Blog posts by category

Christmas Closure and Emergency Contact Information

The Anatune office will be closed from 12pm on Thursday 24th December and will re-open at 8:30am Monday 4th January….

Anatune Team News

Welcome Kevin! It’s my pleasure to welcome Kevin Boyce as our Account Manager covering the Midlands and South East of…

Brushing up on the Fastest Evolving Issue in Pharmaceutical Analysis

Nitrosamines continue to cause headaches for the pharmaceutical companies and CROs looking for the most effective ways of testing for…

Anatune and CMAC. Using SIFT-MS to Determine Drying End Points for In-Line Process Monitoring

Organic solvents are widely used in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), however, their presence in the final product…

Method Development With Camilla Liscio

20/08 – 1/3 Method Development With Camila Liscio: Sample Prep 27/08 – 2/3 Method Development With Camila Liscio: Analysis 03/09…

The Analytical Breakthrough You May Have (Not) Been Waiting For

You’re sitting in your car. The air-con is set to outside air. A very informative Radio 4 program about at-street-level…

Tips and Tricks for Lab Efficiency

The content of this post first existed as a three part series published throughout June and July 2020. They were…

Tips and Tricks for Lab Efficiency Volume 3

Welcome to the third edition of Tips and Tricks for Lab Efficiency. After this one, we will take a brief…

Of Moulds and Mycotoxins…

With harvest a couple of months away, farmers and food producers will be keeping a watchful eye on the long…

Tips and tricks for Lab Efficiency Volume 2

Another Friday, another host of tips and tricks to get your lab running a little bit more smoothly when things…

Tips and Tricks for Lab Efficiency Volume 1

Times of disruption often offer us a chance to change habits, take stock and reflect on the ways we’ve always…

Six-part Automated SIFT-MS Webinar Series Now On Demand

Download the app note Sign up to eApps See the webinars Automated SIFT-MS is a highly effective way of analysing…

Mutagenic Impurity Risk Evaluation – Technologies to Assist in Stepwise Approach to Assessment.

*Picture taken in February before social distancing measures were put in place. Free webinar Thursday, June 18, 3:00 PM –…

A Short Story of Quick Collaboration

It’s fair to say that analytical science hasn’t always been defined by its dynamism or agility. Things tend to take…

This Is How It Used to Be

Thoughts on the Lockdown and its Impact on our Laboratory This is how it used to be. You would enter…

The problem with recycled plastics – a discussion with Unilever and Anatune

Single use plastics have been a major point for a number of years but many people aren’t aware of the…

Testing Water Shouldn’t Cost (or Taste Like) the Earth

Have you ever left a glass of water out for a bit too long and found that it tasted a…

What We Learned at The Nitrosamines Round Table Discussion

Click here to watch our on-demand webinar: The Anatune Nitrosamine Forum 2020  Back in November, we wrote a short blog…

Linking Sustainability with Business Priorities

This document features examples taken from Building A Business Case – Email us for a copy. Constant media coverage on…

When The World Zags, Zig

Full application note Organochlorine compounds, along with other VOCs such as the BTEX group of compounds (benzene, toluene and the…

Save the Date: 2nd of April – The Anatune Nitrosamine Forum 2020

On the 2nd of April 2020, we will be hosting The Anatune Nitrosamine Forum here in Cambridge. In this video,…

RIP Windows 7

Today is a sad day for many who consider Windows 7 one of the best operating systems to come out…

4 Predictions for 2019: A recap

This time last year we peered our beady eyes into our crystal balls and made some predictions for the year…

Merry Christmas!

With the Christmas holidays nearly upon us, I wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone – our customers, our…

You Can’t Keep a Good Idea Down

What have Post-it notes, Silly Putty, Velcro, microwave ovens and The Analytical Scientist and Anatune’s latest Application Note on thermal…

*Our Phone Lines are Down*

Unfortunately we’re having problems with our phone lines in our Cambridge office. If for any reason you need to get…

Acrylamide in Food Book Give Away

While having a clear out of Anatune HQ, we’ve come across another copy of Acrylamide in Food by Tanya Y…

Not All Vials Are Created Equally

How many vials do you use in a year? Do you give much thought to the quality? Or do you…

N-Nitrosamines: One to Watch

Probable carcinogens – N-nitrosamines – continue to keep pharmaceutical companies in the crosshairs of health regulators. From the active drug substances to…

Metaldehyde in Water

You might remember the news back in January that Metaldehyde was banned due to fears of the environmental impact of…

Autumnal Changes at Anatune

Autumn is often a time for change with the night’s drawing in, the leaves turning orange and the woolly jumpers…

We Have an LC-MS!

We’ve long been pretty widely referred to as ‘those plucky, excellent looking bunch of scientists who stick autosamplers on the…

Farewell from Ray

N.B. This blog was originally sent as a letter to our mailing list and published here retrospectively. Dear reader, On…

Alan is Riding from Land’s End to John o’ Groats

Anatune Chief Operating Officer Alan ‘Kryptonite Brand’ Lockley has decided it’s a good idea to ride his bike a hideously…

A Revolutionary Approach to the Real-Time Analysis of Breath

At last, a thermal desorption system is available that can be used with both GC/MS and SIFT-MS and has the…

Some Further Reading for DiLLME on Tour

Dates across the country are filling up for our DiLLME tour. Thanks to everyone who’s signed up nice and early….

What You Might Have Missed at the 2019 SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting

It’s been a few weeks now since the end of the event. Those of you who attended, we hope you…

DiLLME on Tour

A chance to learn about Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Micro Extraction Traditional liquid-liquid extraction qualifies as a tried and tested extraction technique….

