JANUARY 2016 # 36 the Analytical Scientist Upfront In My View Feature Solutions “Making a Murderer” boosts Is it time to embrace Design Two space scientists discuss Innovation Award-winning profile of analytical chemists of Experiments for HPLC? analysis (but not life) on Mars faster chemical separations 13 22 34 – 41 42 – 44 Diving into the Deep Oceanographer Rob Munier explores the mysteries of our blue planet – and the role of analytical science. 24 – 30 www.theanalyticalscientist.com ® 2 AZURA Analytical HPLC You are dependent on your LC to deliver signifi cant results every day. Needs, like adding an extra cleanup-step, often come at short notice. AZURA components are combinable and highly adaptable. They enable users to cover one of the widest LC ranges. Compact HPLC for standard tasks, extended range HPLC Plus (max. 700 bar) and UHPLC (max. 1000 bar) with optimized fl ow paths provide for most sensitive and high resolution analysis. A choice of fl ow cells and pump heads that differ in per formance and material provides excellent application fl exibility. Components controllable via tablet app www.knauer.net/azuraanalytical Phone: +49 30 809 727-0 • E-Mail: [email protected] AZURA_Analytical_KN_210x266_EN_Tablet_16.indd 1 18.01.16 12:08 Image of the Month ® 2 AZURA Analytical HPLC You are dependent on your LC to deliver signifi cant results every day. Needs, like adding an extra cleanup-step, often come at short notice. AZURA components are combinable and highly adaptable. They enable users to cover one of the widest LC ranges. Compact HPLC for standard tasks, extended range HPLC Plus (max. 700 bar) and UHPLC (max. 1000 bar) with optimized fl ow paths provide for most sensitive and high resolution analysis. A choice of fl ow cells and pump heads that differ in per formance and material provides excellent application fl exibility. Components controllable www.knauer.net/azuraanalytical Benthoctopus sp gets overly familiar with Alvin’s robotic manipulator arm at 2,300 meters down in the Gulf of Mexico. via tablet app Photo by Bruce Strickrott (Alvin pilot) from Expedition to the Deep Slope/NOAA/OER (NOAA Photo Library). Would you like your photo featured in Image of the Month? Send it to [email protected] Phone: +49 30 809 727-0 • E-Mail: [email protected] AZURA_Analytical_KN_210x266_EN_Tablet_16.indd 1 18.01.16 12:08 Contents 50 34 24 03 Image of the Month Upfront In My View 08 SERS SLIPS Ahead 16 It’s time to appreciate the power 07 Editorial of FTIR spectroscopic imaging, Nice Measurement – Now 09 Characterizing Collagen says Sergei Kazarian What? by Rich Whitworth at the Double 17 Rawi Ramautar wants to 10 Faster (GC) Tactics solve a tiny sample problem 08 Contributors – with CE-MS 12 Gene Genie 19 Is there a better, cheaper, 13 Making a Murderer fasterway? asks Philip On The Cover Britz-McKibbin 14 End of the Road P Neumann and A Heater 22 Phil Kay believes design- tend to Alvin. Photo by Chris of-experiments (DoE) is the Linder. Copyright © Woods Hole future of analytical method Oceanographic Institution development. ISSUE 36 - JANUARY 2016 Editor - Rich Whitworth [email protected] Associate Editor - James Strachan [email protected] Editorial Director - Fedra Pavlou [email protected] Publishing Director - Lee Noyes [email protected] Sales Manager - Chris Joinson [email protected] Senior Designer - Marc Bird [email protected] Junior Designer - Emily Strefford-Johnson [email protected] Digital Content Manager - David Roberts [email protected] Mac Operator Web/Print - Peter Bartley [email protected] Tablet Producer - Abygail Bradley [email protected] Audience Insight Manager - Tracey Nicholls [email protected] Traffic and Audience Associate - Lindsey Vickers [email protected] Traffic and Audience Associate - Jody Fryett [email protected] Apprentice, Social Media / Analytics - Ben Holah [email protected] Events and Office Administrator - Alice Daniels-Wright [email protected] Financial Controller - Phil Dale [email protected] Chief Executive Officer - Andy Davies 09 [email protected] Chief Operating Officer - Tracey Peers [email protected] Editorial Advisory Board Monika Dittmann, Agilent Technologies, Germany Norman Dovichi, University of Notre Dame, USA Gary Hieftje, Indiana University, USA Emily Hilder, University of Tasmania, Australia Ron Heeren, FOM-AMOLF, The Netherlands Features Tuulia Hyötyläinen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Hans-Gerd Janssen, Unilever Research and Development, The Netherlands 24 Exploring Our Blue Planet Robert Kennedy, University of Michigan, USA Samuel Kounaves, Tufts University, USA Rob Munier dives into Marcus Macht, SCIEX, Germany Luigi Mondello, University