Selected category: automated sample prep

By Shang Tsai

Successful implementation of proteomics in the clinical environment has still not materialized, and lags far behind genomics, even after decades of advances in protein sample preparation. The primary cause for this underwhelming performance lies in the diverse physiochemical properties of proteins and the complexity of the sample prep workflow itself. In this two-part series we will start by looking at how realistic it is to automate the protein sample prep workflow, and move on to discuss ways to overcome bottlenecks that prevent proteomics from entering clinical use.

By Dr Manuel Bauer 

As we saw in part 1 of this blog series, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is potentially the new gold standard for therapeutic monitoring of immunosuppressant drugs (ISD). However, for this technology to become widely adopted, the methodology needs to be standardized globally, including addressing bottlenecks both at the pre-analytical stage of sample preparation, and within the process itself. Here we take a look at the top four pitfalls to avoid when implementing LC-MS/MS for ISD monitoring.