The CF200 Robotic Centrifuge Certified Solvent Safe

Until now, very few centrifuges have been certified as safe for use with flammable solvents. Those that are certified, have…

2019 SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting: Day 2 Round-Up

As promised, we move onto a round-up of the second and final day of the 2019 SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting….

2019 SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting: Day 1 Round-Up

And so concludes the 2019 SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting. It was a great showcase of the diversity of how this…

Pharmaceutical Production: From Batch to Continuous Manufacturing

CMAC have proof of a concept that opens up the possibility to continuously manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients. This is big…

How Accurate and Precise are SIFT-MS Measurements?

There is some confusion out there, as to how precise a tool, Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry is. Time…

14 Reasons Why You Should be Using SIFT-MS

Recently, Mark wrote a blog post on the Multi-Port Inlet (MPI) for SIFT-MS, referring to process monitoring. Since we installed…

IT Is Our Problem, Not Yours

With the clock ticking for older versions of Windows operating systems, many people’s attention has turned to operating system upgrades…

SIFT-MS, The MultiPort Inlet and Processes Monitoring – The Ideal Partnership

People often ask me, Mark, what’s your favourite tube? Is it the London Underground? Perhaps it’s YouTube with its thousands…

Introducing Adam Gladwin to the Anatune Team

Anatune is pleased to welcome Adam Gladwin on board, as our new Sales Manager. Adam has over 28 years’ experience…

Training at Anatune

In collaboration with our partners, Crawford Scientific, Anatune is hosting two training events in June: HPLC Fundamentals | Tuesday 11th…

Seven Speakers Confirmed for the SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting

This 2 day event will take place at the Hotel Felix and Anatune on the 9th/10th July 2019, and will…

Anatune in County Westmeath – Save the Date

Anatune are hosting a demonstration of the GERSTEL MPS Robotic in County Westmeath, Ireland. This one day event will take…

SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting

Anatune Ltd and Syft Technologies host the Interest and Discussion Symposium for Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry. This two…

My Pyrolysis Polymer Bible

Pyrolysis-GC/MS – a powerful yet under utilised technique when it comes to polymer analysis. In my previous life at CRO…

The Smell of Parkinson’s: The Technology Behind the Story

A Little Background: We’ve long been promoting the amazing work done by Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) and Joy Milne…

7 Things on Windows 10

In January 2020, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7. This means that security upgrades to Windows 7 will cease and,…

Lifecycle of Food Analysis: Introducing Jens Glastrup

Click here or call +44 (0)1223 279210 to reserve your place.  Full Agenda. Following on from Friday’s post, we’ve had…

Dynamic Headspace and Olfactory Detection: Two days in the company of experts

Click here or call +44 (0)1223 279210 to reserve your place. Full Agenda. Does your lab use dynamic headspace or…

Acrylamide in Food Book Give Away

We have a copy of Acrylamide in Food by Tanya Y Curtis and Nigel G Halford to give away. Dr…

Another Guest Speaker Confirmed for the Lifecycle of Food Analysis Workshop

We can now confirm our third guest speaker for the 2-day Lifecycle of Food Analysis Workshop is Neil Owen, Head…

Lifecycle of Food Analysis Workshop – Second Guest Speaker Confirmed

Dr Andrew Feilden will be joining us for our workshop – Lifecycle of Food Analysis, across April 2nd and 3rd….

The New Agilent 8890 Gas Chromatograph

Anatune’s Alan Lockley and Lisa McGowan attended the launch of the new Agilent 8890 GC in Barcelona last week. Here…

Extractable and Leachable Test Protocols – Innovation through Collaboration

Those of you who have been to our demo lab know we like our GC/Q-TOFs. You may also know that…

Lifecycle of Food Analysis Workshop – First Guest Speaker Confirmed

We are delighted to confirm that Dr Tanya Curtis will be joining us on the 2nd of April 2019 for…

Safe Cooling – Why’s the Lab So Quiet?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking about the benefit we provide purely in technical and financial terms….

CHROMacademy Giveaway

Our partners at Crawford Scientific have generously donated two 12-month subscriptions to CHROMacademy for a couple of lucky winners. These…

Lifecycle of Food Analysis Workshop

Now you have the dates firmly saved, it’s time to let you know a bit more about what you can…

Portsmouth Paper with Reference to Anatune’s Metaldehyde Solution

Our contemporaries at University of Portsmouth have released their study Comparison of different monitoring methods for the measurement of metaldehyde…

Webinar – An Approach to Pharma Method Validation for Direct Mass Spectrometry

On Tuesday 29th January, Dr Vaughan Langford of Syft Technologies and Anatune’s Dr Mark Perkins will be collaborating on a…

Life Cycle of Food Analysis – Contaminants Testing from Farm to Fork and Beyond

Anatune is hosting a two day Workshop in Cambridge, looking at contaminant analysis throughout the life cycle of food. Topics…

Banning Metaldehyde – An Opportunity to Reset

Gastropod garrotting, Metaldehyde, has been banned in the UK due to the environmental impact of its extensive use. Regardless of…

Analytical Chemistry – 4 Predictions for 2019

You can’t change or improve anything without making dependable chemical measurements, so to some degree, predictions in the World of…

CHRISTMAS CLOSURES AND EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO

Our office closes at 12pm on 24th December, and will remain closed until 8.30am on 2nd January 2019. If you…

Introducing Joe Perkins-Hall to the Anatune Team

Anatune is pleased to welcome Joe Perkins-Hall on board, as Account Manager for the North of England. Prior to joining…

Second Guest Speaker Confirmed for the Watermation Workshop

Watermation is just around the corner on the 27th and 28th November. Amongst the many talks, Derek Slater at SembCorp…

WWEM 2018 – Free VIP Registration

Anatune are exhibiting at the Water, Wastewater and Environmental Monitoring (WWEM) meeting next week, and if you haven’t already registered to go,…

Aroma and Flavour Analysis in Food and Beverage Samples Webinar

Flavour and fragrance matching, whether it is natural sources such as flowers or your competitor’s products, requires the analyst to…

South East Water – the route to validation for automated liquid-liquid extraction method for Organochloro Pesticides

We’re proud to announce a presentation from South East Water at our Watermation Workshop on the 27th and 28th November….

