Clean Screen EtG paper

Forensic Toxicologists working in the area of drugs and driving cases are being challenged to meet stricter regulations. In a new paper authored by Ronald Agius et al (Forensic Science International, October 2011), the Clean Screen EtG column (CSETG203) has been successfully employed to meet these guidelines, specifically applied in Germany to drivers wishing to regain their licences. In this paper, Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), the biomarker for ethyl alcohol consumption, was determined in urine samples down to 0.1 mg per L using only 600 microliters of sample. The method was applied to 78 real samples of urine in order to meet German authority regulations. In addition hair samples were also analyzed. 50 mg of sample was employed to test the method against the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) criteria. The levels of detection of this method using the Clean Screen EtG column (2.8 pg/ mg) were met.

UCT attends the Gulf Coast Conference this week

At this years annual Gulf Coast Conference, Galveston Island, TX, being held October 11th -12th, UCT will be represented by Environmental Product Manager, Don Shelly, and by Regional Sales Team Member, Andrew Johansen. As this conference is dedicated to the analysis of environmental-type samples, UCT is honored to support facilities (Federal, State, and County) involved in this much valued aspect of protection for US citizens. Don and Andrew will be on hand throughout the conference to offer advice, help and assistance with UCT's world respected environmental products and methodologies. As the innovator of Quechers for Environmental Analysis, both Don and Andrew will be more than pleased to answer queries/requests on this subject along with those concerning SPE, and related equipment for which UCT is also well-known for. Please feel free to visit the UCT booth, and talk with our experts in the field of environmental analysis and testing.

Winners of the 2011 Excellence in SPE award

In what has become a much aniticipated tradition among the forensic toxicology community, UCT is to proud to announce the 2011 winners of the Excellence in SPE award. This award is presented by the CEO and President of UCT, Michael Telepchak, at the Elmer Gordon Forum during this years SOFT meeting. Being a joint meeting of SOFT and TIAFT this year, competition for this most coveted of award has been strongly contested. The awards committee at UCT has chosen 3 winners out of the many submissions who have shown outstanding results using SPE to further the development of forensic toxicology as an analytical science.

The first winner is Daniel Baker, IV of Franklin County Medical Examiners Office (Ohio) for his work on using SPE to extract weak acid/neutral drugs, bases including cocaine, and its metabolites by GC-MS in post mortem samples. Daniel is also presenting work at this years meeting on the subject of SPE extraction of opiates, a worthwhile winner indeed.

The 2nd winner is Dr. Matthew Juhascik, D-ABFT who investigated a novel compound (Benzoylecgonine Isopropyl Ester) in the analysis of cocaine metabolites in post mortem samples using a SPE methodology. Dr.Juhascik is based at UMass Memorial Hospital in Massachussetts.

Our 3rd winner hails from Australia. Nathan Sumner is receiving his award for his outstanding work in the extraction and analysis of the new "BathSalts " drugs i.e, the Cathinones such as methylone from biological samples. Nathan developed his SPE procedure for use with LC-MS/MS.

UCT would like to thank all the other authors for their SPE work, and would like to assure them that their work will be considered for next years meeting in Boston.

SOFT-TIAFT 2011 starts today

It is that time of year again for the annual SOFT meeting, this year being held in San Francisco, California. This year sees UCT unveiling 2 new and innovative products for use within the forensic community; the 96 well plate format positive pressure manifold, and Clean-Screen FASt (Filter and Shoot).

At this years meeting UCT's Dr. Jeff Hackett will be chairing the world famous UCT workshop on principles and applications of SPE in forensic toxicology along with Michael Telepchak and Dr. Michael Coyer. This workshop will also include presentations from an other forensic toxicolgist, Robert Sears. We will be presenting work submitted to UCT from users out in the field, this work includes the Analysis of GHB in urine (Albert Elian), Analysis of Opiates in post mortem blood (Daniel Baker), and from Dr. John Wyman a case involving MPDV fatality. UCT salutes these workers and hope that meeting attendees will visit the UCT booth and posters/presentations to learn why UCT is the premier SPE company, attendees can also enter the famous UCT grand draw which this year!

UCT at AOAC International 2011

At this years annual meeting of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) in New Orleans, UCT will be represented by our Environmental Products Manager, Don Shelly, and one of the International Sales Team, Hocine Omari. As UCT has a vast experience in the analyses performed by International/ National, State, and County environmental facilities, Don and Hocine will be on hand at the UCT booth to offer assistance with solid phase extraction, QuEChERS methods, and applications. Visitors to the booth will be able to learn more about the UCT products manufactured to the highest quality. These products will ensure that the best analyses can be performed. Better quality products means cleaner extracts which lead to clean chromatograms, better recoveries, and reproducibilities over a wide range of matrices and analytes.

UCT publishes "Magic Mushroom" study

This month UCT has published a procedure in collaboration with a major crime laboratory facility to extract, confirm, and quantify hallucinogenic compounds from "Magic Mushrooms" . In the article, which is also headlined on the front cover of the September 2011 issue of LC-GC (North America), Dr. Jeff Hackett and Albert Elian (Massaschussetts State Police Crime Laboratory) have succesfully employed UCT's flagship sorbent Clean Screen DAU to isolate and quantify the compounds Psilocybin and Psilocin from human urine using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.

Currently forensic analysts who are requested to test samples of urine for these compounds have only been able to report psilocin data, but now using the Clean Screen DAU as described in the research article forensic toxicologists can now report the concentrations of both compounds, thus permitting a more precise interpretation to be made. This paper details the excellent analytical performance of the Clean Screen DAU in terms of recoveries and cleanliness of the extract as reflected in the low matrix effects which this sorbent is known for.

Did you know..

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