Presenters* include:

Melanie Cree, MD, PhD | Associate Professor
Pediatrics Endocrinology
University of Colorado Anschutz and Children’s Hospital Colorado (USA)

The Use of Stable Isotopes to Understand Metabolic Disease in Pediatrics
transcript available

Jared Kress, BSc | Scientist
Merck (USA)
A Targeted LC-MS/MS Method for Routine Monitoring of Cell Culture Media Components in Biotherapeutic Processes
transcript available

Emily Canessa, BSc | PhD Student
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at
Binghamton University (USA)

Investigation of the Dystrophin Associated Protein Complex Using a SILAC Strategy
transcript available

Will Thompson, PhD | Principle Scientist
908 Devices (USA)
Utilization of Stable Isotope-Labeled Metabolites for Automated Data Processing in Microchip CE-MS Metabolomics
transcript available

Facilitator:

Andrew Percy, PhD

Senior Applications Chemist, Mass Spectrometry 
and MS Omics Product Manager
Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Inc. (USA)

 

*Presenter biographies and presentation abstracts can be found below.

Presenters* include:

Andrew Hinck, PhD | Professor and Deputy Chair
Department of Structural Biology
University of Pittsburgh (USA)
Synthesis of
13C-Methyl-Labeled Amino Acids
and Their Incorporation into Proteins in Mammalian Cells
transcript available

 

Wei Chen, PhD | Professor 
Radiology Department
Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR)
University of Minnesota (USA)

New Way for Quantitatively Imaging Brain Energy Metabolism Using Deuterium (2H) MRS Imaging and Isotope-Labeled Glucose at Ultrahigh Field
transcript available

Qi Zhang, PhD | Professor and Associate Chair
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
RNA in Action: Bring RNA Structure to Life
transcript available

Greg Holland, PhD | Professor 
College of Sciences – Chemistry and Biochemistry
San Diego State University (USA)

Feeding Spiders Isotope-Enriched Amino Acids to Label Their Silks for NMR Investigation
transcript available

Adam Sutton, PhD | Associate Principal Scientist 
Merck Research Labs (USA)
Quantitative Benchtop NMR for Vaccine Development
transcript available

Facilitator:

Kelly Andrade
Assistant Product Manager BioNMR, NMR Solvents, Metabolomics
Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Inc. (USA)

 

*Presenter biographies and presentation abstracts can be found below.

Presenters* include:

Guorui Liu, PhD | Professor
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
Sources, Emission Inventory and Environmental Occurrences of New Pollutants in China

Chip McCarty, PhD |
Senior Scientist
General Dynamics Information Technology
(USA)
Introducing EPA Method 1628: A New Paradigm for Clean Water Act Compliance Monitoring of PCBs

Facilitator:

Ben Priest
Business Development Manager – Environmental Products
Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Inc. (USA)

 

*Presenter biographies and presentation abstracts can be found below.

 Biographies and Abstracts – Mass Spectrometry

Melanie Cree, MD, PhD | Associate Professor
Pediatrics Endocrinology
University of Colorado Anschutz and Children’s Hospital Colorado (USA)

Dr. Melanie G Cree, MD, PhD, is a physician scientist and Pediatric Endocrinologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz and Children’s Hospital Colorado. As a physiologist, she is interested in disorders of insulin sensitivity that impact the reproductive axis and cardiometabolic health in adolescents. She utilizes non-invasive yet powerful techniques including stable isotope tracers, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and metabolomics to probe physiology in at-risk-youth with obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), type 2 and type 1 diabetes. Dr. Cree’s primary research focus has been on the role of hepatic fat as a marker or a mediator of progressive dysglycemia and worse cardiometabolic health in youth with obesity. She has described hepatic insulin resistance across the weight range of normoglycemic youth and within those with PCOS, T2 and T1D. After documenting higher rates of hepatic steatosis in females with PCOS relative to BMI similar females with normal menses, she has continued to explore liver metabolism within this population by measuring rates of hepatic de novo lipogenesis, fasting hepatic phosphate concentrations and energy partitioning. She recently completed 2 interventional clinical trials in adolescents with PCOS with the goal of reversing early cardiometabolic disease, in particular, hepatic steatosis.

