ISC 2026 - Day 2

<h4><strong>What if you could compress 179 days of grueling laboratory workflow into just 14 hours?</strong></h4><p><strong>In this episode of ‪ChromatographyTalk‬, ‪Organomation‬ General Manager David Oliva sits down with analytical chemist Laura Penabad to discuss her groundbreaking new research in biocatalysis and high-throughput screening. Evolving engineered enzymes typically requires checking thousands of variants—a massive bottleneck when traditional Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) runs take minutes per sample. Laura reveals how her team built a modular screening platform that shatters this limitation, running samples 128 times faster than standard methods without sacrificing analytical accuracy.</strong></p><p>Laura breaks down the "orchestra" of technologies making this possible, including coupling nanoliter droplet microfluidics with Cyclic Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry (cIM-MS) to separate complex chemical isomers in milliseconds. She also shares the chaotic but triumphant behind-the-scenes stories of her PhD journey—from presenting a "comically bad" early poster at ASMS to recruiting an undergraduate mechanical engineer to build custom automation software from scratch.</p><p>If you are an early-career researcher, a mass spec enthusiast, or curious about the future of synthetic biology and machine learning in chemistry, this episode is packed with invaluable intuition and advice.</p><h3><strong>Video Transcription</strong></h3><h4><strong>From Months to Hours: Droplet Ion Mobility–MS for Biocatalysis Screening</strong></h4><p><strong>High-throughput screening is central to directed enzyme evolution, but conventional analytical workflows can create a difficult compromise: extremely fast screens often provide limited structural information, while techniques such as LC-MS offer much richer chemical insight at the cost of throughput. In a recent interview, analytical chemist Laura described how her work with droplet-based cyclic ion mobility mass spectrometry is helping bridge that gap—providing rapid analysis while retaining the ability to distinguish structurally similar products.</strong></p><p>Her research grew from an initially modest proof of concept into a screening platform capable of analyzing a 96-well plate in roughly ten minutes. The resulting workflow was approximately <strong>128 times faster than a conventional three-minute LC-MS analysis</strong>, opening new possibilities for directed evolution campaigns in which thousands of enzyme variants need to be evaluated.</p><h4>Directed evolution needs better analytical screening</h4><p>Biocatalysis takes advantage of enzymes as highly selective catalysts capable of performing reactions under relatively mild conditions. Directed evolution extends those capabilities by deliberately modifying enzyme sequences, expressing large numbers of variants, screening their activity, and using the best-performing mutants as starting points for subsequent rounds of evolution.</p><p>The process can be repeated multiple times, progressively steering an enzyme toward improved activity, altered substrate specificity, or even chemistry that does not occur naturally.</p><p>But the effectiveness of directed evolution depends heavily on the screening step. The more variants that can be analyzed—and the more useful chemical information that can be collected for each one—the more effectively researchers can explore the enormous sequence space available to an enzyme.</p><p>For Laura, this created a clear analytical challenge: develop a screening platform that was substantially faster than conventional chromatographic analysis without sacrificing the structural discrimination needed for chemically similar products.</p><h4><strong>From an imperfect first experiment to a working platform</strong></h4><p>The project did not begin with a polished high-throughput workflow.</p><p>Laura recalled looking back at her <strong>2023 ASMS poster</strong>, where the early system was still working with standards rather than true isomeric samples. Droplet introduction was slow—around six seconds per droplet—and the signals were far from the ideal reproducible, square, flat-topped profiles expected from replicate droplets.</p><p>Nevertheless, simply producing a droplet signal represented an important first milestone.</p><p>The decisive change came when the project stopped being treated merely as a demonstration that droplet ion mobility–MS could work and instead became a deliberate effort to build a <strong>robust screening platform</strong>.</p><p>Laura approached the problem in modules. First came reliable droplet introduction. Then the ion mobility separation method. Quantification became another independent component. Matrix effects were introduced later, gradually making the system resemble the conditions expected with real screening samples.