Journal of Automated Methods & Management in Chemistry, 2005 (2005), no. 3, 59–209 c 2005 Hindawi Publishing Corporation Abstracts of Papers Presented at the 2005 Pittsburgh Conference Peter B. Stockwell P S Analytical Ltd, Arthur House, Unit 3, Crayfields Industrial Estate, Main Road, St Pauls Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3HP, UK To attend or not to attend, that is the question. The Pittsburgh Conference continues to pose this conundrum to conferees and exhibitors alike. This year’s conference was the first to be presented without a set of paper abstracts—a good thing some would say but this old codger always used the paper abstracts to select papers of interest to our readership and to seek a full publication. The exhibit took its usual format but it seemed that there were less manufacturers present. The information presented to the attendees was also lacking and many companies’ details were missing from the final program book, an omission no doubt on their behalf— my company was one of these—however I feel sure that past Pittcon organizers would have been more persistent in getting the required details for the audience. As is now the norm, many of the presentations take the form of posters displayed within the exhibition area. Without a driver to get the audience there, the traffic was slow, to say the least. Lecture presentations were also attended in a mixed fashion. So the Pittsburgh Conference show moves on, and again next year it will be held in Orlando from 12 March to 17 March 2006. No doubt I will be there making it a straight 31 in a row; in Pittsburgh Conference terms I am just a beginner with many of the attendees making more shows in a run than that. Selected abstracts dealing with topics of interest to the readers of this journal follow—hopefully many of these groups will be willing to publish their work either within this journal or elsewhere. AUTOMATING LOWRY PROTEIN AND OTHER ASSAYS complete control of experimental design through an intuitive USING A PERSONAL AUTOMATED PIPETTING SYSTEM user interface. The use of a plate stacker, and more complete automation robotics, and interface software will also be out- Michael N. Sevigny lined. The paper will lead the user through the programing of sample preparation for a Lowry assay, in order to show how Bio-Tek Instruments, Inc, Highland Park, PO Box 998, straightforward it is on the system. Winooski, VT 05404 Keywords: sample handling/automation, sample preparation The most time-consuming aspect of conducting assays, such Application code: bioanalytical as the Lowry protein assay, is the pipetting required to cre- Methodology code: sampling and sample preparation ate standard curves and sample dilutions. We will show how to utilize a “personal” precision TM XS automated pipet- ting system to mechanize the pipetting aspects, saving time OPTICAL BIOSNIFFER FOR METHYL and lab resources. The application of a small footprint mul- MERCAPTAN VAPOR tichannel pipetting system that has a level-sensing single- Kohji Mitsubayashi,* Takeshi Minamide, channel pipette can greatly increase throughput in the typi- and Hirokazu Saito cal laboratory. Pipetting can be conducted to and from single tubes, bottles reagent troughs, 96- and 384-well microplates, *Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical or a variety of other labware. The device’s flexible platform and Dental University, 2-3-10 Kanda-Surugadai, layout with 1- and 8-channel pipette heads accommodates Tokyo 101-0062, Japan applications from single-well-hit picking to multiwell serial dilutions. Using carbon-filled tips the single-channel pipette Halitosis evaluation is important in the medical and dental is capable of liquid level sensing, allowing for transfer of sam- fields, but there are no convenient devices with high gas se- ple from unevenly filled sample tubes. Pipetting is highly ac- lectivity for their diagnoses. Methyl mercaptan (MM) is one curate and precise. Dispense accuracy at 100 µL is within 2% of typical causations for halitosis. But it has not been re- with 2% CVs. We will describe the accuracy and precision of ported a gas sensor, that is, simple and convenient to use the single- and eight-channel dispensers. The accuracy and and could selectively detect the MM. On the other hand, precision of samples and standards in a typical Lowry pro- a monoamine oxidase type A (MAO-A, one of xenobiotic- tein assay will also be shown. Customized software provides metabolizing enzymes) is reported to catalyze the oxidation 60 Journal of Automated Methods & Management in Chemistry of the organic compounds which has thiol and amino in change of up to nine gases and pushes communications to human liver. In this study, MAO-A biosensors that could de- specific destinations in the event of alarm