Introducing Colin Hastie to the Anatune Team

Our application laboratory team does some really great work and as a result, demands on our lab grow all the…

Watermation Workshop – An Afternoon in the Anatune Lab

The lab is at the heart of everything we do at Anatune and there’s been a particular buzz about the…

7250 GC/Q-TOF: The Quickest Way to Your Molecular Ion

This is Big News! When you are doing product characterisation, or looking for unknowns in your samples, would you like…

Future Technology Protecting the Past

When you are asked to look behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum, you don’t say no. I was…

Why Dispersive Liquid Liquid Micro Extraction? Why Now?

The water industry uses liquid liquid extraction ubiquitously on everything from the water we drink to waste water.  Recently, Anatune…

Upcoming Webinar on Automated Environmental Sample Analysis

On 10th October in collaboration with Agilent, I will be hosting a Webinar showcasing the environmental work we’ve done over…

Watermation Workshop – Large Volume Injection in High-throughput Environments

Analysts have mixed experiences when using large volume injections, but most of them have never had the benefit of the…

What We’re Looking Forward to at BMSS 39

Marvin Shaw’s Keynote Speech There’s been much talk about the possibilities and limitations of real-time volatile analysis in our industry…

Are you coming to BMSS 2018 in Cambridge?

BMSS 39 is fast approaching so it’s high time we started looking ahead to what’s going on. First and foremost…

Water Analysis – Changes are on the Way

This is an exciting time. The sensitivity of the mass specs has reached a turning-point where, in the analysis of…

Is Your Lab Ready for its Fifteen Minutes of FAMEs?

You probably know that the World Health Organisation recommends a low fat diet, limiting saturated fat intake and maintaining a…

Comparing Chemcatchers, Online Process Monitoring and Traditional Laboratory Measurements

I am a final-year PhD student from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. I am…

Book Giveaway – Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry

New Product Development (NPD) is a skill which takes years of practice and training and the techniques vary from flavour…

Final Guest Speaker Confirmed for the Life Science Workshop

Bryan White is the GC and GCMS Product Specialist at Agilent Technologies.  Bryan has kindly agreed to guest present at…

Invite to the Launch of the new Agilent GC/Q-TOF 7250

Anatune would like to invite you to the launch of the new Agilent GC/Q-TOF 7250. The launch will take place…

3rd Guest Speaker Confirmed for our Life Science’s Workshop

Dr Hannah Florance is the Metabolomics Specialist and Mass Spectrometrist at the University of Edinburgh.  Hannah has kindly agreed to…

Mission Accomplished

The Road to Riva We have raised over £2,500 for Parkinson’s from supporters of our road trip to Italy and…

SIFT-MS Strategic Applications Chemist Vacancy

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is undergoing dramatic growth and is sparking some amazing job opportunities. Anatune is…

What’s that Smell?

The detection of odour or trying to find out what it is you are smelling is a complex challenge. The human…

Packaging: The Unwanted Ingredient in Food

Extractables and leachables from food packaging are a major source of food contamination and taints. With the move away from…

Fuel of the Future? Is Your Hydrogen Pure Enough?

Earlier this year, Mark Perkins, one of our SIFT-MS specialists took our SIFT-MS to work with Thomas Bacquart and his…

The Road to Riva

Today, Alan Lockley and I set out on the out-bound leg of our expedition to the 42nd Capillary Chromatography Symposium…

Second Guest Speaker Confirmed for our Life Science’s Workshop

Dr Thomas Howard, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle. Dr Howard has kindly agreed to guest…

Sample Preparation – Time Consuming, Expensive and Error Prone

Where GC-MS or LC-MS are used to make chemical measurements, there is always a need to prepare the samples prior…

Chemometrics – Software to the Rescue

All analytical data is comprised of both information and noise and, sometimes, without the aid of statistics, it can be…

The Most Efficient Way to Develop a Method is…

Design of Experiments (DoE) is the most efficient way to develop analytical methods but has required a grasp of statistics…

GC/GCMS Technical Users Meeting

Agilent Technologies are delighted to announce their GC/GCMS Technical Users Meeting, which is being held at Teagasc, Dublin, on Thursday…

IChemE Water Special Interest Group – Webinar Announcement – Online Metaldehyde Monitor

Following on from 2017’s Highly Commended award (Water category) from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) to Affinity Water, which…

Most Innovative Company

Last Thursday evening at the 2018 Business Excellence Forum, for the second year running, Anatune won the BEFA award for…

Eleanor’s Wee Bairn

As many of you know, I recently started my maternity leave from Anatune. A lot of our customers in Scotland…

How to do Amino Acid Analysis the Quick and Easy Way

Changes in food safety legislation mean that there is a need to reduce the asparagine content of potatoes and cereals…

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?