The Use of Stable Isotopes to Understand Metabolic Disease in Pediatrics

Pediatric metabolic disease is increasing at an astronomical rate, in line with the obesity epidemic. Understanding the underlying pathology, in particular, tissue specific insulin resistance and substrate metabolism is critical for the development of new therapeutics. Intravenous and oral tracers can be utilized in different settings: fasting, with hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps or oral glucose tolerance tests to understand metabolism under different metabolic states. Combining studies in youth with different methodologies and tracers, and with clinical interventions is leading towards new therapeutic targets.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Use of isotopes in pediatrics
  • Assessments of insulin sensitivity in multiple tissues
  • Isotopomers in humans

Jared Kress, BSc | Scientist
Merck (USA)

Jared Kress is an analytical scientist focusing on large molecule process characterization at Merck & Co. In 2015, he received his BSc in Biology at Chestnut Hill College, where he went on to support a toxicology and infectious disease testing laboratory in Horsham, PA. Since 2018, Jared has been a member of the large molecule commercialization team at Merck responsible for developing, optimizing, and implementing novel analytical technologies. In addition, his responsibilities include real-time and near real-time process analysis and characterization across drug substance and drug product commercialization and in-line products. This work enables the development of controlled, consistent manufacturing processes with high CpKs and greater assurance of reliable supply. Jared has a focus on mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics workflows providing late-stage support of process robustness and understanding of vaccines and biologics. Jared has supported the development of a targeted triple quadrupole (QqQ) MS method quantifying metabolites in cell culture medium. This method, combined with CIL’s metabolomics MSK-QReSS kit consisting of stable isotope-labelled metabolites, allows for the relative quantification of key complex components in process medium. The work, method, and findings were later published in Journal of Chromatography A.

A Targeted LC-MS/MS Method for Routine Monitoring of Cell Culture Media Components in Biotherapeutic Processes

Cell culture media (CCM) optimization is a critical step during the development and scale up of biotherapeutic production. In particular, the emphasis on quality by design has made it necessary to understand how the components of CCM change during production and how these changes relate to product quality. There is a vital need to develop analytical assays that can provide comprehensive, yet accurate, CCM profiling for a wide range of biotherapeutic types produced from, or are themselves, living cells. Herein, we present a robust method that allows commendable retention and separation of an excess of 110 compounds spanning a multitude of metabolic classes. By using the MSK-QReSS (Quantification, Retention, and System Suitability) kit containing isotope-enriched 13C and 15N metabolite mixes, the developed method enabled the level of key metabolites in culture, as well as spent media, to be relatively quantified. Through statistical analysis, metabolite levels are visualized to understand similarities and differences throughout various manufacturing stages and provide clear indication of CCM components behaviors during biotherapeutic production.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Advantages of using QqQ mass spectrometry for identification of targeted metabolites
  • Various approaches in applying the targeted MS assay in the commercialization space
  • Why we favor the use of the QReSS kit for relative quantification in CCM

Emily Canessa, BSc | PhD Student
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Binghamton University (USA)

Emily H. Canessa obtained her BS degree from the University of Rochester in 2017 and began working as a research technician in Dr. Yetrib Hathout’s proteomics lab at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University. Her research focused on creating a mass spectrometry method for quantifying the absolute amount of low abundant proteins in muscle, such as dystrophin. In 2020 she began her PhD in Dr. Hathout’s lab and is working on creating mass spectrometry methods to characterize the dystrophin associated protein complex in healthy and dystrophic skeletal muscle from patients and animal models. This will add to a better understanding of Duchenne’s and Becker’s muscular dystrophy pathogenesis.

