Less than one minute low-pressure gas chromatography - mass spectrometry

Recent reports on the sensing strategy and the On-site detection of illegal drugs

In this review, works on the on-site detection of illegal drugs in recent years are summarised and discussed, most of which were published within the past five years. The detection methods are categorised as colourimetric, fluorescence, Raman spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, electrochemistry, and mass spectrometry. Also, strategies that are possibly suitable for on-site detection and the actual instrumentation to be used in the field are listed.

What Are We Eating? Surveying the Presence of Toxic Molecules in the Food Supply Chain Using Chromatographic Approaches

Consumers in developed and Western European countries are becoming more aware of the impact of food on their health, and they demand clear, transparent, and reliable information from the food industry about the products they consume. They recognise that food safety risks are often due to the unexpected presence of contaminants throughout the food supply chain. Among these, mycotoxins produced by food-infecting fungi, endogenous toxins from certain plants and organisms, pesticides, and other drugs used excessively during farming and food production, which lead to their contamination and accumulation in foodstuffs, are the main causes of concern. In this context, the goals of this review are to provide a comprehensive overview of the presence of toxic molecules reported in foodstuffs since 2020 through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) portal and use chromatography to address this challenge. Overall, natural toxins, environmental pollutants, and food-processing contaminants are the most frequently reported toxic molecules, and liquid chromatography and gas chromatography are the most reliable approaches for their control. However, faster, simpler, and more powerful analytical procedures are necessary to cope with the growing pressures on the food chain supply.

Chromatographic-Based Platforms as New Avenues for Scientific Progress and Sustainability

Chromatography was born approximately one century ago and has undergone outstanding technological improvements in innovation, research, and development since then that has made it fundamental to advances in knowledge at different levels, with a relevant impact on the well-being and health of individuals. Chromatography boosted a comprehensive and deeper understanding of the complexity and diversity of human–environment interactions and systems, how these interactions affect our life, and the several societal challenges we are currently facing, namely those related to the sustainability of our planet and the future generations. From the life sciences, which allowed us to identify endogenous metabolites relevant to disease mechanisms, to the OMICS field, nanotechnology, clinical and forensic analysis, drug discovery, environment, and “foodprint”, among others, the wide range of applications of today’s chromatographic techniques is impressive. This is fueled by a great variability of powerful chromatographic instruments currently available, with very high sensitivity, resolution, and identification capacity, that provide a strong basis for an analytical platform able to support the challenging demands of the postgenomic and post COVID-19 eras. Within this context, this review aims to address the great utility of chromatography in helping to cope with several societal-based challenges, such as the characterization of disease and/or physiological status, and the response to current agri-food industry challenges of food safety and sustainability, or the monitoring of environmental contamination. These are increasingly important challenges considering the climate changes, the tons of food waste produced every day, and the exponential growth of the human population. In this context, the principles governing the separation mechanisms in chromatography as well the different types and chromatographic techniques will be described. In addition, the major achievements and the most important technological advances will be also highlighted. Finally, a set of studies was selected in order to evince the importance of different chromatographic analyses to understand processes or create fundamental information in the response to current societal challenges.

Spherical Sampler Probes Enhance the Robustness of Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Drugs Screening

Ambient ionization mass spectrometry has become one of the most promising approaches for rapid and high-throughput screening of small molecules in complex biological matrices for emergency medicine, forensics, and food and agriculture applications. The simple procedures for sample collection and ionization without additional pretreatment are vital in these fields. Many efforts have been devoted to modifying various ambient ionization techniques to simplify the procedures and improve the robustness and sensitivity of the methods. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of rigid spherical sampler probes to improve the robustness of touch spray ionization mass spectrometry. The sphericity of the probes increases the stability of the cone-jet mode of electrospray, reduces the requirements for fine positioning of a sampler in the ion source, and decreases the possibility of corona discharge occurrence. The utilization of spherical sampler probes allows fast, non-invasive sampling, followed by rapid analysis for various drugs of different chemical classes in complex biological matrices, such as the whole blood or sebum collected from the skin surface. The linearity of the analytical signal response from drug concentration confirms the possibility of creating a simple semiquantitative method for small molecules monitoring using spherical sampler probes.

Programmable smart fast gas chromatograph and open probe controller

Today, labs that carry out chemical analyses for regulation, food safety, health, forensics, or even security purposes are looking for ways to accelerate the analytical process. Slow procedures are costly because the necessary instruments are expensive and require maintenance and a highly trained staff to operate them. One of the more ubiquitous instruments in such labs is a Gas Chromatograph (GC), which accepts a solution and outputs each of the compounds within it in a gaseous form, one by one to be further analyzed and identified, usually by a Mass Spectrometer (MS). This separation process in a GC can be rather time-consuming, partly due to the slow heating and cooling of the GC column through which the compounds move, which happens inside a box-shaped oven. This paper describes a controller developed for a unique Open Probe Fast GC instrument that enables, among other things, high-speed and controlled heating and cooling of a gas-carrying capillary transfer line. Fast heating is achieved by precisely controlling the electrical current flowing through the small inner-diameter steel tube through which the GC column passes. The fast cooling occurs by exposing the low-mass heated tube to room temperature, along with the assistance of a simple fan that carries the heated air away. This technology also supports control of other system parts, including a unique quick sampling device called an Open Probe that allows for an even faster analysis cycle. Our design is based entirely on a digital signal processor (DSP) and digital control. The use of pulse width modulation (PWM) control enables a compact and efficient system.

Yeast synthetic biology advances biofuel production

Increasing concerns of environmental impacts and global warming calls for urgent need to switch from use of fossil fuels to renewable technologies. Biofuels represent attractive alternatives of fossil fuels and have gained continuous attentions. Through the use of synthetic biology it has become possible to engineer microbial cell factories for efficient biofuel production in a more precise and efficient manner. Here, we review advances on yeast-based biofuel production. Following an overview of synthetic biology impacts on biofuel production, we review recent advancements on the design, build, test, learn steps of yeast-based biofuel production, and end with discussion of challenges associated with use of synthetic biology for developing novel processes for biofuel production.

Accelerating strain engineering in biofuel research via build and test automation of synthetic biology

Biofuels are a type of sustainable and renewable energy. However, for the economical production of bulk-volume biofuels, biosystems design is particularly challenging to achieve sufficient yield, titer, and productivity. Because of the lack of predictive modeling, high-throughput screening remains essential. Recently established biofoundries provide an emerging infrastructure to accelerate biological design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycles through the integration of robotics, synthetic biology, and informatics. In this review, we first introduce the technical advances of build and test automation in synthetic biology, focusing on the use of industry-standard microplates for DNA assembly, chassis engineering, and enzyme and strain screening. Proof-of-concept studies on prototypes of automated foundries are then discussed, for improving biomass deconstruction, metabolic conversion, and host robustness. We conclude with future challenges and opportunities in creating a flexible, versatile, and data-driven framework to support biofuel research and development in biofoundries.