Ok, it’s rare to be offered a free lunch (come and visit us at Anatune for a lab demo and…

Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Food – Programme Now Available

Anatune are delighted to be sponsoring the second Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Food at Burlington House at the…

Life Science’s Workshop

Here at Anatune we will be running a 2-day workshop on the 19th-20th June 2018, to help scientists working in…

Life Science’s Workshop – First Guest Speaker Confirmed

Phil Kay, PhD, is a Senior Analytics Consultant for JMP, a business unit of SAS. Phil has kindly agreed to…

Automated v Manual Sample Preparation – A Comparison

We talk a lot about how automated sample preparation gives you better data – but, you would be correct to…

Automated Sample Preparation – Some Catching-up to Do!

I was pleased to attend the joint London Toxicology Group/UKIAFT meeting on Friday 9th March 2018.  Forensics covers a broad…

Video Tutorials on Anatune Systems

Videos are a great way to learn. If you need to brush-up your knowledge on any topic, you can do…

The Three C’s Rule of Automation

Automation is our bread and butter. It’s what we do: providing analytical solutions which feature automated sample preparation coupled to…

The Analytical Chemistry of the Smell of Parkinson’s

Anatune’s involvement in the search for a test for Parkinson’s disease forms part of a BBC documentary that was first…

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

In 1928, Otto Frederick Rohwedder established the ultimate bench-mark – by inventing the bread slicing machine. The separation funnel is…

Advances in LC/GC/MS for Metabolomics, Biotechnology & Life Sciences

On the 19th and 20th June 2018, Anatune will run a two-day workshop in Cambridge, to introduce innovations that are…

Automation of Forensic Toxicology Sample Preparation and Analysis

Anatune and GERSTEL are very pleased to attend and present at the joint London Toxicology Group (LTG)/United Kingdom and Ireland…

SIFT-MS – the Secret of Success

Anatune have been the UK and Ireland distributor for Syft Technologies for three years now and the Principal Scientist/Consultant, Dr…

Community for Analytical Measurement Science

For as many years as I can remember, there have been concerns expressed – in many quarters, about the threat…

The Golden Triangle and Why It Matters

Automated sample preparation will have a strong, positive impact upon the use of LC-MS and GC-MS in the life sciences….

Highlights of Environmental & Food Mass Spectrometry Meeting 2018

On 27th February to the 1st March, the Agilent Environmental and Food MS Seminar is being held at Twickenham. The…

A Friday Afternoon in the Caribbean?

Students from Cedar International School in the British Virgin Isles.   January is a cold dark month, when many of…

Manual Liquid-Liquid Extraction – Time for a Change

Introduction If you still carry out liquid-liquid extraction manually, and are fed-up with the associated costs, mistakes and hazards, then…

Aroma Workshop – Guest Speaker Confirmed

We can now confirm that the Guest Speaker for the 2-day Aroma Workshop is Neil Owen, IFRA-AWG Chairman. Neil has…

Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Food

Following a successful meeting in 2016, I am pleased to announce that this event is being repeated which is jointly…

How Would Your Lab Spend 20 Extra Days Per Year?

With the Christmas tree back in the loft and the inevitable need for an extra belt hole, Christmas has sadly…

Aroma Workshop

We at Anatune are going to be running a 2 day workshop on the 6th-7th March to help people in…

Anatune’s Dan Carrier Joins the Committee of the British Mass Spectrometry Society

I have been keen to take an active role with the British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS) for some time and…

The Analytical Chemistry of the Smell of Parkinson’s

Over the last few years, there has been lots of media coverage of a remarkable lady called Joy Milne, who…

If Beer Tastes of Vegetables, Does it Count as One of Your 5 a Day?

As we approach the Christmas festivities, many of you will be enjoying a festive tipple. Analysis of alcohol seems to…

Anatune Applications Achievements in 2017

We have great things coming your way in 2018, that have come out of the work done in 2017. So…

Automated Sample Preparation: the missing hyphen to hypernation

HTC-15 is taking place on the 24th-26th January 2018 in Cardiff, Wales.  It’s a focused industry event which focuses on…

A Great Opportunity to Own an Agilent 7200 GC/Q-TOF

Agilent have launched a new GC/Q-TOF, (the Agilent 7250) and we look forward to the delivery of our instrument in…

Anatune Supports Parkinson’s UK

Anatune has recently had the privilege of working with Professor Perdita Barran’s group at the University of Manchester, on a…

Webinar – Method Validation for Quantification of Volatile Impurities by Direct Mass Spectrometry

Using SIFT-MS to quantify volatile impurities such as formaldehyde. Date:  14th December 2017 Time:  16:00 CET / 15:00 GMT /…

Agilent 2018 Environmental & Food Meeting – Registrations now open!

I am delighted to share the news (if you have not already heard) that registrations are now open for the…

Analytical Arena Conference and Training Workshop

Anatune’s CEO, Ray Perkins, will be giving a talk at this event, entitled ‘Sample Preparation – Automation 101’. Automating your…

Congratulations to Affinity Water!

On the 2nd of November, the Institute of Chemical Engineers held their 2017 Global Awards in Birmingham. Affinity Water came…

GC-MS Sample Preparation – Automation 101

Two weeks ago, I gave a talk with this title at a meeting organised by the Chromatographic Society (Advances in…

A Trip to the RSC Theatre? To automate, or not to automate… that is the question!

