Analytical techniques

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‘Pharmaceutical Industry / University’ R&D collaboration on Process Analytical Technologies

9 May 2010 | By Professor Nicolas Abatzoglou, Chair, PAT in Pharmaceutical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biotechnological Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke

Process analytical technologies (PAT) are mature and well advanced in the classical chemical industry. Many successful industry/university R&D collaborations are aimed at the development of analytical methods and their application in process control. However, PAT in the pharmaceutical industry is a rather new field. It is precisely this latter reality…

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The changing landscape of automation in pre-clinical drug discovery

22 February 2010 | By

Over the past decade we have seen a significant realignment of activities associated with drug discovery and this will continue for a multitude of reasons. Within the pharmaceutical industry we have seen significant changes e.g. a decrease in the numbers of drugs that are being approved by the regulatory authorities…

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Contributing to the Sustainability of the UK Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Industries

22 February 2010 | By

The Centre for Process Analytics and Control Technology (CPACT) is a unique industry-driven multi-disciplinary research and development club that was formed in 1997 by the Departments of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde, the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Newcastle and the…

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Segregation of molecular mechanisms of genotoxicity and carcinogenicity across human, yeast and Salmonella species

22 February 2010 | By

Screening assays for in vitro toxicity are the way to reduce the attrition rates in the preclinical development of new drugs. Here a test battery is presented for screening of genotoxic and carcinogenic compounds by means of VitotoxTM, RadarScreen, and four human liver HepG2 cell lines with two different promoters…

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Cancer biology where do we go next?

22 February 2010 | By

The World Cancer Report (2008) predicts a 50% worldwide increase in cancer incidence by 2030, predicting 75 million people living within a five year diagnosis of cancer1. This increase is partially fuelled by significant medical advances in developed countries ensuring people live longer. However, it is also attributable to developing…

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Process Analytical Technology (PAT) in Freeze Drying: Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy as an evolving tool for Cycle Monitoring

12 December 2009 | By Stefan Schneid, Division of Pharmaceutics, Freeze Drying Focus Group, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Dr. Henning Gieseler, Division of Pharmaceutics, Freeze Drying Focus Group, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

The most important critical product parameter during a freeze-drying process is the product temperature at the ice sublimation interface, Tp1. Once the product temperature in this area of interest exceeds the critical formulation temperature (typically denoted as "collapse temperature", Tc) during primary drying, a stepwise loss of the cake structure…

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Basics of image analysis in High Content Screening

12 December 2009 | By

Automated high content screening platforms are capable of producing thousands of images per day. The challenge is to use appropriate analysis methods to extract the maximum amount of biologically-relevant information from these images. In this article we summarise the basic concepts of image analysis and highlight examples of both open-source…

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The Original HCA Event

12 December 2009 | By

Coverage Includes: Compound/siRNA Screening - Pathway Analysis - Data Management - Image Analysis - HCA for Stem Cells - Live-Cell Imaging - Flow Cytometry - Neuronal Screening - New Biological Models for HCA - Novel Probes and Biosensors

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A sensitive and selective vibrational spectroscopy technique in life sciences

12 December 2009 | By

At present, the relevance of Raman Spectroscopy (RS) as an analytical tool in pharmaceutical sciences is increasingly obvious. RS is a mode of vibrational spectroscopy based on inelastic scattering of laser light and, like infrared spectroscopy (IR), provides detailed molecular structure information (see Figure 1A). However, contrary to IR, it…

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Lab Automation Roundtable

12 December 2009 | By

Participants: Dr Gordon R Alton, President and CEO, Altonyx Consulting / Dr Scott Bowes Scientist, Novartis / Dr Sheraz Gul, Vice President and Head of Biology, European ScreeningPort / Chris Molloy, Vice President of Corporate Development, IDBS

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LabAutomation2010 – Where Science, Technology and Industry Come Together

12 December 2009 | By

In 2010 a diverse group of scientists, engineers and professionals from around the world will come together once again for this laboratory automation event. At LabAutomation2010 participants will develop long-lasting connections through networking and expand their minds by exploring cutting-edge information and strategies.

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Raman spectroscopy in pharmaceutical analysis

9 October 2009 | By

A wide and versatile range of analytical techniques are routinely used, indeed are necessary, in pharmaceutical analysis. Over the past decade Raman spectroscopy has increasingly come to the fore as a valuable member of the arsenal of methods used, from both a fundamental and applied perspective, for the interrogation of…

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Real-time NIR monitoring of pharmaceutical blending processes with multivariate quantitative models

9 October 2009 | By Dr. Nicolas Abatzoglou, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Chemical & Biotechnological Engineering of the Université de Sherbrooke; Pierre-Philippe Lapointe-Garant, PAT Scientist and Jean-Sébastien Simard, Technical Services, both Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Process analytical technology (PAT) initiatives are now an integral part of developmental efforts in the pharmaceutical industry. Many technical and scientific papers and even dedicated sections appear regularly in several pharmaceutical manufacturing publications. They may be part of a quality by design (QbD) project to better identify and understand critical…

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High throughput and high content screening microscopy: A microscopy based guideline

30 July 2009 | By

The understanding of properties of any biological system requires a detailed and quantitative analysis of its parts and their interactions. As different processes within a system occur at defined space and time, each process holds its own optimal observation and investigation technique. One of the most powerful tools to analyse…

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QbD and PAT: From Science to Compliance

30 July 2009 | By Pedro E. Hernandez-Abad, Associate Director; Jun Huang, Principal PAT Scientist II and Saly Romero-Torres, Principal PAT Scientist, both Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Boards of health like the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency and ICH guidelines Q8, Q9 and Q10, provide a framework for Quality by Design (QbD) that fully integrates drug substance and drug product development with the principles of Quality Risk Management (QRM), Process Analytical Technology (PAT) and…