Last October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a shocking report that detailed the hideous conditions inside a Massachusetts pharmaceutical lab, as reported in the New York Times. The lab was the source of a nationwide outbreak of meningitis that killed 25 people, made 313 ill, with as many as 14,000 people having been […]
Innovatech Labs Blog Post Archive
Why Plastic Parts Occasionally Fail & How FTIR Analysis Can Help
When manufactured plastic parts fail, quickly determining the cause is vital for minimizing production downtime and protecting your company’s bottom line. But what causes plastic parts to fail in the first place? And how can you determine the cause and prevent it from happening again? The truth is that plastic parts fail for a myriad […]
Mass Spectrometry Extracts Proteins from Wooly Mammoth
Using ultra-high resolution gc/ms analysis, bio-archaeologists from the University of York and Manchester successfully extracted protein from the bones of a 600,000-year-old mammoth. (Mass spectrometry is a process used to identify chemicals in a substance by their mass and charge.) The archeological breakthrough represents another chapter in a story that began over 20 years ago […]
Forensic Fiber Analysis Helps Make Criminal Case
Did you know that there was a Sherlock Holmes of France? His name was Dr. Edmond Locard, born in 1877, a criminologist and pioneer in forensic fiber analysis. In 1910, Locard created the world’s first forensic laboratory in an attic above the police department.
Using GC/MS Analysis to Measure Variants in Extra Virgin Olive Oil
GC/MS Analysis Application: Oil Analysis You’ve spent a lot of extra money for that extra virgin olive oil you’ve been drizzling on to your salad, but industry experts say that you likely wasted your money on fake oil. These olive oil experts estimate that between 50% and up to as high as 80% of extra virgin olive oil […]
Combining Chemical Testing Techniques to Battle Counterfeit Drugs
Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM/EDS) are often paired together in chemical testing. FTIR analysis is best used in testing organic materials and SEM/EDS primarily examines inorganic materials. Now, scientists are exploring their combined use in the world of counterfeit medicine. Counterfeit drug manufacturers design the drugs to look identical to the real thing. These drugs are often […]
Mass Spectrometry Discovery May Accelerate Biofuel Development
In 1900, at the World Exhibition in Paris, biofuel pioneer, Rudolf Diesel, demonstrated the first engine to run on peanut oil. In 1912, the year before he died, he predicted, “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as […]
Guide to Headspace Analysis
Imagine, you’re reveling in being at your favorite Italian restaurant as your waitress, Maria, (also your favorite) places before you their house special spaghetti. She knows that you always want a healthy sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Mmmm. It all taste so good. Did you know that’s this is due to the complex combinations of volatile […]
Adulterating Products for Economic Gain
A growing problem within organizations in countries like China is the adulteration of products for economic gain. The FDA’s working definition of Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA) as the “fraudulent, intentional substitution or addition of a substance in a product for the purpose of increasing the apparent value of the product or reducing the cost of […]
FTIR Testing Identifies Unknown Materials
One of the inventors of the early telegraph, Dr. David Alter, a nearly forgotten Pennsylvanian, found a fragment of a great mass of very brilliant glass from a glass house, which had been destroyed in the great Pittsburgh Fire of 1845. From this, he made a prism through which he went on to discover Spectrum […]
