Mass Spectrometry In-Depth Focus 2013

• Corticosteroids and mass spectrometry; latest applications using LC/MS³
  (András Szeitz Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia)
  The adrenals were identified in man more than 400 years ago, but in the following few hundred years, not much progress was made to learn about their role1. This delay was certainly made up for by the remarkably quick development of the corticosteroids (CSs), the hormones of the adrenals, beginning with their isolation from the adrenal glands in the late 1920s to their widespread use as therapeutic agents in the present day. CSs can be analysed by several methodologies, and this brief review is focused on the mass spectrometry techniques for the determination of CSs in a variety of matrices.
• Multi-analyte LC-MS/MS assays for the quantification of endogenous compounds during the development of drugs and companion diagnostics – the beauty and the beast
  (Uwe Christians, Jelena Klawitter and Jost Klawitter, iC42 Integrated Solutions for Systems Biology in Clinical Research and Development, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Denver)
  Personalised medicine is an intriguing concept and constitutes a paradigm shift in medicine. Abandoning the blockbuster drug concept will not only require the development of safer and more efficacious drugs that are focused on the individual patient’s genotype and/or phenotype, it also requires the development of new context-specific diagnostic tools that provide biological or clinical information that allows for better decision-making about the development and use of a drug, so-called context dependent biomarkers and companion diagnostics. Once approved together with a drug, companion diagnostics are used to predict if an individual patient will benefit from this drug or not.
• Q&A
  George McLeod, Market Manager, Pharmaceutical and Structural Chemistry, Bruker Daltonic sits down with Min Yang, UCL School of Pharmacy to answer his questions on mass spectrometry.
• Show preview – European Lab Automation (ELA) 2013 Conference and Tradeshow
  Select Bio is delighted to announce that the European Lab Automation (ELA) 2013 Conference and Tradeshow will open its doors from 6 June 2013. A two day, five track congress, the event offers over 75 scientific presentations on automation and its application within life science, alongside more than 100 equipment vendors and supporting companies, and an over 1,000 expected visitors. ELA provides life science researchers and professionals with an unparalleled opportunity to encourage technological discussions and scientific collaboration.
• Show preview – ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics
  The 61st ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics will take place from 9 – 13 June at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Minnesota, USA. The American Society for Mass Spectrometry sponsors the conference, which will be attended by more than 6,500 scientists. Approximately 3,000 papers will be presented as posters and talks.