Image Credit: Pittcon, The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy
With traditional southern hospitality, the 9th March 2015 saw New Orleans open its exhibition hall doors to the laboratory science and equipment jamboree that was Pittcon 2015.
From chromatography to spectroscopy and everything in between, the halls buzzed with the chatter of new laboratory equipment developments.
After many miles of hall walking, the AZoNetwork team found the time on a long flight home to reflect on some of the highlights.
Pittcon 2015 – Highlights and New Developments – Doing More with Less
Bruker came to the Pittcon party with many new innovations including the Puma S2 - a very neat, small footprint, desktop XRF spectrometer for elemental analysis.
Fig 1: S2 PUMA™ Bench-top X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer for elemental analysis. Image Credit: Bruker AXS
In the quest for ever smaller handheld devices, Bruker also complemented the Puma with the release of the Bravo handheld raman spectrometer, a smart device designed for the rapid and accurate analysis of raw materials.
Ocean Optics launched a range of application focused product solutions. One of the most interesting developments was the new Spark-VIS miniature spectrometer as it offers incredible flexibility and performance in a very small package.
JEOL launched the AccuTOF-GCx gas Chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometer system for the first time in the U.S. This is the fourth generation of the system and has been designed for maximum throughput, uptime and operation. The innovative combination of gas chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry and the option of EI, CI and FI ion sources make this system truly flexible for a variety of applications.
Pittcon was the first major US show for Malvern since acquiring NanoSight in September 2013. As leaders in light scattering technology, they never fail to impress showcasing a range of Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) systems alongside the new Vicotek SEC-MALS 20 GPC/SEC detector. The impressive modular multi angle light scattering detector is easily linked with any SEC system, offering the advantages of light scattering detection for molecular size and weight measurements.
Fig 3: Viscotek SEC-MALS 20. Image Credit: Malvern Instruments Ltd
Methrohm Recognising Young Chemists
Metrohm, a leader in Process Monitoring using NIR, awarded their Young Chemist Award to Chad Atkins, for his work in measuring the degradation of stored red blood cells (RBCs) using optical spectroscopy.
We will be conducting a follow up thought leader interview with Chad about his work soon.
A Company to Watch - BioTools
It would be difficult to pick a single stand out from Pittcon this year, but one company to watch going forwards would be BioTools. Their new Mobile Raman System is a significant advance in the field of truly portable Raman Microscopes that will no doubt have a big impact in Life Sciences.
Innovative Stand Design
The size and scale of Pittcon always brings out the best in the Marketing Department, this year was no different with an array of interesting innovative methods being employed to attract those valuable scientists and lab managers into their booth.
Top marks to leading analytics company Leco and their talented artist who created an incredible 3D floor painting featuring the highlights of New Orleans.
Then again Leco have been around since 1936, so it’s not a surprise they are good at getting their message across.
With more to come over the next twelve months AZoNetwork is looking forward to Pittcon 2016.