</p><p>Each layer was tested before another was added.</p><p>This stepwise strategy became one of the central principles of the project: rather than attempting to optimize the entire system simultaneously, individual components were developed, challenged, and then assembled into an increasingly realistic workflow.</p><h4><strong>Finding the middle ground between speed and structural information</strong></h4><p>One of the biggest analytical problems in high-throughput screening is distinguishing products with the same nominal or exact mass.</p><p>Constitutional isomers may contain the same atoms and therefore generate the same mass-to-charge ratio, while differing only in how functional groups are arranged within the molecular structure. Very rapid optical or mass-based screens may therefore struggle to distinguish them.</p><p>Traditional LC-MS can solve many of these problems through chromatographic separation, but a several-minute analysis rapidly becomes impractical when thousands of enzyme variants must be screened.</p><p>Ion mobility offered Laura’s team another option.</p><p>Rather than separating compounds on a chromatographic timescale, ion mobility can differentiate ions according to their gas-phase behavior on a much shorter timescale. In the workflow described in the interview, this created a useful compromise: not the kilohertz throughput possible with some simple screening technologies, but dramatically faster structural differentiation than conventional LC-MS.</p><p>The goal was therefore not simply to achieve the fastest possible screen, but to find a <strong>middle-throughput analytical regime with enough resolving power to answer chemically meaningful questions</strong>.</p><h4><strong>A 96-well plate in about ten minutes</strong></h4><p>That strategy eventually produced one of the most striking results of the project.</p><p>The droplet cyclic ion mobility–MS platform processed a <strong>96-well plate in roughly ten minutes</strong>, while maintaining quantitative results comparable with the conventional LC-MS workflow used for comparison. According to the interview, this represented an approximately <strong>128-fold increase in analysis speed relative to a three-minute LC-MS run</strong>.</p><p>Laura described the successful plate experiment less as a surprise than as confirmation that the modular development strategy had worked.</p><p>Before reaching that point, the workflow had already been challenged through a sequence of increasingly demanding experiments: droplet formation, ion mobility separation, calibration, matrix-containing calibration, and cross-testing analytes at different concentrations. By the time the complete plate was analyzed, each individual part of the analytical system had already been tested under progressively more realistic conditions.</p><h4><strong>What does that speed mean for directed evolution?</strong></h4><p>The impact becomes even clearer when the workflow is considered at the scale of an entire directed-evolution campaign.</p><p>Laura’s manuscript estimated that a <strong>five-round campaign involving 5,000 variants would require approximately 179 days using the conventional LC-MS workflow but only about 14 hours using the new platform</strong>.</p><p>Compressing months of analytical work into less than a day has consequences beyond laboratory productivity.</p><p>It allows researchers to screen more enzyme variants and therefore sample a larger portion of sequence space. But the resulting datasets may also become increasingly valuable for computational approaches.</p><p>Rather than retaining information only about the best-performing enzyme variant, researchers can preserve data describing variants that performed poorly as well as those that succeeded. When genotype and phenotype information remain linked through the well-plate workflow, these larger datasets can potentially provide richer input for machine-learning models designed to guide subsequent rounds of enzyme evolution.</p><p>Faster analysis therefore does more than accelerate an existing experiment—it can change the scale and design of the experiment itself.</p><h4><strong>Balancing ion mobility resolution and signal</strong></h4><p>Increasing cyclic ion mobility separation time can improve resolution, but it also introduces an important trade-off: additional passes can reduce signal.</p><p>Laura optimized this balance experimentally by continuously infusing mixtures containing both isomers and progressively adjusting the ion mobility conditions. After tuning parameters such as wave height and velocity, increasing the separation to <strong>three passes</strong> provided baseline resolution at the high analyte concentrations used during method development.