UCT at Alabama State Association of Forensic Sciences (August 7-10 2012)

UCT has always been proud to support the Forensic Sciences community and has done so for over 25 years as the world's premier SPE sorbent manufacturer. UCT often  lends its support to the Forensic Scientists in local regions and this year UCT will be attending the annual meeting of the Alabama State Association of Forensic Sciences held at Orange Beach, AL ( August 7-10 2012).  Our local sales representative will be on hand throughout the conference to answer questions and queries regarding Solid Phase Extraction, applications, and methods that will increase productivity and reduce turnaround times in Forensic Toxicology Laboratories. Please visit the UCT booth and learn how we can assist in making your laboratory more efficient.

UCT at Florida Pesticides and Residue Workshop

UCT will be presenting at this year's annual  FPRW meeting (Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop) TradeWinds Island Grand, St. Pete Beach, Florida  July 15th-18th.  Accompanying Michael Telepchak, FPRW president elect, will be Mike Kofel, Don Shelly, Jessica Robertson and Dr. Brian Kinsella.  UCT will be presenting work on the Determination of Carbendazim in Orange Juice by QuEChERS and LC/MS/MS Detection , Determination of PAHs in Fish by QuEChERS Extraction and Dual Layer SPE Cleanup, and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Incorporating Ceramic Homogenizers in the QuEChERS Extraction Method.

As part of the meeting, UCT is having a lunch seminar “Strong or Weak Ion Exchange: Their Impact on Extraction Outcomes” which will be given jointly by Michael Telepchak and Dr. Kinsella. This seminar will greatly assist analysts in their use of solid phase extraction for producing highly efficient methodologies in food testing facilities. Dr. Kinsella will also be discussing the extraction and analysis of dye stuff used in fish samples. This methodology employs the UCT CCX column technology.  As UCT is highly regarded in the area of applications, materials and equipment involved in Quechers and Solid Phase Extraction.   Don Shelly, Mike Kofel, Mike Telepchak, Jessica Robertson and Dr. Kinsella will be on hand at the UCT booth (#38-39) to help and assist with queries regarding food testing analysis throughout this conference.  Please stop by and say hello, and join UCT at the Lunch Seminar.

Highlights from SOFT 2012

At this years meeting of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT) in Boston USA, UCT SPE products were shown for their high quality and efficiency over a wide range of projects. In a presentation given by Caroline Betit (Laurentian University Ontario,Canada), UCT Clean Screen DAU (CSDAU) was demonstrated in the extraction andanalysis of Pentobarbital in decomposed bone samples using GC-MS. Decomposed samples are always difficult for forensic toxicologists to analyze, and a veryclean extract (as produced by the Clean Screen DAU) is valuable in not only identifying drugs but also in quantifying the results.

The analysis of THC and its metabolites is a subject close to the heart of many forensic toxicologists charged with testing samples and interpreting the results, it is very important that samples can be extracted with high efficiency and reproducibility. In a presentation given by Dr. Gary Milman (NIDA, Baltimore, USA), UCT's StyreScreen THC (SSTHC) was shown to fill the need of high efficiency and reproducibility when analyzing samples of not only smoked cannabis but also synthetic cannabis in a clinical study at NIDA. The SSTHC was able to extract Dronabinol as well as THC, THC-OH, and Carboxy-THC from plasma samples using 2dimensional GC-MS.

In the area of post mortem toxicology, the Clean Screen DAU is world renowned for itsability to extract a wide and diverse range of compounds. Among this widerange, the Opiate class of drugs is no stranger to forensic toxicologists, in two presentations from Cuyahoga County Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (Ohio, USA), Claire Kaspar showed how the CSDAU could be used in the analysis of opiates especially heroin in post mortem cases. Her analysis centered on the determination of opiates in brain tissues as well as post mortem blood samples. The presentations showed off the power of the CSDAU in producing very clean extracts from very difficult matrices  In an independent  study undertaken by the Orange County Crime Laboratory (California, USA), Dani Mata demonstrated that the CSDAU in an automated setting can be used to combine 4 separate opiate analyses into 1 single procedure which not only increases productivity, but also efficiency in terms of instrumental time.  The presentation also showed the power of Solid Phase Extraction over Liquid-Liquid Extraction in the toxicology laboratory.

UCT Poster Presentation at SOFT 2012

Hair analysis for the presence of illicit drugs is becoming one of the most challenging types of forensic toxicological analysis. At this years SOFT meeting, Dr. Jeff Hackett will be presenting the results of a collaborative project involving Amphetamines and Synthetic Cathinones in hair samples (Poster P03). In this work, UCT's flagship sorbent Clean Screen DAU (CSDAU206) was employed to produce a highly efficient validated methodology for the simultaneous extraction of 4 Amphetamines (Amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA, and  MDMA) and 9 Synthetic Cathinones (Butylone, ethylone, flephedrone, mephedrone, methylone, methedrone, methcathinone (4-MEC), methylenedioxypyravalerone (MDPV) and pyravalerone) from 10 mg samples of hair. This new methodology which involves a short base digestion time followed by SPE and LC-MS/MS permits limits of quantitation (LOQ) of 0.05 ng/ mg, and detection(LOD) of 0.1 ng/ mg of sample to be achieved with excellent recoveries (greater than 95%) and minimal matrix effects (less than 6%). This newer methodology demonstrates the strength of the DAU sorbent in the analysis of not only familiar drugs but new and novel ones as well.

Excellence in SPE Award 2012

Congratulations to Cindy Burbach, Dr. Thomas G. Rosano, and Robert Sears - the 2012 Excellence in SPE award winner.

UCT SPE Award winners 2012

The much anticipated and highly sought after UCT Award for Excellence in SPE is to be presented this year at the SOFT 2012 meeting in Boston, MA. UCT would like to thank all those who submitted entrees. This years winners have been chosen after much deliberation and discussion among the members of UCT selection committee.

This years first award winner is Dr. Thomas G. Rosano, D-ABFT(Albany Medical Center, NY).  This work developed the use of SPE into the medical examiner setting, where a comprehensive drug screening is an essential analytical tool in the investigation of cause and manner of death.  Dr. Rosano and his team have validated non-targeted and targeted screening assays for drugs and metabolites using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) interfaced with mass spectrometry (MS) in single and tandem stages. For non-targeted screening by UPLC-MS electrospray interface, in-source fragmentation was used along with MS scanning (m/z 80-650) and library search for over 700 drug and metabolite analytes.  Th second award winner is Ms. Cynthia Burbach, MS, Colorado Dept. of Health & Environment, Denver. Ms Burbach's project submission was on the Validation of THC and metabolites in Whole Blood using SPE and LC-MS/MS. In this methodology, THC and it's hyrdroxy and carboxy metabolites were extracted using SPE and analyzed via LC-MS/MS. The SPE method was valid to sub 1 ng/ mL LOD/LOQ with high recoveries and minimal matrix effects. This method is now on the laboratory's book tests for over 40 samples per day. UCT's third award winner was the submission presented by Robert Sears, MS ( The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division). In this submission, a routine method for the analysis of 13 of the most popular Synthetic Cannabinoids in Whole Blood using SPE was validated. This method takes advantage of the high efficiency/ productivity of SPE to produce a method that can be used in a legal-judical system.

UCT salutes this years winners who will be presented with their awards during the SOFT meeting.