3rd East African Liquid Chromatography Workshop
October 6 - 10, 2014
Nairobi, Kenya
The week of October 6 brought a new era of chromatography training to the African continent. The 3rd African Liquid Chromatography Workshop was held in Nairobi, Kenya at the ChromAfrica Training Centre. This workshop featured five days of lecture and laboratory practicals on HPLC method development, operations, column selection, and sample preparation. Dr. Merlin Bicking of ACCTA, Inc. (St. Paul, MN USA) delivered the training to ten eager students from both government and private laboratories.
The workshop was co-sponsored by ChromAfrica and CHROMacademy’s, whose extensive on-line training content was featured throughout the week, as Dr . Bicking guided the students through the HPLC method development process. By combining the on-line training with his own extensive experience, he was able to demonstrate how modern HPLC works and how good methods should be developed. Extensive discussions followed the introduction of real-world case studies, allowing the students to work through the various decisions that are required when developing methods.
Training opportunities are very limited in East Africa, and the laboratory practicals were the most popular part of the workshop. Using the facilities donated by the national veterinary lab, the students were able to examine column selectivity and performance while attempting to develop a method for the components in an energy drink mixture. Supelco and Agilent Technologies both supplied columns for use in the demonstrations (Thanks to both!), and the students were able to easily see how differences in column selectivity and configuration can help improve separations. An additional sample preparation experiment demonstrated how solid phase extraction (SPE), could be used to prepare cleaner samples for analysis. Once again, the on-line CHROMacademy sections on sample preparation and SPE were an important part of the training.
Everyone enjoyed the class. All reviews were positive.
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Quote for the Day
"And so, all you budding scientists who may read these essays, if I have taught you nothing in twenty years of these monthly efforts, at least remember this and thank me some day for a small boon of advice: If you are ever asked to talk before a department in the humanities, remember that you have to request the slide projector. Call this Gould's law and let it be my immortality — long after everyone has forgotten those upside-down flamingos and pandas' thumbs."
– Stephen Jay Gould,
Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History,
Norton, New York, 1993, p. 428 |
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Dowload Recent Presentations
Get your own copy of two recent presentations. Both cover our recent work on HILIC columns. These publications describe a simple way to evaluate multi-mode mechanisms on HILIC columns.
Pittcon, March, 2014:
Mixed Mode Mechanisms in LC: Curse or Cure?
Minnesota Chromatography Forum, May, 2014:
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Contact Us
Merlin K. L. Bicking, Ph. D.
ACCTA, Inc.
3534 Jessie Ct
Saint Paul, MN USA 55125
Email: info@accta.com
Internet: www.accta.com
Phone:651-731-3670
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