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Concentration, however, also mattered.</strong></p></blockquote><p>At higher ion populations, space-charge effects could broaden peaks and reduce the baseline separation. This meant that the optimal number of passes could not be selected independently of the concentration range required by the final assay.</p><p>Her broader advice for optimization is therefore application-driven: decide first what the analytical method actually needs to accomplish.</p><p>More speed will almost always require sacrificing something—resolution, signal intensity, quantitative precision, or another performance parameter. The key is to identify which compromise the application can tolerate and then optimize the system around that requirement.</p><h4><strong>Solving droplet carryover with a practical compromise</strong></h4><p>Droplet-based workflows present their own engineering challenges, including carryover between neighboring samples.</p><p>In Laura’s system, analytes showed little tendency to partition into the fluorinated oil separating aqueous droplets within the Teflon tubing. The more troublesome carryover occurred closer to electrospray ionization, where a small amount of sample could remain associated with the interface and appear when the next droplet arrived.</p><p>Rather than adding excessive engineering complexity to an already elaborate platform, the researchers adopted a pragmatic solution: a <strong>sacrificial wash droplet</strong> between analytical samples.</p><p>It is an example of a recurring theme throughout the project. The objective was not to construct the theoretically most sophisticated droplet system, but to create a screening workflow that remained sufficiently robust, reproducible, and practical for large numbers of samples.</p><h4><strong>High-throughput analysis also requires high-throughput data processing</strong></h4><p>Accelerating the mass spectrometry experiment created another bottleneck: the data.</p><p>The instrument produced a continuous intensity-versus-time trace rather than a neatly organized well-plate dataset. With small experiments, Laura could manually identify individual droplets and process the results in spreadsheets. That approach quickly became unrealistic as sample numbers increased.</p><p>The solution emerged through collaboration with an undergraduate mentee, Aiden, who helped develop a dedicated software tool for processing the continuous traces.</p><p>Laura defined how the software should behave and how the analytical information should be organized, while Aiden developed the computational implementation. The workflow itself was subsequently adjusted to make automated data processing more reliable—for example, by introducing marker columns that allowed the software to recognize the end of each plate row.</p><p>The resulting tool can accept the acquired traces together with information about plate dimensions and replicates and automatically return parameters including <strong>peak identity, duration, and the corresponding well position</strong>. A later version also generated an automatically populated heat map.</p><p>The experience illustrates how improving analytical throughput often requires simultaneous development of instrumentation, experimental design, and informatics. Making the measurement faster is useful only if the resulting data can be processed at a comparable speed.</p><h4><strong>Mentoring became part of the scientific process</strong></h4><p>The software project also reflects another theme Laura emphasized throughout the interview: the value of mentoring.</p><p>Several younger researchers contributed directly to the development of the final platform. Laura described mentees not simply as additional hands in the laboratory but as scientists capable of proposing their own hypotheses and experimental ideas.</p><p>Working with undergraduate researchers also influenced the way she organized experiments.</p><p>Because their available laboratory time was limited, each task needed to have a clear purpose. That encouraged a more disciplined approach to experimental planning: instead of performing experiments simply because they could be done, the team had to ask which experiment would most efficiently answer the next important question.</p><p>In that sense, mentoring became another mechanism for improving the research itself.</p><h4><strong>The next step: continuous, automated screening</strong></h4><p>Despite the dramatic increase in analytical speed, the current workflow still includes manual operations such as loading tubing and connecting the sample stream to the mass spectrometer.