ChromTalks 2023: Troubleshooting Chromatography Workflows
A Virtual Symposium presented by LCGC and CHROMacademy

This event is now available on demand.

Register for the event to gain free access to all sessions.

Event overview

Following the enormous popularity of our past ChromTalks symposia, the event is back!

This year, our focus is on helping you troubleshoot your chromatographic workflows, from sample preparation through detection, for both liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC). Our expert talks will provide you with both specific troubleshooting tips as well as explanations of the underlying processes to guide you through both making the best choices for your separation up front as well as fixing problems that may arise later. These tutorial talks—and the live question-and-answer (Q&A) periods with our experts—will address the doubts you have and clarify points you didn’t even realize you had misunderstood! A few hours at ChromTalks will save you days or weeks of headaches down the road. Attendance is free. Don’t miss it!

Top Reasons to Attend

ChromTalks 2023 will answer the questions you have—and the questions you should have but don’t—about your LC and GC workflows
Our experts will guide you through troubleshooting common problems in chromatography
You’ll learn key fundamentals that will empower your own problem-solving skills
The more you understand about your instruments, the easier your work becomes
A few hours at ChromTalks will save you days—or weeks—in the lab.

Session Details

Day One, Monday, May 22^nd, 2023

Morning session, 9:00 am–12:15 pm EDT
Troubleshooting Gas Chromatography

9:00 am EDT
Current Issues with Sample Preparation for Gas Chromatography
Tom Brettell, Cedar Crest College

9:30 am EDT
GC Sample Introduction—The Achilles Heel of GC
Mary Ellen McNally, FMC Corporation

10:00 am EDT
GC Column Selection: The Three Most Important Parameters to Consider
Amber M. Hupp, College of the Holy Cross

10:30 am EDT
GCxGC: It’s Not That Hard—Really!
Melissa Dunkle (presenter), Pascal Pijcke, Matthijs Ruitenbeek, and George Bellos, all at Dow Benelux BV, Terneuzen, The Netherlands

11:00 am EDT
Principles of Operation, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting for Sulfur and Nitrogen Chemiluminescence Detectors with Gas Chromatography
Randall Shearer, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

11:30 am EDT
Question-and-answer session
All of the session's speakers

12:15 pm EDT
Session end


Lunchtime session, 1:00–1:45 pm EDT
A Training Session from CHROMacademy

1:00–1:45 pm EDT
Troubleshooting GC Sample Introduction
Colin Towers, Element Lab Solutions, Strathaven, UK


Afternoon session, 2:00–3:30 pm EDT
GC Best Practices, Tips, Tricks, and Applications from our Sponsors

Leading suppliers provide advice on GC fundamentals and troubleshooting, including best practice, tips, tricks, and optimizing GC for specific applications and types of analysis.

2:00–2:20 pm EDT
Troubleshooting the Data Headache of Complex Sample Sets: Enhancing Your Workflows with the Pegasus BT and ChromaTOF Sync
Liz Humston-Fulmer, LECO Corporation

2:20–2:40 pm EDT
Comparing QuEChERS Cleanup Techniques for Quantifying Pesticides by GC–MS.
Evan Walters, Biotage

2:40–3:00 pm EDT
Introduction to the Pulsed Discharge Detector (PDD) for Gas Chromatography
Peter Nastold, VICI

3:00–3:20 pm EDT
VUV Analytics and LUMA™: Setting new standards for Sensitivity, Selectivity, Simplicity and Sustainability.
Rafael Acosta, VUV Analytics

Day Two, Tuesday, May 23^rd, 2023

Morning session, 9:00 am–12:15 pm EDT
Troubleshooting Liquid Chromatography

9:00 am EDT
Key Issues with Sample Preparation for Liquid Chromatography
Douglas E. Raynie, South Dakota State University

9:30 am EDT
Essentials of LC Troubleshooting—Some Problems Just Never Go Away
Dwight R. Stoll, Gustavus Adolphus College

10:00 am EDT
Listen to Your LC Instrument—It Is Trying to Tell You Something!
Merlin K.L. Bicking, ACCTA, Inc.

10:30 am EDT
Leveraging Optimal Performance of Charged Aerosol Detection Through Optimization and Troubleshooting Techniques
Imad A. Haidar Ahmad, Merck & Co., Inc.

11:00 am EDT
Beyond the HPLC Column: Understanding Non-Column Factors That Influence Peak Widths and Shapes in High-Efficiency Separations
M. Farooq Wahab, University of Texas at Arlington

11:30 am EDT
Question-and-answer session
All of the session's speakers

12:15 pm EDT
Session end



Lunchtime session, 1:00–1:45 pm EDT
A Training Session from CHROMacademy

1:00–1:45 pm EDT
The Top Seven Autosampler Problems and How to Avoid Them
Dr Dawn Watson, Element Lab Solutions, Strathaven, UK



Afternoon session, 2:00–3:30 pm EDT
LC Best Practices, Tips, Tricks, and Applications from our Sponsors

Leading suppliers provide advice on LC fundamentals and troubleshooting, including best practice, tips, tricks, and optimizing LC for specific applications and types of analysis.

2:00–2:20 pm EDT
Method Development Strategies: Key Considerations for Developing Successful Sample Prep Methods for Biological Matrices
Lee Williams, PhD, Biotage

2:20–2:40 pm EDT
The Importance of Lab Water in Analytical Applications
Randall Chan, Sartorius

Featured Speakers