Investigation of the Dystrophin Associated Protein Complex Using a SILAC Strategy

The dystrophin associated protein complex (DAPC) is an important glycoprotein complex that helps to maintain the membrane stability of muscle fiber sarcolemma. Central to this complex is the protein dystrophin which anchors the DAPC to the actin cytoskeleton of the cell. In Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) this protein is absent, leading to fiber degradation, muscle atrophy, and loss of ambulation by age 12. Current FDA-approved therapies aim to restore dystrophin expression in patient tissue, but the amount and function of restored dystrophins are not well characterized. To address this, we used two different SILAC strategies to improve our current understanding of the interaction between dystrophin and the DAPC. In one study we used a pulse-chase SILAC labeling strategy to study the DAPC protein turnover in mdx mice treated with an exon-skipping therapy to restore dystrophin expression. In a second study we spiked human muscle lysate with SILAC labeled myotubes in order to quantify the DAPC in patients with a milder form of muscular dystrophy where dystrophin is present in varying decreased amounts. By using these two different SILAC strategies we were able to better characterize the role dystrophin amount plays in the stability of the DAPC. This greater understanding of the complex will help to explain the efficacy of current dystrophin replacement therapies, as well as aid the designing of newer ones.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Creating a pulse-chase SILAC labeling experiment to study protein turnover in mice
  • Using a SILAC spike-in strategy to quantify the DAPC proteins in human muscle tissue
  • Culturing a SILAC-labeled myoblast cell line

Will Thompson, PhD | Principal Scientist
908 Devices (USA)

Dr. Thompson works in the Life Sciences R&D group at 908 Devices, predominantly on new tools for automating data collection and analysis for metabolomics and bioprocessing applications using microchip capillary electrophoresis – mass spectrometry. Prior to joining 908 Devices, Will spent 15 years in proteomics and metabolomics research and core facility management at Duke University, as well as in the Disease and Biomarker Proteomics group at GlaxoSmithKline. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed publications, predominantly in the fields of metabolomics, proteomics, and separations science.

Utilization of Stable Isotope-Labeled Metabolites for Automation in Data Processing in Microchip CE-MS Metabolomics

Metabolomics has demonstrated the ability to measure hundreds of metabolites in diverse sample types. Nonetheless, data analysis remains a key bottleneck in targeted and nontargeted approaches. For example, system suitability testing (SST) has been widely adopted as common practice in metabolomics but human intervention is often required to accept or reject system suitability. After experiments have been run, data quality assessment is often made by somewhat arbitrary and manual approaches, resulting in inconsistent results and wasted time. Finally, errors in metabolite/peak assignment require arduous manual curation. Heavily utilizing stable isotope-labeled internal standards (SIL-IS), we have developed a novel Windows application which automates instrument orchestration, SST interrogation, raw data QC, and the quantitative data analysis pipeline for microchip CE-MS metabolomics. This presentation will focus on the use of SIL-IS for migration time indexing, rapid data quality checking, and use in automated correction of common peak-selection errors made by metabolomics software.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • The dual use of SIL internal standards for time indexing and quantification in CE-MS metabolomics
  • How software automation can speed data analysis in CE-MS metabolomics
  • Some sample applications for CE-MS metabolomics

Biographies and Abstracts – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Andrew Hinck, PhD | Professor and Deputy Chair
Department of Structural Biology
University of Pittsburgh (USA)

Andrew P. Hinck graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1987, where he earned a BS degree in Chemistry. He attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was trained as a biochemist in the laboratory of Dr. John Markley. He completed his dissertation project in 1993, which was focused on using NMR spectroscopy to study proline cis:trans isomerization in Staphylococcal nuclease. Dr. Hinck joined Dr. Dennis Torchia’s laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, in 1994, where he collaborated with the Roberts and Sporn group at the National Cancer Institute to determine the structure of TGF-b1, labeled nearly fully with 15N and 13C by expression in mammalian cells, using NMR spectroscopy. In 1997, he joined the Biochemistry Department at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio as an Assistant Professor. In the ensuing years, he dedicated his effort to building a high field biomolecular NMR laboratory and making inroads toward understanding molecular mechanisms of receptor complex assembly in the TGF-b superfamily. In 2002, his laboratory determined the first structure of a TGF-b superfamily member bound to its type II receptor, and in 2008 his laboratory determined the structure of the full TGF-b receptor complex, a pentamer comprised of a TGF-b homodimer and two molecules each of the TGF-b type I and type II signaling receptors. In 2003 Dr. Hinck was promoted to associate professor and in 2006 full professor. In 2015 Dr. Hinck moved his laboratory to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Structural Biology, where he has continued to apply NMR to study structure-function relationships of difficult to produce TGF-b family proteins produced in mammalian cells. In his career at the Dr. Hinck has trained 12 PhD students and received numerous awards, including the Robert A. Welch Professorship in Chemistry, which he declined.