</p><p>The next engineering challenge is therefore automation.</p><p>Laura described ongoing work using the <strong>Venturi effect</strong> to pull samples directly from wells into the droplet system. Building on previous work in the laboratory with 96-well plates, she has already tested this approach with as many as <strong>2,000 samples</strong>.</p><p>The long-term direction is clear: continuous and robust droplet generation, automated handling of thousands of samples, rapid ion mobility separation, mass spectrometric detection, and automated reconstruction of the resulting data into plate-based outputs.</p><p>Combining those elements could move the system closer to the type of large-scale screening required for increasingly ambitious biocatalysis campaigns.</p><h4><strong>Learning mass spectrometry one problem at a time</strong></h4><p>Laura also reflected on the broader experience of developing the platform during her PhD.</p><p>Ion mobility and mass spectrometry initially appeared intimidating, particularly because they combine concepts from analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, separations, instrumentation, and electrical engineering. What eventually changed was not simply learning more facts, but developing the ability to move repeatedly between theory and experiment.</p><p>An unexpected result sends the researcher back to the underlying theory. A better understanding suggests a modified experiment. That experiment creates another observation, gradually building intuition about how the system behaves.</p><p>Her advice to early-career scientists is therefore to accept that this process takes time.</p><p>Advanced analytical techniques may initially appear overwhelming, but understanding develops incrementally through repeated interaction between theory, experimentation, failure, and refinement. Equally important, she emphasized the role of the supportive ion mobility–mass spectrometry community in making a technically demanding field more approachable for young researchers.</p><p>From the first inconsistent droplets to a platform capable of processing thousands of samples, that iterative mindset ultimately shaped the entire project.</p><blockquote><p><strong>This text has been automatically transcribed from a video presentation using AI technology. It may contain inaccuracies and is not guaranteed to be 100% correct.</strong></p></blockquote><blockquote><h4><strong>Concentrating on Chromatography Podcast</strong></h4><p>Dive into the frontiers of chromatography, mass spectrometry, and sample preparation with host David Oliva. Each episode features candid conversations with leading researchers, industry innovators, and passionate scientists who are shaping the future of analytical chemistry. From decoding PFAS detection challenges to exploring the latest in AI-assisted liquid chromatography, this show uncovers practical workflows, sustainability breakthroughs, and the real-world impact of separation science. Whether you’re a chromatographer, lab professional, or researcher you'll discover inspiring content!</p><p>You can find <strong>Concentrating on Chromatography Podcast </strong>in podcast apps:</p><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1wZg67rCjoGju4yhqxI3tL"><strong>Spotify</strong></a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/tz/podcast/concentrating-on-chromatography/id1788429185"><strong>Apple podcast</strong></a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podscan.fm/podcasts/concentrating-on-chromatography"><strong>podscan</strong></a></li></ul><p>and on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/@ChromatographyTalk/videos"><strong>YouTube channel</strong></a></p></blockquote>

Droplet Cyclic Ion Mobility Mass Spec: Compressing Months of Enzyme Screening Into Just 14 Hours

ISC 2026 - Day 3

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The International Symposium on Chromatography (ISC) represents the oldest conference series focussing on separation science. ISC symposia have been organised since 1956 in each even year. ISC is internationally recognised as one of the premier meeting series for discussion of all modes of chromatography and separation science with a broad coverage of techniques and applications.

International Symposium on Chromatography - (ISC)

Organomation, founded in 1959, designs and manufactures high-quality nitrogen evaporators and extraction systems. Known for innovation and durability, their lab instruments are used globally for efficient sample preparation with strong customer support.

Organomation

Waters Oasis SPE products

Waters Oasis SPE products come in a broad range of sorbents and an array of formats. With Oasis products, you can meet a wide variety of sample preparation needs.

