The Pittcon Editor’s Award was sadly absent in Atlanta, but that doesn’t mean that exciting technology wasn’t forthcoming – quite the opposite. Two products caught the collective eye of The Analytical Scientist team – and they couldn’t be more different.
LIGHTNIRS
What? Functional near-infrared spectroscopy system (fNIRS)
Why? Enables flexible and portable brain imaging research. The wearable array of fNIRS sensors (powered by a backpack battery) allows researchers to delve into brain activity – through blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals from the cerebral cortex – in real time. LIGHTNIRS takes brain research out of its traditional setting and even allows up to four headsets to be connected together for multi-brain imaging. The future? Clearly, controlling robots with our minds...
Who? Shimadzu
ZipChip
What? Capillary electrophoresis (CE) and electrospray ionization integrated on a glass microfluidic chip.
Why? Efficiently separates complex biological samples in three minutes or less before direct electrospray injection into a standard mass spectrometer for analysis. Typically, a single simple method covers a wide range of analytes – from small molecules to intact proteins and anti-body drug conjugates – and works in diverse matrices, such as growth media, cell lysates, blood, and urine, at very low sample sizes (in the nanoliter range). And let’s not forget “one step prep” – most samples require only electrolyte dilution; de-salting occurs on chip.
Who? 908 Devices (908devices.com/products/zipchip)
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