Latest Videos

With the increasing use of nanotechnology in food and consumer products, there is a need for reliable detection and characterization methods for nanoparticles (NPs) in complex matrices. NPs often interact with each other or with their surroundings leading to aggregation, adhesion to surfaces or dissolution in dispersion solvents. Accurate and precise characterization of metrics such as size, shape, particle mass and number concentration therefore remains a challenging analytical task. Asymmetric flow field flow fractionation (AF4) hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a powerful technique for the detection and characterization of inorganic NPs in complex matrices. In order to acquire accurate data the AF4 separation method and settings must be optimized for each new sample matrix and analyte NP combination. Furthermore, additional information obtained by single particle (sp) ICP-MS analysis of collected fractions or an imaging method such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are necessary for trouble shooting and for independent verification of results. spICP-MS as stand-alone technique is a powerful screening method for many inorganic NPs. A number of examples where AF4-ICP-MS and single particle ICP-MS were applied for the detection and characterization of NPs in food and biological matrices will be presented including: • Silver NPs in chicken meat • Silicon dioxide NPs in tomato soup • Aluminum-containing NPs in noodles • Gold NPs in cells

Reducing development times and maintenance cost is now easier than ever if we integrate existing technologies from other disciplines.

Present diagnostic procedures and therapeutic strategies solid tumours rely on the detection and targeting of specific marker molecules to classify the tumour and to design an efficient therapy.

The presented work deals with the development of a fragment based strategy for dual-target drug discovery.

Seth Crosby, Washington University School of Medicine, discusses both bench and informatic methods used to increase specificity in the apprehension of rare cfDNA alleles.

Next generation DNA sequencing has revolutionised biology. However, the low cost and relative ease in generating draft genome assemblies has led to the production of many genome sequences of questionable quality or applicability.

As currently applied, digital PCR can only be used to detect known mutations at single sequence positions, for 'hotspot' mutations.