<h4><strong>Faster, cleaner, and simpler SPE starts here</strong></h4><p>Analytical chemists worldwide use SPE to remove interfering matrix compounds and enrich the analyte of interest to ensure the generation of high-quality data.</p><p>Waters Oasis SPE products come in a broad range of sorbents and an array of formats. With Oasis products, you can meet a wide variety of sample preparation needs, from simple and fast sample matrix clean-up to more complex sample preparation challenges.</p><p>Oasis SPE products deliver unmatched purity, consistency, and quality for sample analysis. Along with seven different SPE chemistries, Oasis SPE products use universal to customized protocols to handle your unique sample.</p><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Oasis_SPE_kolonky_2_967d461f2e/Waters-Oasis-SPE-kolonky-2.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis SPE" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Oasis_SPE_kolonky_2_967d461f2e/thumbnail_Waters-Oasis-SPE-kolonky-2.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="950" height="416"></p><h4><strong>Overview</strong></h4><ul><li>Fully water-wettable sorbents increase reproducibility and enable elimination of condition and equilibration steps</li><li>Co-polymer pH stable from 0–14 with no secondary silanol activity</li><li>Optimal sensitivity for small molecule and therapeutic peptide analysis</li><li>Reduced matrix effects for LC-MS/MS analyses</li><li>Unsurpassed selectivity</li><li>Consistent retention and capacity, yielding the highest SPE recovery</li><li>Reduces variability in analytical results and increases robustness of analysis</li><li><strong>Recommended Use: </strong>For the fastest, cleanest, and simplest approach to SPE-LC-MS/MS method development.</li></ul><h4><strong>Solid-Phase Extraction Chemistries</strong></h4><h5><strong>Oasis PRiME HLB</strong></h5><ul><li>Multi-purpose hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced reversed phase sorbent for acids, bases, and neutrals</li><li>Cleaner samples in fewer steps with simple three-and two-step protocols, no SPE expertise required</li><li>Removes 95% of common matrix interferences, such as proteins, salts, phospholipids, and pigments</li><li>No sorbent conditioning or equilibration steps required</li><li>Faster, more predictable analysis time</li><li>Ideal for reversed-phase SPE clean-up of samples in routine analysis.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis PRiME MCX</strong></h5><ul><li>Mixed-mode Cation eXchange sorbent to selectively retain, concentrate and elute basic compounds</li><li>Reversed-phase and ion-exchange functionality for orthogonal sample preparation</li><li>Cleaner samples in fewer steps with simple and fast 3 and 4-step protocols</li><li>Removes 99% of phospholipids from complex sample matrices</li><li>No sorbent conditioning or equilibration steps required</li><li>Faster, more predictable analysis time</li><li>Highly reproducible target analyte recoveries</li><li>Ideal for basic compound specificity while removing matrix interferences in a simple clean-up.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis HLB</strong></h5><ul><li>Multi-purpose hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced reversed phase sorbent</li><li>Provides high capacity for acids, bases, and neutrals</li><li>Ideal for ultra-high capacity of very polar compounds.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis MCX</strong></h5><ul><li>Mixed-mode Cation eXchange sorbent for bases</li><li>Increased analyte specificity and sensitivity</li><li>Reversed-phase and ion-exchange functionality for orthogonal sample preparation</li><li>Ideal for selective retention of basic analytes.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis MAX</strong></h5><ul><li>Mixed-mode Anion eXchange for acids</li><li>Increased analyte specificity and sensitivity</li><li>Reversed-phase and ion-exchange functionality for orthogonal sample preparation</li><li>Ideal for selective retention of acidic analytes.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis WAX</strong></h5><ul><li>Weak Anion eXchange mixed-mode sorbent for strong acidic compounds</li><li>Increased analyte specificity and sensitivity</li><li>Reversed-phase and ion-exchange functionality for orthogonal sample preparation</li><li>Ideal for improved retention of strong acidic compounds.