News from LabRulezICPMS Library - Week 29, 2026

Our Library never stops expanding. What are the most recent contributions to LabRulezICPMS Library in the week of 13th July 2026? Check out new documents from the field of spectroscopy/spectrometry and related techniques!

👉 SEARCH THE LARGEST REPOSITORY OF DOCUMENTS ABOUT SPECTROSCOPY/SPECTROMETRY RELATED TECHNIQUES

👉 Need info about different analytical techniques? Peek into LabRulezLCMS or LabRulezGCMS libraries.

This week we bring you poster by Agilent Technologies / ASMS and application notes by Shimadzu and Waters Corporation!

1. Agilent Technologies / ASMS: Quantifying Contamination in Mass Spectrometers Using SEM-EDX

• Poster
• Full PDF for download

Characterizing surface charging on a surface using the Duane-Hunt Limit for X-ray-dispersive spectroscopy 

Background and motivation 

• Contamination of surfaces by proteins and peptides causes performance degradation in mass spectrometers.¹ 
• The Duane-Hunt limit (DHL) is the high-energy cutoff of the background (bremsstrahlung) X-ray emitted from the sample and can be measured in a scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX).² 
• The DHL has been used to quantify the degree of charging on insulators.³ 
• Removing contamination by gas phase oxidants could enable in-situ cleaning of mass spectrometers. We investigate the effectiveness of gas-phase oxidants produced from air in a plasma cleaner.

Experimental Details 

• A Hitachi SU3900 SEM with a 5kV accelerating beam was used to collect EDX spectra of selected points on each protein droplet. 
• Characteristic X-rays from carbon were used to quantify protein content on the metal surface. 
• Bovine Serum Albumin (Sigma) dissolved in MilliQ water was deposited on stainless steel substrates. Substrate preparation was similar to that used for ion lenses in mass spectrometers.

Conclusions

Quantifying surface charging 

• SEM-EDX is a quantitative method of simultaneously characterizing surface charging and elemental composition of a protein on a metal surface. 
•  >200 nm of protein material will cause charging that can be detected by the Duane-hunt limit. Surface cleaning 
• Air plasma can effectively remove organic material and restore the surface potential and carbon abundance to clean surface levels. Recalcitrant sodium and sulfur remain.

2. Shimadzu: Evaluation of Microscopic Foreign Matter in CMP Slurry Using Dynamic Image Analysis and Machine Learning

• Application note
• Full PDF for download

User Benefits

• Foreign matter in the micron range can be detected and evaluated at near-undiluted concentration using the microcell method. 
• Telecentric optical system minimizes missed microscopic foreign matter (imaging efficiency: 90 % or higher). 
• Particle images and morphological information obtained by dynamic image analysis can be used for particle classification, which enables a more detailed evaluation of microscopic foreign matter in CMP slurry

Foreign matter in CMP* slurry used for precision polishing of semiconductor wafers may cause defects. Therefore, abrasive particles and foreign matter must be carefully controlled. In studies of filter-based foreign matter removal and process control, it is important to detect and evaluate even trace levels of foreign matter. 

However, laser diffraction and dynamic light scattering, which are commonly used for particle size distribution analysis, may require adjustment of the sample concentration to match the main component, making it difficult to detect trace amounts of microscopic foreign matter. 

In this study, colloidal silica used in CMP slurry was analyzed using the iSpect DIA-10 dynamic particle image analysis system to evaluate trace amounts of microscopic foreign matter. Machine learning-based clustering was then applied to assess the detected foreign particles.

* Chemical Mechanical Planarization/Polishing

Conclusion 

To evaluate trace foreign matter and coarse particles contained in polishing-grade colloidal silica used as CMP slurry, DIA measurements were performed. Images and concentrations of micron-scale particles that could not be detected by laser diffraction were successfully measured. In addition, the microcell method enabled measurement to be performed without dilution. On the other hand, even with DIA, only a small number of particles were detected at a 1000-fold dilution factor, demonstrating the effectiveness of evaluating trace foreign matter in the undiluted sample. Furthermore, machine-learningbased clustering enabled quantitative evaluation of the particle types present. Thus, DIA is an effective analytical technique for evaluating trace foreign matter and coarse particlesin CMP slurry.

3. Waters Corporation: Identify Optimal Biologic Candidates: Low Volume, Early Stage Developability Assessment with Aura PTx System

• Application note
• Full PDF for download

Benefits 

• Direct characterization of subvisible particle formation using limited sample volumes. 
• Low %CVs across replicate measurements demonstrate measurement robustness. 
• Granular information helps researchers better understand the mechanisms and degradation pathways that influence biologic instability.

Developability assessment is used during biotherapeutic development to evaluate the manufacturability of leading drug candidates.1,2 Performing this assessment as early as possible identifies candidates with inherent stability risks, mitigating potential failures or expensive, time-consuming formulation efforts required for a suboptimal candidate. Finding the most stable candidates and buffer conditions to reduce subvisible biological aggregation, a critical quality attribute (CQA) linked to immunogenicity, drug efficacy, and product shelf life, is a key goal when assessing a candidate’s developability.3 However, the ability to perform this assessment is severely hampered since sample availability is extremely limited during early stages of the development process. Conducting subvisible particle analysis with traditional legacy techniques such as flow imaging and light obscuration has not been possible due to the high sample volume demands (>500 µL per run). As a result, researchers have turned to other low volume techniques for developability assessment, including size exclusion chromatography (SEC), dynamic light scattering, and differential scanning fluorimetry, that do not predict subvisible particle formation. 

This application note describes how Aura Systems transform developability assessment by directly characterizing subvisible content using a high throughput, low volume screen of three different proteins against a platform of 14 industry-relevant buffers and excipients. The most stable protein was identified by quantifying the subvisible content across the different conditions using volumes as low as 5 µL in under three hours of total experimental time. In addition, high contrast images and FMM analysis revealed key insights on the samples’ stability profile.

Experimental

Three proteins and a platform of buffers (Table 1) that are commonly used as part of the commercial manufacturing process were assessed. The buffers were optimized to include excipients that reduce the stresses that occur during low pH viral clearance, elution, storage (air water interfaces), freeze/thaw, and ultrafiltration (UF)/diafiltration (DF)/ tangential flow filtrations (TFF) for buffer exchange of drug substance to drug product. This buffer platform screens the impact of ionic strength, buffer type, salt (NaCl), pH, and stabilizing additives. Each protein (A, B, and C) was formulated in each buffer from lyophilized powder to a final concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. Each sample condition was processed in quadruplicate using 40 µL per well on Aura PTx System.

Conclusion 

Proteins A, B and C, despite having a strong affinity for their target, have drastically different manufacturability potential. While affinity and pharmacokinetic characteristics are important, considerations being able to manufacture large molecules with good stability profiles are equally important. Determining this before scaling up production saves considerable time and reduces risk, and subvisible particles are a critical measurement at this stage.

For the first time, Aura PTx System and Aura+ System transforms the sample volume limited developability assessment stage by enabling subvisible particle characterization - the most important stability CQA. Its high throughput, low volume modality enables high level ranking decision-making and uncovers the most granular insights of stability and particle formation in a single platform.Systems transform developability assessment by directly characterizing subvisible content using a high throughput, low volume screen of three different proteins against a platform of 14 industry-relevant buffers and excipients. The most stable protein was identified by quantifying the subvisible content across the different conditions using volumes as low as 5 µL in under three hours of total experimental time. In addition, high contrast images and FMM analysis revealed key insights on the samples’ stability profile.