Clean Screen Posters at International Clarke Conference (London)

We are proud to announce the presentation of two posters at the prestigious International Clarke Conference (May 25th 2011). This conference is hosted by The Royal Pharmaceutical Society in London and is to be held in honor of the great tome in Forensic Toxicology first published by E C. Clarke. UCT has a long history in supporting the field of Forensic Toxicology over the last 25 years, and takes great pleasure in being associated with this meeting. This conference will be attended by forensic toxicologists from UK, Europe, and beyond.

The posters being presented represent collaborative work by Dr. Jeff Hackett and the staff of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory. This work is based on the world famous Clean Screen® DAU SPE column. This SPE sorbent utilized in these posters was shown to be highly efficient in the extraction, purification, and analysis of Amphetamine (oral fluid) and Phenazepam (whole blood). The Clean Screen DAU can also be used to analyze illicit drugs, prescription medication, and over the counter pharmaceuticals from a variety of matrices such as urine, blood, and tissues by a variety of instrumental techniques (GC-MS, LC, and LC-MS/MS).

UCT announces extraction method for Spice (JWH-018 & JWH-073)

A group of new drugs is on the scene for forensic toxicologists to isolate, identify and quantify, the Spice drugs (JWH-018,073 etc). As recent studies have shown these drugs metabolize very quickly into their hydroxylated forms. Until very recently the choice of derivative for these compounds has been unclear. With resources from UCT, scientists have used MSTFA to derivatize the hydroxylated form of JWH-018. This compound can easily be used by simple heating and cooling prior to injection. The MSTFA derivative forms a compound which does not interfere with the parent, and can be resolved using a standard GC-MS instrument in EI mode. Chromatogram and mass spectra are shown here for illustrative purposes.

Here is our current method for extracting these compounds: Synthetic Cannabinoids LC-MS/MS and GC-MS using Clean Screen® THC Urine

UCT columns used in the analysis of tissue samples by Dr. Jenkins and Jahusic

Forensic Toxicologists have long struggled with the problem of analyzing drugs in tissue samples. In a paper published in Journal of Analytical Toxicology scientists at U Mass Memorial Hospital have shown how SPE can be used to solve this issue. Employing UCT's Clean Screen DAU SPE columns, the UMass team was able to show that successful analysis over a wide range of drugs can be performed on tissue homogenates in post-mortem cases. Clean Screen DAU columns are famously recognized for use in the isolation of drugs in urine and blood. This paper demonstrates their applicability to tissue specimens too.

Juhascik MP, Jenkins AJ "Comparison of tissue homogenate analytical results with and without standard addition" J.Anal. Toxicol. 35(3): 179-182 (2011)