Synthesis of 13C-Methyl-Labeled Amino Acids and Their Incorporation into Proteins in Mammalian Cells

Isotopic labeling of methyl-substituted proteinogenic amino acids with 13C has transformed applications of solution-based NMR spectroscopy and allowed the study of much larger and more complex proteins than previously possible with 15N labeling. Procedures are well-established for producing methyl-labeled proteins expressed in bacteria, with efficient incorporation of 13C-methyl labeled metabolic precursors to enable the isotopic labeling of Ile, Val, and Leu methyl groups. Recently, similar methodology has been applied to enable 13C-methyl labeling of Ile, Val, and Leu in yeast, extending the approach to proteins that do not readily fold when produced in bacteria. Mammalian or insect cells are nonetheless preferable for production of many human proteins, yet 13C-methyl labeling using similar metabolic precursors is not feasible as these cells lack the requisite biosynthetic machinery. Herein, we report versatile and high-yielding synthetic routes to 13C methyl-labeled amino acids based on palladium-catalyzed C(sp3)-H functionalization. We demonstrate the efficient incorporation of two of the synthesized amino acids, 13C-g2-Ile and 13C-g1,g2-Val, into human receptor extracellular domains with multiple disulfides using suspension-cultured HEK293 cells. Production costs are reasonable, even at moderate expression levels of 2–3 mg purified protein per liter of medium, and the method can be extended to label other methyl groups, such as 13C-d1-Ile and 13C-d1,d2-Leu. In summary, we demonstrate the cost-effective production of methyl-labeled proteins in mammalian cells by incorporation of 13C methyl-labeled amino acids generated de novo by a versatile synthetic route.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Mammalian cell expression can easily and cost-effectively generate proteins that are suitable for NMR analysis
  • Selective isotope labeling in mammalian cells is in many ways simpler and more efficient than selective isotope labeling in bacteria
  • 13C-methyl labeled samples, derived from the corresponding 13C-methyl labeled amino acids via an efficient synthetic route, can be readily generated using mammalian cell expression

Wei Chen, PhD | Professor
Radiology Department
Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR)
University of Minnesota (USA)

Dr. Wei Chen is a professor in the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. After receiving a science bachelor’s degree in the physical chemistry major from Fudan University in 1981, he became a teacher at the same university. In 1985, he studied at the Department of Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and received his PhD degree in 1990. He was a postdoctoral and researcher fellow at Yale University School of Medicine for three years. In 1994, he joined the world-renowned Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR) at the University of Minnesota and became a tenured full professor in 2002. His research focuses on developing ultrahigh field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) technologies to study brain cellular energy metabolism, neuroenergetics, brain function and dysfunction. He has received many National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants including three Brain Initiative grants, serves as a reviewer for reviewing NIH grant proposals and manuscripts of scientific journals, and is a member of the editorial board of imaging journals. He has published a large number of influential papers. He is a fellow for the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the American Institute of Biomedical Engineering (AIMBE).

New Way for Quantitatively Imaging Brain Energy Metabolism Using Deuterium (2H) MRS Imaging and Isotope-Labeled Glucose at Ultrahigh Field

