug levels in newborn babies, to inform future drug doses. This was tested on captopril, a drug used for the treatment of heart failure. Well done Sangeeta!

Why not submit your article to Analytical Methods today!

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Analytical Research Forum 2010

The Analytical Research Forum was held at Loughborough University this year. We were in excellent company, as we were sharing the campus with many young teams from numerous sports on training camps, and in particular the World Rope-Skipping Championships!

The keynote speakers included Gary Eiceman from New Mexico State University, US who gave a fascinating talk on the possibilites of ion-mobilty mass spectrometry, and some thoughts on what the future holds for this technique. Read one of recent articles in Analyst.

Ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) became a bit of theme with further discussion from Perdita Barran on the use of nano-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and IM-MS for examining biological systems in the gas phase.

Perdita was also presented with the 2009 Joseph Black award for her developments in the field of mass spectrometry, especially ion-mobility techniques, and the application of these techniques to biological macromolecules and their gas phase interactions.

Look out for the Emerging Investigators Issue in Analyst early next year, which Perdita is co-Guest Editing with Christy Haynes.

Fingerprinting and forensics was another popular theme of the conference, with a very impressive keynote from David Russell from the University of East Anglia. He updated delegates on the methods his group have developed to detect drugs and metabolites on fingerprints. The  method of combining magnetic microparticles or gold nanoparticles with antibodies is so powerful, you can expect to see this approach in use in the near future – drug-drivers beware! Read his article on these methods in Analyst.

Brett Paull, Analytical Methods Editor-in-ChiefAnalytical Methods Editor-in-Chief, Brett Paull gave the final keynote talk on the Wednesday morning, on the topic of monolithic materials for separation science. 

Other talks which were also impressive included “Ion mobility-mass spectrometry of 3-D supramolecular architectures” by Martin De Cecco from the University of Edinburgh and “Spatially standardized cell biology” by Jonathan West from ISAS, Dortmund, Germany.

The social and networking side of ARF is however just as important as the science, and there were plenty of opportunities for this too. The quiz held in the bar on the Monday night required a combination of largely musical knowledge with a small amount of chemistry! This was most abely won by Perdita Barran’s group from the University of Edinburgh. The conference dinner was also traditionally held on the Tuesday evening.

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Analytical Methods now in Scopus!

From this week, I am delighted to say that you will now be able to find Analytical Methods articles in Scopus!

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

Analytical Methods publishes the latest in new and improved methods for the practical application of analytical science. Read the latest issue now!

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Microfluidic on-chip testing

Continuous flowing inlets deliver essential nutrients to the tissue in the microfluidic device

A microfluidic device for tissue biopsy culture and interrogation
Abigail Webster, Charlotte E. Dyer, Stephen J. Haswell and John Greenman, Anal. Methods, 2010
DOI: 10.1039/c0ay00293c

Charlotte Dyer and colleagues at the University of Hull have designed a microfluidic device that can maintain tissue cultures for at least three days – much longer than previous designs, and long enough to perform drug testing.  This has the potential to reduce the need for animal testing and improve personalised medicine.

“The tissue is maintained in the device with continuous flow systems delivering essential nutrients and removing waste products in a highly controllable manner and with highly sensitive monitoring,” explains Dyer.

Her team tested the system using both normal and cancerous colon tissue, showing for the first time that a tumour biopsy sample can be maintained and responds to external stimuli, such as drugs.  They now intend to test other tissue types, and use the device to test the response of individual patient biopsy tissue samples to chemotherapeutic drugs.

To read Harriet Brewerton’s full news article, go to Highlights in Chemical Biology.

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