New Employee Spotlight – Jose Guardado

By: Christopher Nguyen

Our employee family is still growing: Pickering Laboratories is happy to introduce the newest member of our team: Jose Guardado!

Jose joined us in December 2023, jumping into his new role as a Production Chemist right before our holiday week.  As a new member in our Production department, Jose has a lot of experienced teammates to learn from – and he’s taken full advantage!  With the volume increases in our buffers, reagents and artificial body fluid product lines, this has been a very busy time and Jose is killing it!

When he’s not in the laboratory, Jose enjoys music.  He spends time playing his bass guitar and attending Rock, Punk and Metal shows around the Bay Area.  He also stays active; Jose can frequently be found jogging and playing his favorite sports, soccer and hockey.  I’d be doing a great disservice to our Winter Newsletter if I didn’t also mention that Jose likes to travel, especially checking out new places to go snowboarding.

Jose comes to Pickering with a strong background for our exact type of manufacturing; among other skills, he’s packed analytical columns in his recent work past.  Additionally, he has experience with sublimination and has work closely with the bottling/capping machines that we so dearly depend on!

It is always great to expand our workforce and we couldn’t be happier to have Jose as a new employee at Pickering Labs.

Welcome, Jose!!

Product Obsoletion Notice:

18ECG001 Guard Cartridge Holder with 3 guard cartridges (Obsolete)
18ECG002 Guard Cartridges, pack of 3 (Obsolete)
Effective: 16 Oct 2023

Dear valued customer,

Please take note that part numbers 18ECG001 and 18ECG002 are no longer available. We are, however, able to offer a different Reverse Phase Guard solution. Unfortunately, the new Reverse Phase Guard Cartridges are not the same size as the 18ECG002 and are not backwards compatible. A new set of holder and cartridge are required when moving to the new 4.3mm format. Both are comparable in performance and can be used for the same methodologies. Cartridges should be replaced every 3 months or 300 injections.

The new part numbers are listed below:

3106-0578 Reverse Phase Guard Holder with 3 cartridges 4.3mm
3106-0579 Reverse Phase Guard Cartridge, 4.3mm, pack of 2

The following Application kits will now include 3106-0578 instead of 18ECG001:

0352-0002 Carbamate Pesticides Analysis Kit, 23+ Compounds
0352-0003 Carbamate Pesticides Analysis Kit, for EPA Method 531.1
0352-0004 Carbamate Pesticides Analysis Kit, for AOAC Method 985.23
0352-0009 Carbamate Pesticides Analysis Kit, for EPA Method 531.2
0352-0053 Multi-Residue Mycotoxin Kit
0352-0050 Aflatoxin Analysis Kit
0352-0051 Polyether Antibiotics Kit

Please contact Pickering Laboratories Support at +1 (650) 694-6700, or support@pickeringlabs.com if you have any questions.

Post-Column Amino Acid Analysis: Onyx PCX Paired with any HPLC System

The Onyx PCX post-column derivatization instrument is designed for highly customizable Amino Acid Analysis, using our expertise in post-column technology to bring high performance when used alongside any manufacturer’s HPLC.   Pickering Laboratories provides a complete application solution, guaranteeing the chromatogram of any customer using our instrumentation and consumables, regardless of sample matrix.  We at Pickering Laboratories recommend the Onyx post-column system with one of our available Amino Acid Application Kits for any new user starting a new analysis in their laboratory. 

As a quick review, Pickering Laboratories, Inc. provides a complete solution to Amino Acid Analysis. We supply columns, eluants, reagents and post-column derivatization instruments that work seamlessly with virtually any modern HPLC, so we can guarantee the accuracy and reproducibility of the analysis. Our chemists will help you choose the method and instrumentation best suited to your requirements, answer your questions regarding sample matrices or target Amino Acids, and work with you on any custom method optimization and offer continuous support in day-to-day operation.

Post-Column Reagents for Amino Acids Analysis

Pickering Laboratories offers two post-column reagents for Amino Acid Analysis: our patented Ninhydrin reagent, called Trione®, and o-Phthalaldehyde (OPA) reagent. The choice of reagent is based on compounds of interest, sensitivity requirements and available instrumentation (Table 1). Both reagents can be used with any amino acid cation-exchange column and set of eluants.

Columns and Eluants (Mobile Phase Buffers)

We manufacture a wide range of cation-exchange columns and eluants to suit your analytical needs. Sodium cation-exchange chromatography is used for the fast analysis of amino acids commonly found in hydrolyzed protein samples or simple formulations. Lithium cation-exchange is a slower technique with higher resolution, used to separate up to 50 amino acids found in complex matrixes such as biological fluids, plant extracts, foods or beverages.

