January 8, 2025
A webinar sponsored by Astrix
Date: January 8th, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST
Presented by: Benjamin Johnson, Manager, NSF | Yongdong Wang, President, Cerno Bioscience
Overview
NSF International provides services to certify the safety of drinking water equipment (NSF/ANSI 61). With 7000-8000 samples evaluated every year, the deconvolution, identification, and quantitation of Tentatively Identified Compounds (TICs) can require hours (for “clean” samples) to days (“dirty” samples) of tedious manual review from a team of four or more highly trained experts. A sample backlog of up to six months was not uncommon, and hiring and training additional analysts was a lengthy and expensive process. To complicate the problem further, multiple worldwide sites used different instrumentation, and some lacked the expertise to analyze the more complex samples.
To solve this problem, the search for a vendor-neutral software solution was needed to:
- Reduce the level of “expertise” required for the analysis
- Accelerate the analysis time for each sample
- Seamlessly integrate reporting and analysis with in-house LIMS systems
After an extensive review of available commercial software solutions, it was decided to use two commercial software products to address the problems: Thermo Scientific™ Chromeleon™ CDS 7.3 for the quantitation of target compounds and Cerno Bioscience GC/ID™ 5.0 for the identification and semi-quantitation of TICs. GC/ID provided dramatically improved TIC identification through its use of a composite scoring system of unknown compounds that combine conventional Forward and Reverse Library Search, comprehensive Retention Index (RI) matching, and accurate mass/spectral accuracy formula validation key ions/fragments (on single quadrupole analyzers).
In addition, an automated spectral deconvolution process eliminated the previous peak-by-peak manual deconvolution necessary for complex samples with many coeluting peaks. A custom Python™ script fully automated the previous manual NSF analysis process, which is projected to eliminate the six month sample backlog. The review process was greatly simplified, minimizing the need for highly trained expert analysts. Both software solutions can accept data from different GC/MS systems located globally and can be seamlessly integrated into the corporate LIMS system to efficiently generate internal and external customer reports, saving time while reducing errors. This presentation will describe the current state of the system being implemented by Astrix in detail.
In this webinar, we will explore
- Why vendor-neutral software solutions are vital for global operations.
- How analysis tools should be as easy to learn and automate as possible to reduce training costs and minimize human error.
- Understand why simplifying and automating the expertise needed for review and interpretation is essential to lessen reliance on scarce and costly experienced analysts.
- Why LIMS interfacing must be flexible, easy to implement, and robust.
About NSF
Since 1944, NSF has stood at the forefront of global efforts to improve human and planet health. As an independent, internationally recognized organization, we play a pivotal role in the development of robust public health standards. Comprising a dedicated standards team and a team of service professionals, we employ a multi-faceted approach. NSF engages in the rigorous testing, auditing, and certification of an array of products and services. The NSF mark serves as an emblem of assurance, signifying to consumers, retailers, and regulatory bodies that our certified products meet or exceed requisite standards.
Our world-renowned staff of auditors, engineers, microbiologists, toxicologists, chemists, and public health experts provides services in 110 countries across all major industries. Our ISO/IEC 17025-accredited, state-of-the-art global laboratories offer a wide range of testing, certification, and technical services as well as human health risk assessments. Additionally, NSF is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Medical Device Safety.