I will be presenting at the Royal Society of Chemistry Theatre at Lab Innovations 2017 on the 1st November, which…

Acrylamide – Regulatory and Industry Update

In light of recent regulatory changes, this one-day symposium will bring you an update from regulatory, industry and academic experts. …

Introducing Jamie Minaeian to the Anatune Team

I am the latest member to join the applications team here at Anatune as an Applications Chemist. Prior to joining…

Automated Approaches to GC/Q-TOF Analysis

Earlier this month, we attended the Agilent GC/Q-TOF User Group Meeting at MIB in Manchester, which saw a great set…

Affinity Water – IChemE Global Awards Finalist 2017

I am very pleased to say that Affinity Water (alongside Anatune and JR Pridham Services) have been shortlisted for an…

Anatune Delivers a Complete Solution for Intertek for Residual Solvent Analysis

I have just been made aware of a really interesting article in Octobers edition of Compounding World Magazine and wanted…

2017 SIFT-MS User Meeting

SIFT-MS is one of the fastest growing analytical techniques, with a sizeable community of analysts using it for a variety…

SIFT-MS Workshop for Pharma and CROs

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry offers some big benefits for analysts working within pharmaceutical and contract research organisations. Analyses…

Dan’s Thursday Treasures

Not all application notes are created equal. Occasionally, application notes are produced that go on to become classics and form…

CTC CombiPAL to GERSTEL MPS Upgrade Offer

Until the end of December 2017, we have a great promotional offer on CombiPAL-to-MPS upgrades. This offer enables CombiPAL users…

Why You Should be Interested in SIFT-MS…

Anatune has now been Syft Technologies’ UK distributor for just over 2½ years and a number of our customers are…

‘Bad Liquor’ and how to avoid a hangover

Recently one of our Applications Chemists, Jon Dunscombe, celebrated his wedding in Brazil and returned with a sample of the…

Picking Winners at BMSS 38

The 38th BMSS Annual Conference took place last week at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and, by…

Save the Date!! Agilent Environmental and Food User Meeting 2018

I’ve just returned from my Summer Holidays and when I opened up my email for the first time in 2…

GC/Q-TOF UK User Forum

Agilent Technologies is delighted to announce their 2017 UK GC/Q-TOF User Forum, which is being held on the 5th and…

So What is a SnApp Note?

When they have successfully completed a piece of applications work in our lab, our chemists will, whenever possible, produce a…

Kathy’s Drinks Cabinet – What’s Really Inside?

It’s a lovely weekend, so let’s get some friends over and have a BBQ. The beer and wine flows as the…

2017 International Symposium on Vehicle Emissions and Interior Air Quality – Is there a way to make life easier and more efficient?

Syft Technologies have been working with a number of automotive manufacturers for the last few years to investigate the significant…

Pipette or Syringe: that is the question

Single-channel pipettes and syringes are common laboratory tools widely used for liquid handling purposes.  They both have pros and cons…

Humans Come Out Second Best Against Efficient Robot Chemist

The Robots are coming and they are better than humans!!! Nothing to panic about here but your job is likely…

High Peak Health and Safety Challenge

Recently two of our application chemists Kathy Ridgway and Jon Dunscombe visited Buxton in the Peak District with the SIFT-MS. …

Volatile Biomarkers in Biomedical Research

Why are Volatile Biomarkers Important in Biomedical Research? The pattern of individual’s volatile metabolites (volatolome) can be used to understand…

SIFT-MS Offers a Rich New Source of Academic Research Topics

When a powerful new analytical technique comes along, it always offers novel ways of looking at existing problems – whatever…

It’s Here!

Ok, so its not a LEGO GC-MS, but those of you that read my blog post last month will be…

Residual Solvents in Polymers using MPS-GC/Q-TOF

A Guest Blog Post Polymers are some of the most versatile materials in existence and are used in all aspects…

Working with Industry for the Future of Lab Automation

Figure 1: Personalised Metabolomics Solution at the Synthetic and Systems Biology Lab at the University of Edinburgh – ‘Scotland’s Beastie’…

A Brief History of… SYFT

This month’s edition of The Analytical Scientist contains a very interesting and informative article by Professor Murray McEwan, Chief Technical…

Anatune is Just Around the Corner, Wherever You Are!

  Prague – on this occasion!! Anatune’s Mark Perkins (on screen) delivers a demonstration of SIFT-MS automation to SYFT Technologies…

Anatune Automated GC-MS – Now Available in LEGO!

Watch Jeff build his creation in double-quick time!   How Can I get One? We have 50 kits to give…

A Fully Automated Sample Preparation for 3-MCPD in Oil

3-Monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD), 2-Monochloropropanediol (2-MCPD) and Glycidol are contaminants that are present in a variety of food samples.  These compounds can…

Using the Latest Video Technology to Save You Time and Money

  For all businesses, travel comes with significant costs. There is no substitute for getting face-to-face with people, but there…

We’re Now up to Speed – are you?

Last week, Chris Sandy (Sandcastle Consulting Ltd) visited Anatune to train our applications chemists in some of the features of…

Automated Analytical Chemistry in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Have you had the uncomfortable experience of interacting with an analytical instrument supplier, with little understanding of the Pharmaceutical Industry…

Brand Protection of Food Products by Thermal Desorption-GC/MS

The flavour of a food or beverage engages far more sensory input than taste alone.  From a biological perspective, flavour…

2017 – GERSTEL’s 50th Anniversary Year

Anatune’s Ray Perkins congratulates GERSTEL on its 50th Year GERSTEL GmbH was founded by Eberhard Gerstel Senior in 1967 and…

Water Industry Achievement Awards 2017

The 11th Water Industry Achievement Awards are being held tonight in Birmingham. This events objective is to showcase and reward…

Intertek – The First CRO in the UK to Use SIFT-MS

In February 2017, Anatune was pleased to deliver an automated Voice200ultra SIFT-MS to Intertek Pharmaceutical Services in Manchester. Intertek is…

A New Twist on Landfill Gas Analysis

Landfill sites and other sources of biogas benefit from trace gas analysis. Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) has…