</li></ul><h5><strong>Oasis WCX</strong></h5><ul><li>Weak Cation eXchange mixed-mode sorbent for strong basic compounds</li><li>Increased analyte specificity and sensitivity</li><li>Reversed-phase and ion-exchange functionality for orthogonal sample preparation</li><li>Ideal for improved retention of all basic analytes, especially strong bases.</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Sorbenty_Oasis_SPE_na_bazi_kopolymeru_Oasis_HLB_c8ffee39b3/Waters-Sorbenty-Oasis-SPE-na-bazi-kopolymeru-Oasis-HLB.png" alt="Waters: Oasis Sorbents" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Sorbenty_Oasis_SPE_na_bazi_kopolymeru_Oasis_HLB_c8ffee39b3/thumbnail_Waters-Sorbenty-Oasis-SPE-na-bazi-kopolymeru-Oasis-HLB.png 211w," sizes="100vw" width="1511" height="1119"></p><h4><strong>Oasis Formats</strong></h4><h5><strong>Oasis μElution Plate</strong></h5><ul><li>Patented μElution plate design</li><li>No evaporation and reconstitution necessary due to elution volumes as low as 25 µL</li><li>Ideal for SPE clean-up and analyte enrichment of small sample volumes</li><li>Compatible with most liquid-handling robotic systems for automated, reliable high-throughput SPE (HT-SPE)</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_m_Elution_Plate_aa7e36a4c1.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis µElution Plate" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_m_Elution_Plate_aa7e36a4c1.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="502" height="260"></p><h5><strong>Oasis 96-Well Sample Extraction Plates</strong></h5><ul><li>Innovative, award-winning two-stage well design</li><li>High throughput and high recovery</li><li>Compatible with most liquid-handling robotic systems for automated, reliable high-throughput SPE (HT-SPE)</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_96_Well_Sample_Extraction_Plates_9528d532b9.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis 96-Well Sample Extraction Plates" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_96_Well_Sample_Extraction_Plates_9528d532b9.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="525" height="329"></p><h5><strong>Oasis Syringe-Barrel Cartridges</strong></h5><ul><li>Ultra-clean syringe barrel and frits</li><li>Available in cartridges ranging from 1 cc to 60 cc</li><li>Flangeless syringe-barrel cartridges available in 1 cc, 3 cc, and 6 cc sizes</li><li>Plus-style cartridges with Luer inlet hub and outlet tip, compatible with hand-held syringes</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_Syringe_Barrel_Cartridges_961aa06b8a.jpg" alt="Waters Corporation: Oasis Syringe-Barrel Cartridges" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_Syringe_Barrel_Cartridges_961aa06b8a.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="503" height="311"></p><h5><strong>Oasis Glass Cartridges</strong></h5><ul><li>Ultra-clean glass syringe with Teflon® frit</li><li>For trace level detection and analysis at part-per-trillion (PPT) levels</li><li>Available in 5 cc (200 mg) configuration</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_Glass_Cartridges_5e96319c7f.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis Glass Cartridges" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_Glass_Cartridges_5e96319c7f.jpg 188w," sizes="100vw" width="409" height="339"></p><h5><strong>Oasis On-Line Columns and Cartridges</strong></h5><ul><li>For rugged, reproducible, and ultra-fast on-line analysis</li><li>Wide choice of configurations, particle sizes, and sorbent chemistries</li><li>Available with all six patented Oasis sorbents—PRiME HLB, HLB, MCX, MAX, WCX, and WAX</li><li>High recovery and reproducible results for a wide range of compounds</li><li>Cartridge format for use with Spark Holland Prospekt-2™/Symbiosis™ systems also available</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_On_Line_Columns_and_Cartridges_ba02114c92.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis On-Line Columns and Cartridges" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_On_Line_Columns_and_Cartridges_ba02114c92.jpg 168w," sizes="100vw" width="415" height="386"></p><h4><strong>Sample preparation, improved</strong></h4><p>Improving various aspects of chromatography and mass spectrometry analyses often starts with sample preparation. &nbsp;Solid-phase extraction (SPE) or "liquid-solid phase extraction" is a sample preparation technology that uses particles of chromatographic packing material, usually in a cartridge or 96-well plate format, to chemically separate different analytes and aid in removing matrix components in a sample. &nbsp;</p><p>SPE is a proven sample preparation tool for simple sample matrix removal, including common interferences like proteins, salts, fats and phospholipids. This matrix removal provides many benefits, including matrix effect reduction and an increase in sample concentration and analyte specificity. Matrix removal also significantly simplifies chromatographic complexity by reducing the number of interfering peaks in the LC and reducing signal suppression by providing clean samples for the MS.