Thermo Fisher Scientific has acquired Cohesive Technologies, a US manufacturer of advanced sample extraction and high performance liquid chromatography products.
Cohesive's TurboFlow technology enhances the existing Thermo Scientific liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) product portfolio by minimising sample preparation in LC, especially for drug discovery, drug development and clinical research applications. It allows scientists to reduce matrix effects during pre-clinical bioanalysis, making it easier to comply with the FDA/CDER Bioanalytical Method Validation Guidance.
This states that 'In the case of LC-MS-MS-based procedures, appropriate steps should be taken to ensure the lack of matrix effects throughout the application of the method, especially if the nature of the matrix changes from the matrix used during method validation.'
The TurboFlow technology works by retaining small molecules, filtering out proteins and larger materials by diffusion, size exclusion and column chemistry. This enables users to directly inject biological samples into the LC-MS/MS system prior to analysis, a significant advantage in pre-clinical bioanalysis, where extensive sample preparation is too time-consuming due to the high sample loads.
The technology can be coupled with the Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum triple quadruple mass spectrometer combined with FAIMS (High-Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry) to achieve a unique LC-MS/MS solution.
According to Thermo-Fisher Scientific, when configured to the TSQ Quantum, the system delivers fast and efficient quantitative results with the lowest ion suppression and chemical noise, resulting in highly sensitive bioanalytical methods, development of more robust methods, and reduction in analysis failures.