Decades ago, Ackerman et al. demonstrated the ability to measure cerebral blood flow in vivo using deuterium (2H) MRS or imaging combined with exogenous deuterated water (D2O) as a freely diffusible tracer (1). In 2011, Mateescu et al. reported the feasibility of measuring deuterium-labeled glucose and metabolically produced deuterated water (HDO) in the mouse head using 2H MRS and uniformly deuterated glucose as an substrate (2). In 2014, we presented the first rat brain 2H MRS study at 16.4T that measured the deuterium labeled glucose (Glc), mixed glutamate and glutamine (Glx) and lactate (Lac) with excellent SNR and temporal resolution after an IV administration of deuterated D-Glucose-6,6-d2 (d66), and demonstrated the feasibility of simultaneously determining the cerebral metabolic rates of glucose consumption (CMRGlc) and TCA cycle (VTAC) using a kinetic model and the dynamic changes of [Glx] and [Glc] in the rat brain (3, 4). In 2016, we reported the first 3D 2H MRS imaging (DMRSI) study of rat brain tumors, which used the [Lac]/[Glx] ratio as a sensitive marker of the “Warburg effect” associated with cancer biology, showing excellent contrast between brain tumors and normal appearing brain tissues (5, 6). Since then the 2H MRS/DMRSI or DMI technique has been applied to study various tumors in preclinical models or human brains (7-10). Recently, we have employed the advanced subspace-based denoising and machine learning methods to largely improve the SNR and spatial-temporal resolution of the DMRSI, and made it possible to map intra-tumor heterogeneity (11, 12). Furthermore, we reported for the first time the possibility of mapping three key metabolic rates of CMRGlc, VTAC and lactate production rate (CMRLac) using high-resolution dynamic DMRSI covering the entire human brain at 7T (13). In summary, DMRSI is emerging as an important metabolic imaging modality with significant merits compared to other imaging methods. It is becoming an important tool for studying metabolic reprograming between glycolytic and oxidative metabolism in healthy brain, brain aging and many brain disorders including cancer, stroke and neurodegeneration, and it has a potential for translation. 

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Learn the emerging neuro-metabolic imaging based on deuterium MRS approach
  • Recognize the critical role of unique isotopes for studying brain metabolism
  • Learn he potential of the deuterium MRS imaging for identifying brain tumors

Qi Zhang, PhD | Professor and Associate Chair
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)

Dr. Zhang is Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Co-Director of the RNA Discovery Center, and Co-Director of the Biomolecular NMR Core at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan under the guidance of Dr. Hashim Al-Hashimi, and completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Juli Feigon at UCLA as a Baltimore Family Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation. His laboratory focuses on developing and applying biophysical and biochemical techniques, including NMR spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, computational modeling, and next-gen sequencing, to visualize dynamic ensembles of nucleic acids and nucleic acid-sensing proteins with the goal of applying this knowledge to develop nucleic acid-targeted therapeutics for human diseases. Dr. Zhang is a co-founder of Ensem Therapeutics.

RNA in Action: Bring RNA Structure to Life

The ongoing discoveries of regulatory RNAs with diverse activities in gene expression and regulation have transformed our view of RNA’s functions in cellular physiology and disease. Despite this progress, a critical gap remains in elucidating the mechanisms underlying RNA activities, where these highly dynamic molecules constantly morph between alternative conformations, each triggered by specific cellular signals. These conformational transitions can occur across a wide range of timescales, from picoseconds to seconds and beyond; yet, conventional static structures convey little of this dynamic nature of RNA, which is crucial for orchestrating their cellular activities. Hence, to fully understand RNA biology, we need to reimagine RNA structural biology, where RNAs are viewed as dynamic ensembles characterized by probability distributions of fluctuating conformations, each with a distinct lifetime. In this presentation, I will discuss our recent progress in uncovering such an ensemble perspective of RNA molecules toward a quantitative and predictive framework for understanding how RNAs harness conformational dynamics to drive cellular activities.

Greg Holland, PhD | Professor 
College of Sciences – Chemistry and Biochemistry
San Diego State University (USA)

Greg was born in the borough of Queens, New York City. He attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, where he received a BS in Chemistry in 1998. Greg then moved on to the University of Wyoming, where he graduated with a PhD in Physical and Analytical Chemistry in 2003. Following his PhD, Greg became a postdoctoral fellow at Sandia National Laboratories in the Laboratory of Todd Alam, where he focused on NMR spectroscopy of biomolecules and nanomaterials. Following his post-doc, Greg was a research professor in the Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC) and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University (ASU). Greg still maintains strong connections and collaborations with the MRRC at ASU where he still holds an adjunct professor position in the School of Molecular Sciences. In January 2015, Greg moved his research group to San Diego State University, where he is a tenured full professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His lab continues to focus on the development and application of magnetic resonance for the characterization of biologically inspired materials, molecules and nanomaterials.

