Highly concentrated nucleic acid and protein samples must be diluted before they can be read on most absorbance-based spectrophotometers, and conversely, diluted samples must be concentrated to within the spectrophotometer’s dynamic range before reading.

Byron Brehm-Stecher, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, heads the Rapid Microbial Detection & Control Laboratory that works to ensure the safety of the food supply through improved detection and inactivation of food-borne pathogens. While the laboratory uses a combination of several different analytical tools for rapid detection, a key emphasis lies on pre-analytical sample preparation (sample prep), which is the separation and concentration of target cells from complex samples and removal of interfering matrix components prior to detection. He talks about the common challenges associated with sample prep and what an ideal sample prep process should involve.

Microwave Assisted Extraction offers significant benefits over traditional extraction techniques for PCB determination from environmental samples including higher sample throughput, time savings, reduced solvent, and great reproducibility.

A much discussed issue related to Near Infrared Analysis (NIR) is the necessity of sample preparation. Ground and unground samples of wheat were analyzed to determine how truly necessary it to homogenize samples before NIR analysis.

Sample preparation is an essential step in many analyses and the importance of accurate sample preparation techniques cannot be overstated. Get the sample prep survey results here.