Article
Concern over research involving the creation of bird flu that spreads more easily is in the news again. An international group of scientists published an outline Aug. 6 in Science and Nature for similar experiments that could involve even stronger strains of the type of bird flu known as H7N9.
Top 5 Signs that You Should Replace Your Gas Chromatograph
Top 5 Signs That You Should Service or Replace Your Class II Biological Safety Cabinet
In the past decade, a growing body of research has focused upon the cost of sedentary lifestyles and health outcomes rising from long hours spent sitting at work. More and more employees are considering alternatives to traditional desks.
Instrument noise, particularly from cooling devices, can take its toll on laboratory workers. Noise interferes with conversations but can also induce stress, leading to irritability, anxiety, and poor performance. Lab workers are particularly susceptible, as decibels in busy labs can add up quickly from refrigerators, freezers, aspirators, fume hoods, and chillers. Noise is therefore an important factor when choosing a chiller.
The contrasting incentives of employers and employees under the Affordable Care Act ultimately may result in increased employee harassment and retaliation claims, two University of Illinois law professors say in a paper they co-wrote.
In 1964, University of Utah chemistry professor J. Calvin Giddings enunciated a theoretical platform, “unified separation science,” that could confer the resolving power of GC to LC. Giddings’ model combined the higher mobile phase diffusion and efficiency of GC with LC’s higher selectivity via orthogonal separation modes. His vision has been made a reality through supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), which uses supercritical or subcritical carbon dioxide as the mobile phase.
“Fun new tools,” particularly in mass detection, have encouraged a new conversation among separation scientists, says Nicholas Hall, national sales director at LECO (St. Joseph, MI). “Every time this occurs, the instrument vendors engage in the equivalent of an arms race, where the battles are fought over specifications— more resolution, greater fragmentation capability.” But the real discussion has recently involved the very nature of chromatography, Hall says. “Just as important as the tool used for detection on the back end is the time and optimization that goes on at the front end.” Thus the resurgence of basic chromatography optimization, the application of solid analytical chemistry, and a focus on chromatography as the optimization of mass spectrometers. “If you have good separation and good sample preparation, and that goes into the MS, then you’re really optimizing the mass spectrometer’s capabilities.”
Our EXPERT: Kimberly Moser Instructional Laboratory Manager University of Oklahoma
When to upgrade your mass spectrometer (MS) varies from user to user but there are a few main indicators that are common to many situations, the experts say.