Feeding Spiders Isotope-Enriched Amino Acids to Label Their Silks for NMR Investigation

Over 300 million years spiders have evolved to produce seven different types of silk. The silks are comprised almost entirely of protein and are used for a diverse range of applications including web construction, egg case production and wrapping prey. The silks vary dramatically in their mechanical and physical properties with the major ampullate silk (dragline) exhibiting a strength that exceeds steel by weight and a toughness greater than Kevlar while, flagelliform silk has an elasticity comparable to rubber. Our lab is focused on understanding the molecular structure and dynamics of the proteins that comprise the various spider silk fibers with MAS solid-state NMR. It is the folded structures and hierarchical organization of these proteins that imparts spider silks their impressive yet, diverse mechanical properties. Our research team has been developing and applying SSNMR to probe secondary structure, hydrogen-bonding, side chain dynamics, and oligomeric protein assembly all of which are crucial to understanding spider silk formation and the resulting fiber properties. Recently, we have focused on using solution NMR to understand the protein-rich fluid within the various silk producing glands to investigate the conformational structure and dynamics prior to fiber formation and determine the important biochemical triggers responsible for converting this hydrogel-like protein solution to fibers with unparalleled properties. It is our belief that a better fundamental understanding of spider silk protein structure and assembly process will accelerate the ability to mimic and reproduce similar biologically inspired materials in the lab. These NMR approaches all require isotopic enrichment (13C/15N) that are administered to the spider in their water supply. I will discuss how we do it, the types of NMR experiments it enables and the molecular information gained in the context of silk formation.

Adam Sutton, PhD | Associate Principal Scientist 
Merck Research Labs (USA)


Adam is an associate principal scientist at Merck working in vaccine analytical research and development at the Pennsylvania site. Adam moved from Australia to the US at the start 2021 to work in vaccine development. Prior to working at Merck he completed a PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of South Australia in 2020 and a Masters of Chemistry at Western Sydney University in 2015. Adam’s NMR experience was in the characterization of branched homo and copolymers with qNMR and diffusion NMR. At Merck, Adam works with several instrumentation for vaccine development including benchtop NMR for qNMR applications.

Quantitative Benchtop NMR for Vaccine Development

Several different types of vaccines are regularly examined in the pharmaceutical industry. Vaccines can contain large molecules such as proteins and polysaccharides or larger particles such as attenuated viruses, lipid nanoparticles or virus like particles. All these vaccine types contain a complex mixture of small and macromolecules, therefore several analytical tools often need to be assessed in order to assist in the various stages of vaccine process development. Benchtop NMR is an advancing technology that can be a versatile analytical tool that provides quantitative information about the multiple components, using a single internal standard, that arise in the development of a vaccine. Benchtop NMR often involves minimal sample preparation since macromolecular species are usually not detectable or can be removed by T2 filters. The software for benchtop NMR is easy to use and provides automatic data processing further making benchtop NMR an attractive analytical tool that can be quickly assessed when comparing different analytical approaches. In this presentation the use of benchtop NMR as an alternative to chromatographic methods will be discussed. Its use for real-time monitoring and fast method development will be demonstrated. Examples of using benchtop NMR to quickly determine solvent compositions, to confirm excipients and study alum sedimentation in vaccine-related samples are some of the examples that will be covered, with some comparison to chromatography-based methods. Furthermore, we will discuss how benchtop NMR method development is possible even from those with no NMR experience, which are clear advantages for the implementation of benchtop NMR in the pharmaceutical industry.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • Vaccine development
  • Quantification of compounds by benchtop NMR
  • qNMR vs. chromatography

 Biographies and Abstracts – Environmental

Guorui Liu, PhD | Professor
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)

Guorui Liu is currently holding a professor position in Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research field is focused on the environmental analysis and behaviors of persistent toxic substances. He is the associate editor of journals Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Sustainable Horizons, Emerging Contaminants. Prof. Guorui Liu has published over 160 papers in Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, ES&T, and other journals. He was also awarded the “Yong Scientist Award” in the 13th International Symposium of Persistent Toxic Substance held in Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany in 2016. Guorui achieved the outstanding supervisor award of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2023. He is also the independent expert of UNIDO.