conditions. An- tect the MM in the liquid and gas phases were developed. cillary monitoring and trending software takes a variety of A biochemical electrode was constructed using a Clark-type configurations that depend upon end-user requirements. oxygen electrode with MAO-A immobilized membrane. The This presentation gives an overview of the monitoring enzyme electrode was calibrated by using the MM solution system with emphasis on subsystem integration, application from 0.004 to 4.0 mmol/L. As the next step, a biochemical scope, field ruggedness, and interoperability with external gas sensor (biosniffer) for MM vapor was fabricated with the data destinations. MAO-A electrode and a reaction unit with gas and liquid cells separated with porous diaphragm, and the characteris- Keywords: fuels energy, petrochemical, gas chromatography, tics were evaluated. The biosniffercouldbeusedtomeasure monitoring, process analytical chemistry the MM vapor from 0.15 to 3.7 ppm. Consequently it was Application code: fuels, energy and petrochemical suggested that the biosniffer would be applicable to quantify Methodology code: gas chromatography the halitosis. FAST RESIN SCREENING AND METHOD Keywords: bioanalytical, biomedical, fiber optics, fluores- DEVELOPMENT WITH PREPACKED cence PROCESS DEVELOPMENT COLUMNS Application code: biomedical Methodology code: sensors Thomas J. Higley Tosoh Bioscience LLC, 156 Keystone Drive, Montgomeryville, NEW ONLINE MONITORING SYSTEM FOR DISSOLVED PA 18936, USA GASES IN ELECTRICAL INSULATING FLUIDS In the large-scale purification of proteins relevant for ther- John V. Hinshaw,* Dan Morgan, and Thomas Waters apeutic or diagnostic use, liquid chromatography plays the most important role. In general, LC performance param- * Serveron Corporation, 3305 NW Aloclek Drive, Hillsboro, eters such as selectivity, binding capacity, recovery, and so OR 97124, USA forth. are mainly influenced by the properties of the chro- matographic medium. Therefore, selection of the most suit- Routine monitoring of fault gases in electrical insulating flu- able medium is the significant key point to succeed in pu- ids helps identify and track problems in electrical genera- rification. This resin screening historically was accomplished tion and distribution systems before potentially catastrophic by packing various bulk resins into small columns by hand, failures occur. This presentation discusses a new dedicated which required significant investments in time and cost. monitoring system that utilizes an online membrane extrac- In order to improve the efficiency of these resin-screening tion system and miniaturized gas chromatograph to quantify experiments, recently new cartridge-type prepacked scout- dissolved transformer gas concentrations every 1–4 hours. ing columns were introduced by Tosoh Bioscience (Mont- The monitoring system comprises three major components: gomeryville, Pa). The 1 mL and 5 mL ToyoScreen columns a membrane gas extractor, a miniaturized gas chromato- are packed with various Toyopearl process resins and are a graph, and a microprocessor control subsystem, which are convenient and affordable alternative to self-packing. In this contained in a temperature-controlled enclosure that main- work, the utilizability of the ToyoScreen columns was eval- tains specified performance levels across external tempera- ◦ ◦ uated on the purification of a monoclonal antibody, anti- tures from −40 Cto+55 C. The gas chromatograph is a new thyroid stimulating hormone (anti-TSH) lgG from a cell cul- modular application-specific design that uses a series of mi- ture supernatant. cropacked columns to separate fixed gases plus C1-C2 hy- drocarbons in under 10 minutes, and optionally propane. Keywords: HPLC columns, liquid chromatography, method The chromatograph is designed for unattended operation development, prep chromatography in remote outdoor installations with extended routine ser- Application code: processanalyticalchemistry vice intervals. The gas extractor circulates active insulating Methodology code: liquid chromatography fluid across a semipermeable membrane that admits dis- solved gases into a sampling space. The fluid returns to its source, and a gas pump circulates the extracted gases through MERCURY ANALYSIS OF ANY SAMPLE TYPE: a sample loop for GC analysis of equilibrium gas concen- NO COMPRESSED GASES REQUIRED trations. Dissolved gas-in-oil concentrations are derived via Jason P. Gray,* Alvin Chua, and Koji Tanida their gas/oil partition coefficients, temperatures, and pres- sures. The microprocessor system controls the instrumenta- *AGS Scientific, Inc, 1511 Texas Avenue S, Suite 270, College tion, processes chromatograms, schedules analyses, as well Station, TX 77840, USA as calibrations from an onboard gas source, and stores and delivers data