of Messina, Italy the fascinating world of Peter Schoenmakers, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands oceanography and the Robert Shellie, University of Tasmania, Australia Ben Smith, University of Florida, USA importance of analytical Frantisec Svec, University of California at Berkeley, USA science in solving the mysteries Ian Wilson, Imperial College London, UK of the deep. Departments Change of address: [email protected] Tracey Nicholls, The Analytical Scientist, Texere Publishing Ltd, Haig House, Haig Road, 34 Exploring the Red Planet 42 Solutions: Faster Chemical Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 8DX, UK We question Roger Wiens and Separations, by Lukas Märk General enquiries: F. Scott Anderson about analysis www.texerepublishing.com [email protected] that is out of this world. +44 (0) 1565 745200 [email protected] 46 Application Notes Distribution: The Analytical Scientist (ISSN 2051-4077), is published monthly by Texere Publishing Ltd and is distributed in the USA by UKP Reports Worldwide, 1637 Stelton Road B2, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Periodicals Postage Paid at Piscataway, 32 The Analytical Scientist × Sitting Down With NJ and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER: Send US address changes to Thermo Fisher Scientific The Analytical Scientist, Texere Publishing Ltd, C/o 1637 Stelton Road B2, GC-MS and the Art of 50 Carlo Bicchi, Professor of Piscataway NJ 08854 POP Analysis, by Esteban Pharmaceutical Biology at the Single copy sales £15 (plus postage, cost available on request [email protected]) Abad Holgado University of Turin, Italy. Annual subscription for non-qualified recipients £110 MORE EFFICIENCY MORE FREE TIME The new Agilent 1290 Infinity II LC All you expect, and more. Setting new benchmarks in analytical, instrument and laboratory efficiency. You may find yourself with extra time on your hands. Meet the next generation UHPLC EfficientUHPLC.agilent.com What would you do with extra time? Join the #EfficientUHPLC talk. © Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2015 Nice Measurement – Now What?! Editorial Concerning disparity between measurements and decisions. MORE EFFICIENCY nalytical science has a unique vantage point of our world. From the oceans deep to the final frontier – and everything in between – we endeavor to make MORE FREE TIME Ameasurements that help unlock mysteries and provide enlightening information. Put another way, analytical scientists (as a collective) “see” a lot. But what if there is a disconnect between what analytical scientists see and what people want to hear? The new Agilent 1290 Infinity II LC Accurate measurements inform and drive science. Science should drive decisions. And then continued (hopefully) accurate All you expect, and more. Setting new benchmarks in measurements (built on “the science”) should help steer humanity down a sensible path. Unfortunately, sometimes those in power analytical, instrument and laboratory efficiency. You need a different outcome and rewrite or simply ignore “the science”. I have long been interested in the analytical chain of custody, may find yourself with extra time on your hands. not just in terms of sample collection and laboratory workflows (clearly important) but – more importantly for me – what happens after the measurement has been made and documented. Meet the next generation UHPLC Where does it go, who acts upon it and what happens next? Does anything happen next? EfficientUHPLC.agilent.com In some cases, those who make the measurements are sadly too far removed from any decisions that result. Taking an extreme example, oceanographers like Rob Munier (page 24) are busily investigating ocean acidification (and its direct effects) around the globe – but the Kyoto Protocol will give you a clue as to how world leaders will react to “the other carbon dioxide problem”... A striking example of measurements and decisions parting ways was found in Dick Pound’s first World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission late in 2015, which resulted in Russia accepting a full and indefinite ban from world athletics for “state-sponsored doping”. Pound said, “We’ve found cover ups, we’ve found destruction of samples in the laboratories. We have found payments of money in order to conceal doping tests.” Even more recently, it emerged that a letter from the International Association of Athletics Federations to Valentin Balakhnichev (then president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation) back in 2009 stated that blood levels of athletes were “putting their health and even their own lives in very serious danger” (1).