</p><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_SPE_LC_MS_MS_chromatogram_of_1_pgm_L_of_alprazolam_from_rat_plasma_8b7275b25b.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis SPE - LC-MS-MS chromatogram of 1 pgmL of alprazolam from rat plasma" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_SPE_LC_MS_MS_chromatogram_of_1_pgm_L_of_alprazolam_from_rat_plasma_8b7275b25b.jpg 169w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="946"></p><h4><strong>Get the cleanest extracts with the Oasis 2x4 method</strong></h4><p>Having a variety of tools for method development allows separation scientists to optimize protocols for maximum sensitivity and selectivity. The Oasis 2x4 method for SPE sorbent and protocol selection for acids, bases, and neutrals produces the cleanest extracts – all by eliminating matrix interferences and sample variability. Get the flexibility to extract acids, bases, and neutrals with high SPE recoveries while removing matrix components that may interfere with analysis with our two protocols and four sorbents. By following the simple steps outlined in the Oasis 2x4 method, you can achieve high recoveries and the cleanest extracts.</p><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Oasis_2x4_protokol_pro_vyvoj_metody_c417be9006/Waters-Oasis-2x4-protokol-pro-vyvoj-metody.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis SPE - Oasis 2 x 4 method development protocol." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Oasis_2x4_protokol_pro_vyvoj_metody_c417be9006/thumbnail_Waters-Oasis-2x4-protokol-pro-vyvoj-metody.jpg 242w," sizes="100vw" width="1519" height="979"></p><h4><strong>Isolate your compounds with the Oasis HLB method</strong></h4><p>Solid-phase extraction (SPE) method development starts with knowledge of the sample matrix—the nature and relative concentration of the analytes of interest and potentially interfering endogenous compounds. The right sorbent and solvents are selected for load, wash, and elute steps, resulting in the creation of rugged, reliable, and selective protocols. The Oasis HLB method is a generic protocol used to isolate a broad range of acidic, basic, and neutral compounds from a wide spectrum of matrices.</p><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Corporation_Oasis_SPE_Generic_Method_Protocol_with_Oasis_HLB_SPE_83d684704d.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis SPE - Generic Method Protocol with Oasis HLB SPE" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Corporation_Oasis_SPE_Generic_Method_Protocol_with_Oasis_HLB_SPE_83d684704d.jpg 139w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="1153"></p><h4><strong>Multiple contaminant analysis with the 2-step pass-through protocol</strong></h4><p>If you are doing multiple residue screening of veterinary drugs, pesticides and mycotoxins in various food matrices, you may be facing a high concentration of organic solvents. With our simple 2-step protocol (pass-through SPE), you can remove matrix interferences quickly if your samples contain a high concentration of organic solvent(s) and concentration and/or salt removal is not required. It can be used as the clean-up method following QuEChERS extraction, saving you significant time compared to the traditional dispersive SPE method - all while achieving superior clean-up.</p><p><strong>To do pass-through SPE, Waters offers 2 convenient and flexible formats:</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Traditional-style cartridges</strong> compatible with vacuum and positive pressure manifolds&nbsp;</li><li><strong>"Plus" style cartridges</strong> that can be used without manifolds when connected to a displacement syringe</li></ul><p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_Oasis_SPE_kolonky_3_b4da6242de/Waters-Oasis-SPE-kolonky-3.jpg" alt="Waters: Oasis Plus Light and Plus Short Cartridges for 2-step pass through protocol." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_Oasis_SPE_kolonky_3_b4da6242de/thumbnail_Waters-Oasis-SPE-kolonky-3.jpg 152w," sizes="100vw" width="1308" height="1342"></p>

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