Thermo Fisher Scientific GC/MS and LC/MS Instrumentation selected by
the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) to ensure food safety

The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), an executive agency of the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), has selected Thermo Scientific GC-MS and LC-MS systems for accurate, rapid and cost-efficient analysis of food products.

Fera currently manages more than 600 research projects, analyzing more than 50,000 plant and food samples a year. It is the National Reference Laboratory for chemicals in food such as mycotoxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals from food contact materials, dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food and feed and some pesticides and veterinary drugs. The agency is now using the Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum GC-MS/MS and Exactive™ high-performance benchtop LC-MS systems to analyze food, feed, water and air samples for potential contamination. As a result, Fera has benefited from substantial time savings as well as accurate and consistently reliable results.

The use of pesticides to protect crops and maintain efficiency of production is commonplace in agriculture.  Governments, food producers and food retailers have a public responsibility to ensure that any residues occurring in foods for human consumption are at, or below, statutory maximum residue levels (MRLs). Analytical instrumentation must be capable of testing a wide array of foods for a large number of pesticides at concentrations at or below 0.01 mg/kg in an accurate, rapid and cost-effective manner. Fera selected the TSQ Quantum GC-MS/MS based on the system's ability to perform targeted screening for low concentrations of pesticide residues in foodstuffs. The high sensitivity and selectivity of the instrument has enabled Fera to efficiently achieve 0.01 mg/kg target reporting limits, providing reliable and consistent results, with almost no repeat analyses required. Fera uses the system in combination with Thermo Scientific Xcalibur software for data processing, resulting in significantly increased throughput.

The food testing industry is increasingly turning toward holistic food monitoring, an approach often referred to as profiling or screening. This requires a detailed understanding of what is naturally and normally present in foods so that it is possible to monitor the food chain for abnormalities. To accomplish this, Fera chose the Exactive high performance benchtop LC-MS based on its capacity for high resolution and high mass accuracy, enabling detailed, non-targeted screening of food samples. Another key advantage of selecting the Exactive was the system's complementarity with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, which is a key technique in Fera's laboratory. Fera has not only benefited from the system's capacity to analyze samples with high matrix content, but also its reliability and ease-of-use, all of which have resulted in significant time savings. Data are processed and de-convoluted using the advanced Thermo Scientific SIEVE software, further simplifying the analysis of results.

Adrian Charlton, head of chemical and biochemical profiling at Fera, comments "The Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum GC-MS/MS and Exactive high performance benchtop LC-MS systems have become an integral part of our laboratory and have enabled Fera to make significant progress towards ensuring a sustainable food chain and protecting consumers from biological and chemical risks within food."

For further information about Thermo Fisher Scientific solutions and the wide range of applications for food safety, e-mail: analyze@thermofisher.com or view website:  www.thermoscientific.com/foodsafety  Refer to next page 

Thermo Fisher Scientific TraceFinder
1.1 routine quantitative LC-MS software

Thermo Scientific's TraceFinder 1.1, is its latest software for clinical research, forensic toxicology, food safety and environmental testing laboratories performing routine, high-throughput quantitation by LC-MS. The software retains all of the capabilities of its predecessor and has been expanded to include complete integration with the Thermo Scientific Transcend system. It is also compatible with all Thermo Scientific quantitative mass spectrometry platforms, including the Thermo Scientific Exactive and LTQ family of systems.

"Our customers asked for easy-to-use software for routine LC-MS quantitation that integrates seamlessly with their front-end system of choice - the Transcend System - and all of the Thermo Scientific quantitative LC-MS systems, including the LTQ series and the Exactive," said Ian Jardine, vice president of global R&D, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We enhanced TraceFinder 1.1 specifically to meet these needs, and now customers have one software solution for method development, data acquisition, data processing and report generation that they can use with our Thermo Scientific TSQ Series triple stage quadrupole system, the Exactive, Orbitrap or one of our ion trap systems. This will enable them to significantly improve laboratory productivity." 

The TraceFinder™ software is designed to make routine LC-MS quantitation and targeted analysis simple, fast and productive. The software offers a four-step, workflow-driven method setup and fully automated data acquisition, data processing and reporting. It includes an extensive choice of preconfigured methods and more than 50 report templates, as well as compound data stores for selected reaction monitoring (SRM) experiments in environmental testing, food safety residue analysis, clinical research and forensic toxicology applications. Data review is easy with the ability to specify and report multiple flags. To protect the integrity of analytical data, the software includes a rights-based secure user login system.

The Transcend™ system combines the power of automated online sample preparation and multiplexing to increase throughput without compromising data quality or sensitivity. The unique multiplexing technology of the Transcend system brings the productivity of up to four separate, parallel LC systems to a single mass spectrometer, enabling clinical research, forensic toxicology, food testing and environmental laboratories to achieve a four-fold increase in sample throughput. Thermo Scientific TurboFlow Technology automates sample preparation and can reduce the time spent on this task by up to 95 percent.