Sources, Emission Inventory and Environmental Occurrences of New Pollutants

Persistent toxic pollutants (PTS) have properties such as high toxicity, bioaccumulation, and long-range transport. PTS is ubiquitous in the global environment. This presentation mainly focuses on new pollutants of global concern, such as hexachlorobutadiene, halogenated carbazoles, and so on. Their sources, emission inventory and environmental behaviors will be discussed, which are helpful to protect human health and promote sustainable development goals.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • New pollutants in China
  • Source of new pollutants
  • Global emissions of typical new pollutants

Chip McCarty, PhD | Senior Scientist
General Dynamics Information Technology (USA)

Chip McCarty is a senior scientist in the Science & Engineering Business Area at General Dynamics Information Technology, in Falls Church, VA. He earned a BS in Environmental Science from Rutgers and a PhD in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, where he studied stable isotope geochemistry and petroleum diagenesis. As an EPA contractor since 1986, he has been responsible for a wide variety of method development projects, fish tissue monitoring programs, effluent guideline studies, and data validation efforts supporting various EPA Offices and programs, including Superfund’s Contract Laboratory Program, the Office of Water’s Effluent Guidelines Program, the Great Lakes National Program Office, and the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery. Chip has written or revised all of the Office of Water’s isotope dilution methods, dozens of organics methods for the SW-846 methods manual, and his fingerprints are on all of EPA’s current isotope dilution methods for dioxins and furans. Beginning in 2015, he helped develop and draft the EPA’s latest PCB congener method, Method 1628, and designed and oversaw the single-laboratory and multi-laboratory method validation studies of that low-resolution GC-MS isotope dilution procedure.

Introducing EPA Method 1628: A New Paradigm for Clean Water Act Compliance Monitoring of PCBs

The USEPA Office of Water currently requires monitoring of PCBs in wastewater discharges using techniques such as EPA Method 608, a dual-column GC/ECD procedure for organochlorine pesticides and seven Aroclor mixtures, which was the most practical approach available in the late 1970s when the first wastewater methods were proposed at 40 CFR Part 136. In the 40 years since those regulations were finalized, the environmental monitoring landscape has changed dramatically, including:

  • Use and manufacturing of PCBs was banned in 1978.
  • So called “legacy sources” of PCBs in the environment have slowly changed via the processes commonly called “weathering” to the extent that any Aroclors originally present may be difficult to identify.
  • The recognition that there are alternative sources of PCBs beyond the Aroclors exist and that need to be monitored.
  • Laboratory instrumentation has improved greatly and robust data systems that were once a pipe dream are now commonplace.

In response to these changes, in the late 1990s, the Office of Water developed EPA Method 1668, a high-resolution mass spectrometry method for all 209 PCB congeners. However, its sensitivity is so good that it is best used in specialized laboratories that take extensive measures to reduce background PCB concentrations and that can afford the costly instrumentation, making the method a less-than-ideal choice for routine compliance monitoring. Therefore, in 2015, the Office of Water began the process of developing and validating a low-resolution mass spectrometry procedure for PCB congeners that could be employed in most environmental laboratories with GC-MS capabilities. The end result was the July 2021 publication of EPA Method 1628, “Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Congeners in Water, Soil, Sediment, Biosolids, and Tissue by Low-resolution GC-MS using Selected Ion Monitoring,” as a fully validated EPA method. The next step will be to propose the method for Clean Water Act compliance monitoring of PCBs and simultaneously remove the seven Aroclors parameters from the tables at 40 CFR Part 136. When the rule is finalized, the result will be a new paradigm for monitoring PCBs under the Clean Water Act.

During this talk you will learn about:

  • A new fully validated isotope dilution EPA GC-MS method for all 209 PCB congeners is available for use in a wide range of matrices
  • The native and isotopically labeled PCB standards needed for the method are commercially available from several sources
  • The old way of wastewater monitoring of PCBs as Aroclors is going away soon