Tables 2 and 3 summarize Pickering Laboratories’ columns and eluants systems. Long columns (3.0 x 250 mm), despite having the longest run times, can be useful due to their unique selectivity, which allows separating of drug metabolites and other compounds not commonly found in native sam­ples. If you don’t find the compound of interest on the chromatograms shown on our website, please contact Pickering Laboratories for advice on which column is best suited for your analysis.

Pickering Laboratories, Inc. 1280 Space Park Way / Mountain View, CA 94043 / www.pickeringlabs.com

sales@pickeringlabs.com / support@pickeringlabs.com / 800-654-3330 / 650-694-6700

HOT off the Press: New PTS Brochure

By: Kevin McKeown

With our ever-expanding Product Testing Solutions (PTS) line of different artificial body fluids, we thought it was a good time to do an update to our PTS brochure! 

In this comprehensive update, you’ll find an array of new formulations:

• Synthetic Blood
  • 2 different formulations, also available with customizable viscosity
• Simulated Intestinal Fluid
• Simulated Gastric Fluid
• Synthetic Soil (staining materials)
• Dusty Sweat/Sebum Emulsion
  • A real crowd-pleaser that’s been in the works for years!

In addition to our stock product offerings, we have information on our ever-developing custom projects and proprietary formulations business.  Our customers are often working within a regulated method, but there are times when your product development and quality testing calls for something special.  Pickering’s chemists are here to help!

As always, if you do not see what you are looking for, please email our team at sales@pickeringlabs.com or support@pickeringlabs.com and we will work together on formulation development.  If you’d like a physical copy of this brochure, please let us know and we’d be happy to send one to you!

You can download a copy for yourself at the following url:

https://www.pickeringlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SweatTheSmallStuff_Feb2024.pdf

Introduction – Winter 2024 Newsletter

By: Kevin McKeown

Whether you are lamenting the lack of snow (**raises hand**) in your part of the world or thinking that Spring can’t come fast enough, prepare yourself for the Winter 2024 Pickering Labs newsletter!  We have a little bit of everything in this edition, from new employees to new products!  And we’ve rounded it out with some refreshers on Amino Acid Analysis and Post-Column methodology.

We start things off with a look at our shiny New PTS brochure!  This piece of literature has certainly evolved over the past 10 years.  We continue to have additions to product line, fueled both by our internal research as well as valuable customer feedback.  Please have a look and don’t be shy about contacting us if you do not see what you’re looking for – our chemists and custom project manufacturing team are always up for a challenge!

Next, we have a “slick sheet” explainer on our Onyx PCX, written and designed by David Mazawa.  In this, we look at Pickering Laboratories methodology and our particular strength in Amino Acid Analysis, including the support we provide using in-house manufacturing of buffers, reagents and columns, thereby guaranteeing no supply chain interruptions.  David continues his Technical Support contributions with the product information bulletin: Reverse Phase Guard Update.  We understand the need to keep our customers informed on any products that are replaced/updated/obsoleted; you can always contact us if you have any further questions.

In what we consider to be perhaps the most exciting part of this newsletter, we are honored to introduce two new employees in New Employee Spotlight – Jose and New Employee Spotlight – Kim!  You can read these articles to learn a little more about each of them, including finding out their favorite activities outside of work and which departments they’ve joined. 

What would any newsletter be without some mention of where we’ll be meeting you in-person in the near future, and this time it’s Pittcon-San Diego!  We’ll give you an idea of what you’ll find at our Booth # 2321, should you happen to find yourself in Southern California at the end of February.  Getting to meet with our customers and distributors is something that we always look forward to!

Our international dealers are a vital part of our business, allowing Pickering Laboratories to create a global reach otherwise unfeasible for our small team.  One such dealer, Young In/Chromass, has created wonderful YouTube videos designed to educate their customers on our instrumentation.  A company based in The Republic of Korea, Young In manufactures HPLC instruments that pair seamlessly with our post-column systems. 

Finally, don’t forget about our Chromatography Quiz!  Sticking with his Amino Acid Analysis theme, David has cooked up a fun challenge that’s all about a Noisy Baseline.  Congratulations to our prior winners and best of luck to our new participants this quarter!

Polyether Antibiotics are commonly used for preventing coccidiosis and other infections in poultry and for improving feed efficiency for beef cattle and swine. The use of Polyether Antibiotics is strictly regulated, with only specific ionophores approved for use in feeds intended for different animals.

Analysis of Polyether Antibiotics by HPLC with post-column derivatization and UV/Vis detection has been proven to successfully identify and quantify Monensin, Narasin and Salinomycin in medicated feeds, supplements and premixes as well as to determine trace contamination levels in non-medicated feeds.