For further information about the TraceFinder 1.1, e-mail: analyze@thermo.com or view website: www.thermoscientific.com/tracefinder  Refer to next page 

Wyatt Technology's Möbius™ mobility instrument
facilitates protein net charge computation at low concentrations

Wyatt Technology Corporation, the world leader in instrumentation for absolute macromolecular characterization and software, offer its Möbius™ electrophoretic mobility instrument for measuring precise protein charges. The innovative optical design of the Möbius boosts the sensitivity of mobility measurements, enabling protein net charge characterization at much lower concentrations than previously possible. This unique capability is illustrated in a new application note, titled "Möbius Computation of Protein Net Charge from Electrophoretic Mobility", which is available to download free-of-charge via: http://www.wyatt.com/literature/application-notes/mobius.html

Protein molecules carry charges that are influenced by their environment, amino acid sequence, ionic strength and the aqueous solvent pH in which they are dissolved. The net charge carried by protein molecules is of enormous scientific interest since it affects the behavior of the molecules. As the ionic strength of the solution increases, for example, more counter ions are present in the vicinity of the protein molecules and the mobility generally decreases due to the electrophoretic effect. However, measuring protein charge has been a challenging task for conventional phase analysis light scattering (PALS) instruments that can only provide measurements at high concentrations and at high voltages. In addition, undesirable interactions can often occur, such as that between the proteins and the capillary walls, which diminish the reliability of results.

This new application note demonstrates how the Möbius overcomes the limitations of traditional PALS methods, eliminates undesirable interactions and facilitates protein charge measurements at low concentrations--all without damaging the protein itself. The Möbius mobility instrument is capable of carrying out protein net charge measurements with a moderate antibody concentration of 1.0 mg/mL, which are not possible with conventional PALS instruments.

The Möbius incorporates several patent-pending innovations to realize fast and reliable measurements of electrophoretic mobilities. The key to the successful measurement of a proteins' mobility lies in a much shortened measurement time and the availability of sufficient data to average away molecular diffusion. The Möbius achieves these goals through massive parallelism of its light scattering detection and extends the measurable molecular size range below 2 nm. A reduced measurement time of fewer than 60 seconds, in most cases, contributes to excellent preservation of precious and fragile protein samples. The instrument also features a temperature control capability, making it suitable for performing automated temperature studies.

For further information or to obtain a copy of the new application note, view website: www.wyatt.com or e-mail: info@wyatt.com  Refer to page 254

New 1-Liter unit offers rapid, high-capacity filtration of cell culture media

Thermo Scientific's Nalgene 0.1 Micron PES Filter line has a new 1-liter unit, offering customers the broadest size selection on the market for 0.1 micron vacuum filtration of cell culture media to prevent mycoplasma contamination. The new unit incorporates a large 90 mm diameter membrane and a proprietary Rapid-Flow™ membrane support plate to facilitate rapid, high-capacity filtration rates. The Nalgene® PES 0.1 micron filter unit is ideal for use in academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology cell culture labs.

Along with the new 1-liter unit, the Nalgene 0.1 micron PES filters are also available in 150 mL, 250 mL and 500 mL capacities. By choosing the ideal filter size for their application, customers can reduce costs, save storage space and avoid waste.

The Nalgene 0.1 micron PES units effectively filter media and buffers to protect against a loss of culture viability due to contamination, particularly mycoplasma contamination, which can destroy valuable cell cultures. While sterile techniques and routine testing reduce contamination, 0.1 micron final filtration provides an enhanced level of protection. Additionally, the filters' low protein-binding PES membrane reduces the potential for removing critical components from the media during filtration, and low extractable levels ensure that the solution remains unchanged. Built to the well-known Nalgene quality standards, the guaranteed leak-proof filter bottle cap maintains the pH of filtered media.

The Thermo Scientific Nalgene 0.1 micron PES filter units provide the last line of defense against mycoplasma contamination while offering enhanced flow capabilities in a broad volume range.

For further information, view website: www.thermoscientific.com/filtration

New Thermo Scientific Revco UxF Series
of ultra-low temperature freezers maximize sample
storage capacity while minimizing energy usage

Thermo Scientific's Revco UxF Series of ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers have been designed to provide laboratories with an energy efficient approach to cold storage. The Revco® UxF portfolio incorporates your choice of a high-performance or energy saving modes, which are easily selected by the user via the intuitive touch-screen interface. Providing outstanding sample protection while using significantly less energy than previous generation Revco models, this new range of freezers helps laboratories to obtain an energy-efficient approach to maintaining sample viability during long- and short-term cold storage.

In addition to providing efficient operation, the Revco UxF Series of ULT freezers offers temperature uniformity throughout the internal chamber. As a result, users can maximize the use of all available space with the knowledge that all samples will be held at the pre-set optimal temperature.   

The Thermo Scientific Revco UxF Series of ULT freezers are ideal for any users looking to minimize the energy usage of their applications, while maintaining temperature uniformity.

For further information about this new ULT freezer portfolio, view website: www.thermoscientific.com/revcouxf  Refer to next page