Best of the Week: Waters Merges with BD Biosciences, Detecting Drugs in Traffic Fatalities, Examining Bioactivity in Salvia Profiles

This week, LCGC International published a variety of articles on hot topics in separation science. From news on the recent merger between Waters Corporation and BD Biosciences, to using liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) to detect drug presence in California traffic accidents, the field of chromatography continues to evolve in new ways. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most popular articles that were published this week.

Waters to Merge with BD Biosciences in $17.5 Billion Life Sciences Deal

Caroline Hroncich

Waters Corporation and Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) have announced a definitive agreement to merge BD’s Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions business with Waters in a transaction valued at approximately $17.5 billion. Structured as a tax-efficient Reverse Morris Trust, the deal is expected to expand Waters’ footprint in the life sciences and diagnostics sectors. The merger aims to create a more comprehensive portfolio by combining Waters’ strengths in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry with BD’s capabilities in flow cytometry and clinical diagnostics.

Mass Spectrometry Fingerprinting and Neural Networks for Coffee Sensory Profiling

John Chasse

Researchers from the University of Campinas (Campinas, Brazil) and the Waters Research Center (Budapest, Hungary) introduced a rapid, automated method using laser-assisted rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (LA-REIMS) with high-resolution mass spectrometry to fingerprint coffee samples and predict sensory properties. The approach reduces reliance on subjective sensory panels and includes a novel algorithm to interpret ANN model weights for better understanding of compound relevance. LCGC International spoke to Leandro Wang Hantao of the University of Campinas regarding their work and the paper that resulted from it.

Advanced LC-QTOF-MS Analysis Detects Drug Presence in California Traffic Fatalities

John Chasse

A joint study between the University of California (San Francisco and Davis, California campuses) and the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles, California) reported on the presence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) detected in serum samples from roadway crash victims in northern and southern California in 2024. Liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) was used in the analysis of serum samples taken from 1000 roadway crash victims for what the researchers wrote was the first formal report of multiple NPS and NPS classes quantified in a large survey of roadway crash cases in the United States.

Modular High-Throughput Platform for scFv and Antibody Therapeutic Purification

Aaron Acevedo

Multispecific antibodies (msAbs) are novel drug modalities that can simultaneously bind to two or more target proteins or bridge two different cells, eliciting therapeutic effects (2). These modalities have led to various advancements in therapeutics, showing promise for enhancing therapeutic efficacy and specificity in the treatment of complex diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Efficient and fast manufacturing of single-chain fragment variables (scFvs) and msAbs is essential for screening hundreds of early-stage drug discovery candidates. However, using large, expensive, and customized robotic high-throughput systems make their use in drug discovery unattractive for biotechnology and academic institutions. Numab Therapeutics (Horgen, Switzerland) and Cytiva (Uppsala, Sweden) researchers recently investigated the purification of single-chain fragment variables and multispecific antibodies using new automated workflows.

HPTLC Used to Examine Bioactivity Profiles of Salvia Extracts

Aaron Acevedo

Salvia is an herb in the mint family, typically known for its hallucinogenic effects. More than 900 species of Salvia have been found throughout the world, with three strains, S. aegyptiaca L., S. verbenaca L., and S. officinalis L., used for medicinal purposes. While these herbal medicines have been recognized for their healing properties and having abundance of a wide range of compounds, there is a lack of information on the biological, biochemical, and chemical profiles of their polar or non-polar extracts. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) is one of the most widely used analytical techniques for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of environmental samples, food, and natural products. In this study, researchers coupled HPTLC with radical scavenging (using DPPH• free radical) and enzyme inhibitory (acetylcholinesterase, AChE) bioactivity assays to analyze Salvia strains.