Post-column derivatization of Polyether Antibiotics is done using highly acidic Vanillin or DMAB reagents. The Onyx PCX derivatization system (Pickering Laboratories, Inc.) has an inert flow path and automated system wash capabilities that make it uniquely suitable for handling corrosive reagents. The two-pump system is recommended to extend reagent stability, but the single-pump system for this application is also available.

Adding a Fluorescence detector to the instrumentation allows for using the same extraction procedure and HPLC conditions to also determine Lasalocid, which doesn’t require post-column derivatization.

The method details can be found on our website here.

The typical flow diagram for the Polyether Antibiotics post-column system is shown here:

Good Chromatogram:

Bad Chromatogram:

What could be contributing to the loss of signal?

Submit your answers to rsmith@pickeringlabs.com by Friday, September 1, 2023.

Pickering Laboratories would like to congratulate the winners for our previous newsletter’s Chromatography Quiz #42:

Thomas Schneider from SCWA, Narjes Ghafoori from Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory, and Josiah Hakala from Minnesota Department of Health. 

They each will soon be receiving a Nike $100 Gift Card!

Congratulations to our quiz winners!  Thank you all for your submissions!

Chromatography Quiz #42 Solution:

Natural human perspiration has a complex composition that depends on the type of sweat gland, the person’s metabolism and hydration level. Pickering Laboratories’ human mimic artificial perspiration solutions are formulated based on published data for human sweat and provide the closest match to the “real thing” available on the market. These solutions are perfect for testing a variety of consumer products and medical devices as well as for forensics applications and as blanks for medical testing protocols.

• There are two types of human perspiration; Eccrine and Apocrine
• Eccrine perspiration is used for body temperature regulation.
• Eccrine perspiration contains amino acids, minerals, and metabolites.
• Pickering Laboratories’ proprietary Artificial Eccrine Perspiration comes at pH 5.
• Apocrine perspiration is secreted by apocrine glands and contains fatty acids and proteins.
• Apocrine perspiration is initially odorless. Odor (volatile fatty acids) is produced once acted upon by bacteria.
• What is an oily substance that mixes with lipids to form a protective coating on the skins surface?
  1. Sebum
  2. Cerumen
  3. Perspiration
  4. All of the above
• Currently, Pickering Laboratories offers the following product testing solutions:
  1. Perspiration
  2. Blood
  3. Saliva
  4. Lung Fluid
  5. All of the above
• The pH of the solution is an important consideration in product testing, affecting corrosion rate, level of color degradation and leaching of metals and organic components from wearable products. Many procedures require a tight pH range during testing. To accommodate these pH requirements and to improve pH stability over time, Pickering Laboratories is offering buffered versions of industry-specific artificial perspiration formulations. By adding a Phosphate buffer to the original formulation, the pH stability of the solution is greatly improved while its effect on corrosion and colorfastness remains unaffected.
• _____________ is one of the most important concerns in the textile industry. Discoloration of fabric can be due to perspiration, light, rubbing or a combination of all three. Salt, urea and lactic acid present in sweat can disrupt the bonding that dyes form with the fabric fibers, causing fading of the color. In addition, amino acids in sweat can attach to fabric to produce “protein stains”.
  1. Dissolution
  2. Staining
  3. Corrosion
  4. Colorfastness
• Use of nanotechnology to endow new properties to textiles, such as antibacterial or UV protection, water repellency or flame retardancy, together with incorporating sensors and other digital components, creates the need to consider the effects of sweat on nanoparticles leaching and _____________ of integrated circuits as well.
  1. Corrosion
  2. Rusting
  3. Colorfastness
  4. Dissolution
• A Certificate of Analysis (COA) and Safety Data Sheet (SDS) are available for all product testing solutions at no additional charge. True
• Pickering’s product testing solutions and mimics are convenient, save you time, homogenous, reproducible, and customizable. True
• Pickering offers customizable versions of our product testing formulations. True
• Pickering Labs will be at booth 2138 at Pittcon 2023. True

Synthetic Soil according to AATCC LP4-2023

Synthetic soil is used as the soiling option for evaluations of stain and soiling related to pile yarn floor coverings. The official methods that are used for these evaluations are AATCC TM122, AATCCTM123 and ASTM D6540. The procedure to apply the test soil is being improved to make it reproducible, and this has changed the status of some of the methods. Regardless, the synthetic soil used to soil or stain the floor covering has remained the same. The ingredients used and the procedure for formulating the synthetic soil is now available as AATCC LP4-2023. The Pickering Laboratories Synthetic soil (1700-0706) follows this procedure, sieved using 200 mesh sieve and is available in 25 g quantities. This formulation can also be used in other product testing procedures that require the use of synthetic soil.