Efficient Doping Control

Automated determination of nicotine and its metabolites in blood. In the race to keep up with new and suspected doping…

Geosmin – An Earthy Problem

The water industry seems to be in a constant battle with taste and odour issues – the biggest culprits being…

Why We Won

Anatune scooped the Award for Most Innovative Company at the 2017 Business Excellence Forum The Business Excellence Forum is a…

5 Years at Anatune…

On 1st March 2012 I began working as an Account Manager for Anatune.  I’ve just passed my 5 year Anniversary…

Automating the Impossible

A few months ago, I was asked by some prospective customers to pay them a visit, to discuss a sample…

Proud to Wear the Green, Gold and White

I joined Anatune in October 2015 as an Applications Chemist.  I had spent the preceding 10 years in roles in…

Emerging Separation Technologies

Our Applications Laboratory Manager, Dan Carrier, will soon be giving an in-depth presentation into the uses of Instrument Top Sample…

Analysing Emissions of Packaging Materials

An interesting piece has been written by Quantum Analytics over in the US highlighting the advantages of real-time volatile analysis…

Anatune eApps – Water and Environmental Application Notes on Tap

At the recent Agilent Environmental and Food Meeting, I had a number of delegates asking me for the most recent…

Toxtastic Initial Results for Opiates in Blood Automated Solution

Many forensic toxicology service labs are facing increasing casework, often times with reduced staff numbers. Having had many years of…

A Year Down the Line: Life as an Application Chemist

January 4th, 2016… that’s when my life as an Application Chemist here at Anatune began. Thing is, instrumental analytical chemistry…

Advanced Automation for Sample Preparation Workshop

Here at Anatune we highly value automation. Automation can help save time, efforts and often costs. If we strictly focus…

High-Throughput VOC and Inorganic Gas Analysis: Automated SIFT-MS

  Over the last 18 months we have been working in partnership with Syft Technologies to enhance the potential of…

The Tipping Point

John Quick is Principal Scientist at ALS in Coventry, UK.  He has more than 25 years experience in the analysis…

SmartSPE – Control Your Results!

We’ve all been there in the lab watching our solid phase extraction (SPE) manifold and whilst you did your best…

Jeff’s Roundup – Agilent Environmental and Food Meeting February 2017

If you’ve read my blog posts recently, you’ll know of my excitement about this meeting. As I’ve said before, it’s…

EPSRC Publish Research Strategy in Analytical Science

Some of you may be aware that for the past year the EPSRC has been reviewing all of its research…

Introducing Jon Dunscombe to the Anatune Team

Our newest recruit of 2017, we would like to welcome you to Jon Dunscombe, who has joined our ever growing…

First Rate Support Doesn’t Have to Cost the Earth!

To provide first class customer support, Anatune invests in its engineers. We take every training opportunity that is offered to…

Why Asparagine Concentrations in Crop Products Are Important

Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research has been working with Anatune to develop a fully automated solution for amino acid analysis…

15 reasons why Ireland needs to know more about SIFT-MS

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry is a new and fast growing technique – and no-one in Ireland is using…

Online Water Monitoring Open-Day

Having the ability to constantly monitor a water source(s) for pesticides throughout the water treatment process and determine if the…

Environmental and Food Mass Spectrometry User Meeting – Environmental Spotlight

Coming up between the 7th and 9th February is the Agilent Environmental and Food Mass Spectrometry User Meeting, which is…

Automated Determination of THC, CBN and CBD in Human Hair

From a forensic toxicology point of view, human hair samples are extremely well suited for determining a person’s consumption pattern…

The Unbeatables

Our customer support team have had a great year in 2016. How do we know?  Because you’ve told us so….

GC-MS Automation and SIFT-MS come to Ireland

Learn how you could save money, solvent, time and get results that are faster and more reproducible! Anatune, the distributors…

Food Glorious Food!

Those of you that read my blog from February 2016, will know I am involved in the Royal Society of…

Agilent Environmental and Food User Meeting – 7th-9th February 2017, Manchester

This is always a brilliant meeting. This will be the 16th occasion that this meeting has gone ahead, and my…

We Always Thought it was a Brilliant Idea!!

And it’s nice to be proved right!!! The Automated SIFT-MS began life as an informal development project with no specific…

High Resolution Accurate Mass GC-MS for Food Contact Studies

It is important that packaging doesn’t contaminate the food it contains. Agilent have published an interesting video on YouTube that…

The More We Can Do for You the Better

You may have noticed that, here at Anatune, we actively guide our customers towards our fully comprehensive support contract.  What…

A New Twist: Free Acids and Phenols

Sensitive SBSE determination of free acids and phenols – along with the usual suspects. Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) and…

Lipidomics: Sample Prep with the GERSTEL MPS Dual Head WorkStation

Metabolomics studies focus on the analysis of small molecules (MW<2000) in biological matrices, processing relatively large sets of samples to…

A History of European Mass Spectrometry

We have managed to obtain 2 copies of a book ‘A History of European Mass Spectrometry’ which we would like…

Automated Liquid-Liquid Extraction Methodologies

In October, Anatune attended the Diamond Jubilee Year ChromSoc meeting hosted by Syngenta Research Laboratories.  The meeting was accompanied with…

Split-Second Support

We are all busy people.  If something goes wrong, we want it fixed now.  Why wait if you don’t have…

Faster, Better, Cheaper, Greener

It is said that the majority of people are ready to do anything to save the planet – so long…

Why You Need to Look at Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Micro Extraction

Automated DLLME using the GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler   In analytical sample preparation, Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) is as old as the…

