Author Archives: Steven Miles

More details on swine flu and testing with chromatography

Following yesterday’s post about swine flu testing with chromatography, there’s been numerous articles, posts, and papers offered up about the swine flu break out.swine flu vaccine

We’ve compiled some of these here, and invite you to keep us informed of anything you come across that may be of interest – simply submit your material below.

First, for all of the latest from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the swine flu, click here.

For information about how Thin Layer Chromatography is used to detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals, including Tamiflu, click here.

For an article from TheScientist.com about biotech’s response to swine flu, click here.

For an article from the Wall Street Journal about the need for rapid tests, click here.

Chromatography used for testing Swine Flu

UPDATE: Article from TheScientist.com – Can biotech tackle swine flu? – click here to read

For decades, scientists have been using Thin Layer Chromatography, HPLC, gas, and other forms of chromatography to study swine influenza.

Scientists working on swine fluHere is just one example. In October of 1985, a team from the Department of Neurology at The Medical University of South Carolina published “Lipid content of swine influenza and other vaccines” – here’s a couple of excerpts:

ABSTRACT: An analysis of the lipids in swine influenza vaccines was performed, comparing six different lots of swine influenza, other influenza and noninfluenza vaccines.
Cholesterol content and phospholipid content varied greatly, but there were no major differences between the types of vaccines. Appreciable amounts of phosphatidylethanolamine were found in only one swine influenza vaccine. The major phospholipids of influenza vaccines were phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin and phosphatidic acid. A detectable amount of phosphatidylserine was not found in any swine influenza vaccine, but was present in two of three nonswine influenza vaccines. Only two of six swine influenza vaccines showed trace amounts of ganglioside. However, larger quantities of galactocerebroside were found in all
influenza vaccines examined, including swine influenza vaccines.

…

Neutral lipids were separated on silica gel thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates developed in light petroleum ether/diethyl ether (96:4, v/v) and visualized by exposure to iodine vapors.
Phospholipids were separated by two-dimensional TLC using high performance TLC (HPTLC) plates. After application, samples were chromatographed in C/M/concentrated ammonia (65:35:5, v/v/v) to the top of the plate plus an additional 10 min. HPTLC plates were air-dried and held in vacuo overnight over P205 to reactivate the silica gel. Chromatography in the second direction was performed in chloroform/acetone/methanol/acetic acid/water (5:2:1:1:0.5, v/v/v/v/v). After being air-dried, phospholipids were visualized by exposure to iodine vapors, matched to standards and marked. After sublimation of I2, marked areas were carefully scraped from the glass backing, charred and assayed for liberated phosphate by the method of Ames {27}. Prior to TLC, aliquots were withdrawn and assayed in the same manner for total phospholipid determination.

 Click Here to Access the complete paper.

Click Here to learn more about high quality Thin Layer Chromatography plates and accessories.

Chromatography for everyone

Whenever people ask what we do, our normal response is, “We manufacture the best Thin Layer Chromatography products in the world.”

Which leads to either the blank stare or “Oh yea, I remember separating color from leaves once.”leaf

Well, our friends at Do It Science have posted a step-by-step method anyone can use to separate the color in leaves.

Click Here for the easy to follow instructions – great for parents, teachers, and others who want to share the basic principles of chromatography.

Separation of Lipids via Thin Layer Chromatography

This post comes to us from “Biochem write up”

Intro:
The aim of this practical is to carry out TLC in which the substances we wish to separate are absorbed onto the thin layer. Lipids are determined by isolation and the ability to purify the substance. Due to the way the substances interact with the matrix in different ways we are able to seperate them. Substances which interact strongly with the matrix but not with the solvent will move very slowly and those soluble in the solvent will dissolve easily and be carried along the solvent.
thin layer chromatography phospholipids
Egg yolk contains trioleine, cholesterol palmitate and phosphatidylethonolamine, The most polar of the three elements is the second element. It hardly moves up the TLC because of the presence of several polar groups; phosphate groups, amine groups and several oxygens , and cholesterol palmitate being the most non polar.

 

Free Book: “Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography”

Our friends at “Scientist-At-Work” are offering the book “Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography” as a free download!

“Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography Interfacial Phenomena in Chromatography presents a combination of chromatographic theory, numerical simulation and experimental data. The text covers the interaction and size exclusion methods of separation, identification and characterization of substances in solution. It provides practical information and analysis on the most effective mechanisms of interfacial chromatography, along with its expanding possibilities for biomedical, industrial and environmental applications.

Click Here to visit Scientist-At-Work and get the free download.

Tell us what you would like to see!

Welcome to the first blog dedicated to Thin Layer Chromatography!

We are committed to enhancing communication in the chromatography world and we would love to hear from you.

Please let us know what questions you have, what topics you would like to discuss, and what insights you would like to share.

If you would like, we can even set up a video response to your questions, where our team can show you best practices when it comes to chromatography and offer great tips to help with your separations.

Let us know what you want – we’re listening.

Has John Cleese seen this chromatography video?

As you probably know, there’s this fun video that’s been making the rounds the past few months:

So the question now is, has John Cleese seen this?

Here’s the evidence that indicates he may have:

1) I sent a comment to his blog which needs to have approval before being published, after weeks of waiting, the submission is now posted – click here for exhibit A (scroll down to comment #12)

2) I just received a google alert showing that the video was added to the Cleese page on Funny or Die – click here for exhibit B (scroll down to the 9th video – feel free to give it a “funny” vote while you’re there)

So, what do you think? Have you seen or heard anything that indicates he (or any of the other members of Monty Python) have seen this video?

Thin Layer Chromatography advocated in Forensic Magazine

Oliver Grundmann, Ph.D. and Ian Tebbett, Ph.D.   have published a piece in the February/March issue of Forensic Magazine in which they advocate the use of Thin Layer Chromatography. Here’s an excerpt:

Forensic Magazine“Other methods for the detection of mycotoxins include rapid screening by thin layer chromatography (TLC) as well as radio immunoassay (RIA) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in serum, urine, gastric, and stool samples. A recently introduced ELISA for amanitine has been evaluated for its use in determining Amanita phalloides poisonings in urine, serum, and fecal samples. The ELISA-based approach yielded sufficient sensitivity and specificity compared to LC/MS and RIA methods in urine samples if analysis occurred within the first 36 hours after ingestion. Since ELISA kits do not require complex extraction procedures or the use of radioactivity, this might provide a time- and cost-effective alternative.

As low-tech as TLC might appear to be, it has been frequently used for qualitative identification of a variety of mycotoxins in biological fluids. Orellanine, a toxin from the mushroom Cortinarius orellanus or Fool’s webcap, has been identified by TLC in serum and urine after photodecomposition to orelline.”

Moving to a four day week!

It’s official!

As part of Analtech’s ongoing efforts to conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprint, we will start working four-day weeks in May!

This means a change in hours for us (10 hours a day for four days instead of 8 hours a day for five days) – but we don’t forsee any changes in the quality or timeliness of delivery for our customers.

What we do see is one less day a week for employees to commute to work and one less day of running heating/air conditioning.

The men and women here are pretty excited about the move – for us it means one more day a week to spend with our friends and family.

What about you? What is your company doing to conserve energy? 

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