LabLogic User Meeting 2010 - a successful and enjoyable event
12 November 2010
A big thank you goes out to all of the attendees and presenters at the very successful LabLogic User Meeting this year! All of the positive feedback has been gratefully received by everyone here at LabLogic and we are glad that the event was so productive.
The 2010 User Meeting was well attended by a good variety of different customers from all over Europe, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark and Finland.
The diversity of attendees paved the way for lively discussions, very helpful suggestions, interactive training sessions and a fun couple of evening's entertainment.
To follow on from the event, the following abstracts provide a summary of the topics presented and discussed. Attendees can obtain the full presentations by contacting us.
We all hope to see you again at the next User Meeting, the dates for which will be announced in due course.
The New β-RAM Model 5
The β-RAM 5 is the most advanced Radio-HPLC detector on the market.
LabLogic have led the way for radio chromatographers for the past 25 years. This presentation will outline the features and benefits of the β-RAM 5 and go into the driving forces behind its development in an ever changing market.
The Future of On-Line Radiochromatography Instrumentation
Since the 1980s, on-line radiochromatography measurements have formed an integral part of metabolite profiling studies and are nowadays coupled with advanced HPLC, UHPLC and MS analysis techniques. Currently, the commercially available on-line detectors are being pushed to their operational limits as demands for better sensitivity and higher resolution are ever-increasing, along with the added pressure from desirable shorter run-times. Part of this demand is being fuelled by the necessity to work with much lower levels of β-radioactivity and so a significant improvement in the signal to noise ratio will be of paramount importance in the near future. In this talk, the scientific processes behind on-line scintillation counting are described and results presented of an ongoing research collaboration between the University of Sheffield and LabLogic.
The collaborative R&D programme aims to identify key areas for on-line radio-detector instrument development and improvement through appealing to both the fundamental physics of the measurement process and the latest technological advances. The research is seeking to reassess the status of the current instrument technology via a combination of theoretical and experimental studies, which are being supported by a constant stream of communication with LabLogic's end users. Use is being made of state-of-the-art measurement techniques normally applied to advanced experimental particle physics. To date, a number of potential areas for the improvement of LabLogic's current β-RAM® Model 5 instrument have been identified and recent focus has been on understanding the physical behaviour of the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) used for signal detection, with a view to being able to give better differentiation between genuine counts and those from noise and other background sources.
The culmination of the work will see future generations of LabLogic's β-RAM® on-line radiochromatography detector leading the way in terms of resolution and reproducibility, as well as providing a detailed insight into the fundamental scientific processes that are in play.
The Growing Role of PET in Pharmaceutical Development
Successful Pharmaceutical development relies on interdisciplinary collaborations. Although positron emission tomography (PET) has always played it's part in this, it has been peripheral until recently. It would appear that PET is now becoming a pivotal discipline in this quest.
LabLogic, has worked, and continues to do so, very closely with leading PET facilities globally where our innovative solutions are facilitating improved efficiency and compliance.
Debra ADME LIMS Update
An introduction to Debra - our laboratory management system - which can be used for in vivo ADME and Bioanalytical studies, as well as Protein Binding and Metabolite Profiling work, together with an early look into the future of Debra 6.
2011 will see the launch of the first major update of Debra since the initial Windows release in 1996. A brand new ribbon navigation, support for multi-site companies as well as the ability to easily exchange data between contract laboratories and sponsors are some of the key new features.
Debra Presentation
A evaluation of DEBRA LIMS system within the pre-clinical DMPK department in GSK.
Mark reviews the recent evaluation of Debra at GSK, Ware and examines the potential time savings and benefits of using the system within their department.
Debra Pooling Module
Debra 5.6: Use of the Pooling and Splitting module for profiling studies at Covance.
This talk is an overview of the use of Debra in Metabolism at Covance. It covers more specifically the use of the Pooling and Splitting module for analytical profiling studies, the problems and formatting issues we've encountered and finally a brief overview of future development and use of the this module in conjunction with Laura software.
Latest Developments in LSC
Hidex offers vial and microplate based liquid scintillation counters. Main focus of the presentation is Hidex 300 SL automatic TDCR liquid scintillation counter and the new technological innovations that it offers. The ease of use and convenienve of the TDCR method for quench correction is described. Also new developments for increased sample capacity are presented.
New features and functionality in Laura 4.1
Laura 4.1 is the latest evolution of our radiochromatography software system. Driven by input from our users Laura 4.1 incorporates many new features including, additional instrument support, enhanced data extraction capability and exiting new reporting functionality. This presentation will give an overview of the major improvements.
Radiochromatography and the Waters Acquity
Introduction to Waters Acquity UPLC, new product developments and an example of how to use and the benefits of UPLC with the β-RAM 5 detector.
Agilent 1200 Infinity Series
An introduction into the new Agilent HPLC Portfolio demonstrating the flexibility of the new 1220, 1260, 1290 systems. From Conventional to Sub 2 Micron. The Infinity series offers a system for any budget / application.
Importance of MS and radiochromatographic data in a metabolite characterisation strategy
Metabolite characterisation is essential in supporting the development of new chemical entities. Metabolite information is used to contribute to the data supporting safety of the compound, ensure there has been sufficient exposure in pre-clinical species, and to meet the regulatory requirements to identify significant metabolites in human. A number of chromatographic and spectrometric techniques are used to characterise metabolites, with the major of these being radiochromatography and mass spectrometry. I will highlight the necessity for multiple analytical techniques and the use of the data in a metabolite characterisation strategy.
Active Counting Mode (ACM): A New On-line Counting System
LabLogic have recently introduced the β-RAM® Model 5 radio-HPLC detection system, which includes the option of Active Count Mode (ACM™), a new online counting system with 'unrivalled limits of detection' and 'improved resolution and peak definition' compared to older systems. ACM enhances counting conditions in real time. Following the detection of a peak, ACM optimises scintillant flow rate, which impacts upon analyte residence time and improves signal-to-noise.
We have evaluated this new technology by assessing the comparability of online detection between standard radio-HPLC and ACM radio-HPLC, as well as standard radio-UPLC and ACM radio-UPLC. ACM appeared to improve peak resolution in some analyses but some replicates displayed marked variation. An improvement to ACM could be a scaling down of the background threshold setting, from 0-10 to 0-2. Further ACM evaluations could encompass the comparability of ACM with off-line radioactivity counting techniques.
Stacy Sample Tracking
An introduction to Stacy - a flexible and easily configurable radioisotope inventory and sample tracking software. This presentation will introduce the software to new users and explain how the system has been used in a variety of environments from sample tracking of Debra samples, radiosynthesis and in decommissioning a nuclear reactor.