Training at Anatune

On Monday, I was fortunate enough to spend the day at Anatune, in Cambridge.  I had emailed Dan Carrier, their…

Anatune Heads to Scotland for Distilled Spirits

If you want authentic Scotch, you obviously go to Scotland and this meant there was only one place to host…

On the Road Again: Part 2 – Filling the Analytical Gaps

Following our excursion to Eastbourne, we packed up the SIFT-MS and headed North to a customers site for a couple…

Introducing Eleanor Miller

Anatune is pleased to welcome Eleanor Miller on board, as our Forensics Specialist and Accounts Manager for Scotland. Prior to…

A Lab on a Rail

Recently I have been working on the automation of several workflows for metabolomics applications.  As it usually happens in busy…

On the Road Again: Part 1 – Passive Drinking at BMSS 2016

This September, we once again took our Voice200ultra SIFT-MS on the road, with visits to customers and conferences. The first…

A Picture Really is Worth a Thousand Words!

When we perform your next instrument install or upgrade, we will probably ask permission to take a photo of it…

Showcasing SIFT-MS Webinars

Syft Technologies are holding a live Webinar on September 15th – ‘Forget Chromatography: Comprehensive Instant Analysis with SIFT-MS’. In this…

Anatune at BMSS 2016

The 37th BMSS Annual Meeting is being held on the 13th-15th September, at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne and Anatune…

TPD – Analysis of e-Liquids and Emissions

On the 7th July, we held a Webinar on the analysis of e-liquids and emissions to meet the requirements of…

The Analysis of Distilled Spirits – Chromatography Sample Preparation & Automation

On Tuesday, 4th October and Wednesday, 5th of October, Anatune is running two one-day workshops on chromatography sample preparation and…

Seminar: The Analysis of Biomarkers in Breath and Body Fluids by SIFT-MS

The composition of human breath varies depending primarily upon physiological and pathophysiological state, diet, exercise and environmental factors. A great…

Automated Analysis of Fire Debris Samples using MIDI Sherlock GC-MS

The Field Arson accounts for significant financial losses each year, as well as substantial loss of life. According to The…

Acrylamide in Food

What is Acrylamide and why is it a Problem? Acrylamide is a chemical that is produced naturally during cooking at…

SIFT-MS: Unsurpassed Real-Time Selectivity

There are eight SIFT-MS reagent ions (H3O+, NO+, O2+, O–, O2–, OH–, NO2–, and NO3–) for rapid, comprehensive gas analysis. There…

Agilent 7200 GC/Q-TOF Interest Group Meeting

The date of this one day meeting is Wednesday 7th September 2016, and is being hosted by the National Centre…

Metabolomics 2016 Dublin

Anatune will be at Metabolomics 2016 next week in Dublin. We will be demonstrating high throughput, just-in-time, metabolomics sample preparation…

Automating Amino Acid Analysis

Why do we measure Amino Acids? Amino acids are both key metabolites in primary metabolism and the structural building blocks…

The Tobacco Products Directive – the Analysis of e-Liquids and Emissions Webinar

Anatune will be holding a Webinar on Thursday 7th July at 2pm (GBT) on the analysis of e-liquids and emissions…

Advances in the Chemical Analysis of Food

I have been involved with the Royal Society of Chemistry Food group for several years and this year, we organised…

Shaken, not Stirred?

Manual sample preparation of solid and viscous samples such as vegetative matter, tissues or viscous liquids can be a time…

Workshop – The Latest in SIFT-MS

The technology of SIFT-MS is developing rapidly in ways that are expanding what it can do still further. SIFT-MS offers…

The Inventor of SIFT-MS visits Anatune

Patrik Spanel and David Smith with Anatune’s Ray Perkins and Mark Perkins, above.   On Tuesday 17th May, we were…

Cannabinoid Automation

A recent article published in Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry (DOI 10.1007/s00216-016-9537-5) details the automation of a liquid-liquid extraction…

Harmony in Gas Chromatography

Great gas chromatographers create elegant methods, in the same way that great composers create elegant music. In GC and in…

The Fiehn Protocol in Metabolomics

The Early History of Metabolomics Back in 1997, reliable, modern LC-MS systems were science fiction: ion traps were the only…

SIFT-MS – On the Road

There are many things you can do with a Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometer that would be impossible (or…

When Food Leaves a Bad Taste

Off-flavours and odours in foods now constitute the most common complaint in the consumer food industry. According to food and…

The Renaissance of GC-MS as an Analytical Platform for Metabolomics

What is Metabolomics? Metabolomics (also known as metabonomics or metabolic phenotyping) is core discipline in modern bioscience. Metabolomics involves the…

Identifying Aldehydes, Ketones via Automated Desorption

There are many methods for identifying ketones and aldehydes in building and other materials. Whilst formaldehyde is used for producing…

Automated Characterization of Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Soil Samples using MIDI Sherlock

The Field The soil microbiota is responsible for many ecosystem functions such as plant growth regulation, nutrient cycling and carbon…

Your GC Column Matters!

