August 2013 Issue of The Analytical Scientist

As we prepare to launch The Analytical Scientist Innovation Award, the articles in this month’s issue unwittingly form links in the innovation chain – from idea to marketed product – contributed by people who have been there, done that.

A new biosensor cradle and app take us one step closer to portable and more universal analytical access. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a cradle accessory for the iPhone that aligns its integral camera with a series of optical components to analyze a primed slide.

A global, online risk-assessment tool offers a more intelligent way to protect against emerging food fraud and contamination

An integrated approach to uncovering distinct metabolite profile shifts in diabetes progression. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is on a rampant rise across the globe, making it a critical area of study for metabolomics and biomarker discovery.

A discussion with Dreyfus Prize winner R. Graham Cooks. It has been a very good year for visionary mass spectrometrists.

The talk of TED but a few months ago, uChek, an iPhone-based urinalysis system, came almost immediately under fire from the FDA. There’s an app(roval) for that…

Founded by frustrated student Mark Hahnel in 2011, figshare has blossomed to offer a cloud-based publishing solution to otherwise wasted research outputs

Academia is fundamentally broken. You’re wasting your time producing data that will never be published because the scientist down the hall didn’t publish it either. Why aren’t we more concerned?

Every day, analytical chemists are making a practical difference to health and well-being. In our country, we face serious challenges in making this difference and the returns on a small investment in analytical science in Ghana would be enormous.

Two tissue engineering technologies provide realistic in vivo facsimiles of disease for high-throughput drug analysis.

Mass spectrometry (MS) approaches are increasing our understanding of how DNA is regulated in real life.

The use of submicrometer particles in chromatography, viewed as heresy when first suggested a decade ago, is today seen as a possible quantum leap in separation efficiency. This is a first‑hand account of the origins of the idea, the experiments that yielded crystal-clear data and the literature on slip flow that provided an explanation of the remarkable findings.

Laboratory design can be conducive – or unconducive – to creativity and productivity. Can today’s lab layout and rationale, a legacy from 60 years ago, be improved upon? I say yes, and go back even further in the history of the laboratory for inspiration.

Understanding the motivations of your staff through the combination of mindfulness and motivation theory can help you improve teamwork and boost the vitality of your staff.

Modern narrow bore columns have made chromatographers lazy when it comes to stationary phase selection. Here’s how getting back to the basics in gas chromatography by using selectivity can address challenging separations and reduce analysis time.

To meet the biopharmaceutical industry’s need for improved analytical solutions, Malvern has developed a new approach.

Acoustic liquid handling prevents a pernicious error that is wasting time, costing money and generating misleading results in drug development.

Richard D. Smith reflects on 40 years in mass spectrometry following his Distinguished Contribution award at ASMS 2013.

Peptide mapping method uses a novel high resolution column with new UHPLC technology.

Detailed hydrocarbon analysis (DHA) is a separation technique used by a variety of laboratories involved in the petrochemical industry for analysis and identification of individual components as well as for bulk hydrocarbon characterisation of a particular sample.

Ranking the 100 most influential people in the analytical sciences. Which researcher has most transformed the field? Which CEO’s company has introduced the most powerful new technology? Who are the role models and thought leaders that are inspiring change in the field?