In liquid chromatography, changing column to improve the selectivity of your separation is a no brainer. In fact, it’s a…

Automated Sample Preparation for Drinking Water Labs

Sample prep automation gives valuable advantages: Greater productivity Improved data quality Faster sample turnaround We introduced our Lunch and Learn…

Analytical Chemistry Demystifying Genetically Modified Food

No longer satisfied with counting calories and grams of fat, today’s consumers want to know that their food is free…

Twelve Months On…

How time flies…!  A year has passed since I began working for Anatune, and in many ways, the last twelve…

Once Upon a Time You Had a Great Idea…

The GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler (MPS) automates your GC and LC sample prep. You designed the sample prep method You got…

Automated Analysis of Edible and Marine Oils using MIDI Sherlock

The Field Edible oils are vegetable-based oils extracted from olives, corn, peanuts and other sources that are used in a…

Automated GC-MS Metabolomics Workshops

Metabolomics usually requires the preparation of extensive sample sets to allow successful differentiation between sample types.  Hence, good analytical data…

2016 GC/Q-TOF Interest Group Meeting

The date for this years’ GC/Q-TOF Interest Group Meeting has been set for Wednesday 7th September, and will be hosted…

Gas Chromatography – The Past or the Future?

As a technique, Gas Chromatography is very well established, but that’s not to say there is lack of new developments….

SIFT-MS – Try Before you Buy

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry is a powerful new technology that offers the potential for great improvements in the…

High Resolution Accurate Mass GC-MS – Try Before you Buy

Having use of a high resolution, accurate mass GC-MS, such as the MultiFlex GC/Q-TOF offers a much greater ability to…

Automated Tedlar Bag Sampling using SIFT-MS

Tedlar bags are a convenient and cost-effective option for sampling volatile organic compounds, for example, toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) in…

With Pinot Noir it’s all about the Nose

As an avid reader of The Economist, I was interested to come across this article concerning new technology being applied…

What Can the RSC Do For You?

To be, or not to be??….. No… not that RSC!! I have been a member of the other RSC (Royal…

A Better Way for VOCs in Soils?

Virtually every lab (at least in Europe) running volatile organic compounds in soils does so by static headspace. Over the…

A Little Lunchtime Viewing

At the end of January, Syft Technologies’ Dr Barry Prince delivered a webinar on ‘SIFT-MS and its Use in Environmental…

Grevy or Burchell’s Zebra?

For those that read our blog post this week, the Horse vs Zebra tail now has an extra dimension. Following…

Do You See a Horse or a Zebra’s Shadow?

Things aren’t always what they seem! Last month in the lab, we have been working on taint application that has…

Anatune’s 20th Anniversary

Today, Monday 1st of February is Anatune’s 20th Birthday. The team are all in the office and today we are…

The Significance of Automated Centrifugation

In the automation of sample preparation methods, there are a few things that only a centrifuge can do properly: Separate…

Bristol 2016 – The Best Agilent Meeting Ever?

I have attended many Agilent events over the years and they are always worth attending. The priority given to presentations…

What is in an Air Freshener?

An interesting article on the BBC News website – ‘Is there a danger from scented products?’. I don’t think I…

Introducing Camilla Liscio to the Anatune Team

Our newest recruit of 2016, we would like to welcome you to Camilla Liscio, who has joined our applications team…

The Smell of Christmas

Apart from Christmas trees (real ones of course!), for most people, the arrival of Christmas is signalled by the smell…

Lunch and Learn – Automating Sample Extraction

In the New Year, we will be offering free on-site seminars on the automation of sample extraction. These events will…

Metabolomics: Automated GC-MS Workshops

We have decided to run more workshops on Metabolomics, in co-operation with our friends at Agilent Technologies and GERSTEL. The…

Optimise Your Methods by Optimising Your Staff

It’s just over a year now, since I started working at Anatune as an Applications Chemist and Training Co-ordinator; what…

Flavour Analysis and Perception in Food & Beverages – Book Offer

Flavour Development Analysis and Perception in Food and Beverages, edited by J.K. Parker, J.S. Elmore and L. Methven. This is…

Using Chemometrics to Unlock Hidden Information in Your Data

We can now generate fantastically rich data sets from the latest high-resolution mass spectrometers such as the Agilent 7200 GC/Q-TOF….

GC-MS Automation – The Pareto Principle

“80% of people know about the Pareto Principle, only 20% ever apply it.” The Pareto Principle (or 80:20 rule) is…

Pleased to Meet You…

Sue has asked me to write a few words by way of introduction, so here goes… I joined Anatune in…

Automated Sample Prep Introduced to Pharmaceutical Conference

On 9th and 10th November 2015, Anatune visited the Chromatographic Society meeting on Analytical Challenges and Solutions for Difficult Pharmaceutical…

Improve Process Measurements with SIFT-MS

Quality Control and Process Monitoring is always a compromise between the number of samples you would like to test (all…

Introducing Richard Davis – Latest Addition to the Anatune Team

I am pleased to introduce you to Richard Davis, who has recently joined us as a GC-MS Applications Chemist. Richard…

Focus on the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories

It is nice to find occasions to celebrate the great work done by some of our customers and now is…

The Number One Reason GC-MS Sensitivity Matters

It determines the complexity, cost and efficiency of your sample preparation. When you design an analytical process for trace analysis,…

Sorry for making the lab smell…

At the beginning of this month I had the pleasure of completing the final in a series of three two-day…

Weighing as Part of Automated Sample Preparation

One of the best things about the GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler (MPS) is that it offers such a large range of…

SIFT-MS with Automated Sampling of Tedlar Bags

We are looking for a partner or partners to help take this project forward. We have recently looked at the…

The Beast of Norwich

Having trained the Beast in my own laboratory to carry out the tasks I wished him to perform, I set…

Why SIFT-MS Changes Everything…

To understand why, it is best to listen to analysts that are already using this powerful new technology. Together with…

Anatune and Syft Technologies exhibit at BMSS 2015

On the 15th-17th September, Anatune joined Syft Technologies and exhibited at the 36th BMSS Annual Meeting at the University of…

Selective, Instant Ultratrace Gas Analysis without Chromatography: Introducing SIFT-MS