Sporting the theme Unity Through Diversity, chosen to reflect an international scope and the multiplicity of analytical techniques, the Pittsburgh Conference & Exposition on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy returned to Atlantic City early this month. Although the conference has made Atlantic City its home in recent years, it swung down south to New Orleans in 1985. Greeting the conference this year was a spruced-up Atlantic City Convention Center, which recently underwent a $23 million renovation. The year's absence made current growth of the conference even more evident, as the exposition sprawled out of the two exhibition areas it had previously occupied and into a third. More than 750 companies were exhibiting, compared with 730 last year and 610 when the exposition was last in Atlantic City. Keeping pace with growth in the exposition, registration appeared to be pushing 28,000, up from the 25,000 of two years ago and the 21,000 of last year.
Although the conference has settled for the moment, it won't be for long. It will return to Atlantic City in 1987. But it's off to New Orleans in 1988 and then to Atlanta in 1989. The conference is still run by volunteers from its two sponsoring organizations, the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. Begun in that city in 1950, the growing conference moved to Cleveland in 1967 and then to Atlantic City in 1980. Throughout its history, the conference has been a showcase for the latest developments in analytical instrumentation. Evident this year, for example, is a deepening penetration of the trend toward laboratory automation and a noticeable influence of biotechnology on instrument design and industry doings. These developments and others in specific areas of analytical chemistry and spectroscopy are surveyed in the following sections by C&EN editors Ward Worthy, Ron Dagani, Steve Stinson, and James Krieger. March 24, 1986 C&EN
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INSTRUMENTATION Ό 6 Lab automation trends continue About 250 million chemical mea surements are made each day in the U.S., according to some "back-ofthe-envelope" calculations at the Na tional Bureau of Standards. They are made on everything from pro cess streams to products to clinical samples. About $50 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on chemical measurements. And chemical mea surements affect two thirds of the gross national product. Judging from the Pittsburgh Con ference & Exposition, a large and growing proportion of those mea surements in the future will be car ried out in automated laboratories. Increasing emphasis on laboratory automation has been a general fea ture of the Pittsburgh Conference for several years. But the broaden ing and deepening of those labora tory automation concepts was one of the most prevalent trends at At lantic City early this month. At the same time, a different sort of influence is beginning to be ex perienced by the world of chemical measurement instrumentation. That influence is emanating from bio technology, and it is being felt both through its effect on product de sign and through corporate joint ventures and acquisitions. Meanwhile, market effects on con ventional instrumentation are of a different sort. Leading-edge devel
opments continue. But Michael D. Moore, senior vice president of Perkin-Elmer and general manager of the company's instrument group, notes that more customers are de manding instruments with higher feature-to-price ratios, along with adequate rather than high perfor mance. "We're expanding our prod uct lines," he says, "to include ad ditional basic instruments that are lower in cost than our full-feature products. Yet these instruments are able to address more than 90% of the applications." Says Allen J. Lauer, president of Varian Instru ment Group, "What we're really trying to offer our customers now are compatible products in compat ible product lines." Still, automation was manifest ev erywhere at the Pittsburgh Confer ence. It was underlined by booth themes—Perkin-Elmer's "Total Lab oratory Automation," for example, or IBM's "Laboratory Information Management Solutions," or Digital Equipment's "Integrated Laborato ry Automation." It was evident in the increasing number of offerings at the higher application level of computer networking and laborato ry information management sys tems. It was evident as well at a lower level in the abundance of work stations and of scientific soft ware of many varieties. It was ex
Perkin-Elmer's MasterLab robot with linear transport system 22
March 24, 1986 C&EN
plicit in the wider application of robotics to sample preparation and implicit in such ancillary operations as bar coding. And automation, along with bio technology and artificial intelli gence, was one of the themes struck by speakers at a breakfast for in strument industry executives hosted by Centcom Ltd., the advertising manager for American Chemical So ciety publications. The speakers in cluded Harry S. Hertz, director of the Center for Analytical Chemis try at the National Bureau of Stan dards; Frederick E. Régnier, professor of biochemistry at Purdue University; and Jack W. Frazer, a consultant and former chief executive officer at Keithley Instruments. "Automating the laboratory is obviously something that we are starting to do," Hertz notes. The major driving force, he points out, is to improve quality assurance and to improve the efficiency with which chemical measurements are made. Hertz says that increasingly data are being retained over a long term so that comparisons can be made of current products with those of, say, a year ago. That practice, he points out, places a great burden on the quality of the measurements made. It is important to be sure that any differences are in the actual products and not due to measurement inaccuracy or imprecision. From the NBS perspective, Hertz says, "one of the things we're seeing in the production of reference materials is that we are, with time, learning more and more about the relationship of reference materials one to another: how one reference material in one matrix can be adapted to quality assurance of a different matrix that one wants to analyze." Hertz believes that as this relationship becomes better understood, reference materials will have broader and broader applicability and that instruments will have to incorporate the ability to use reference materials on a routine basis in the quality control procedures within the instrumentation. Hertz also expects a better understanding to develop of the relationship between chemical properties and physical properties of manu-
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INSTRUMENTATION W >f factured products, as well as func Hertz says, is the incorporation of s. tional properties of the materials. feedback loops and expert systems. η As a result, more and more chemi He thinks that users will rely on ts cal measurements will be made to expert systems built into instruments g check products before they leave to help them in actually designing rmanufacturing facilities. "That will an experiment to begin with. Fur Le place a greater burden on analytical ther, the chemical separation of the ?chemists/' Hertz says. "Automation sample and instrumental measure will improve the efficiency of ana ment will be integrated in such a it lytical chemists. And, I think, as a way that results of a measurement η result we will see fewer profession can be matched against precision it al analytical chemists per measure and accuracy goals established at the outset and, if necessary, thee ment that needs to be made." Automating chemistry and auto chemical separation module asked d mating sample preparation, Hertz to improve the separation, with thee says, are still very much in their whole measurement scheme oper rinfancy, and there are a lot of im ating in an iterative way. provements that need to and will However laboratory automation η be made. Automation of instrumen may develop in the future, users rs tal measurements, he notes, is some have plenty to digest even now. /. what further along. But even here, The Pittsburgh Conference exposi ihe says, there will be changes in tion itself dramatized one aspect of >f the instrument of the future. laboratory automation. Through an η "I think we'll see the incorpora Ethernet cable, used in conjunction n tion of more sensors into these in with Digital Equipment's DECnet ?t struments," Hertz says. "I think we'll local area network architecture, com ιsee instruments that are based on puters in 11 different booths weree groups of sensors, where the sen electronically linked in one system. sors are put together to meet the Several of the network users weree specific needs of a particular labo sending data directly into a labora ιratory and the particular types of tory information management sys jproblems it addresses." tem (LIMS). A number of LIMS aree η The last remaining piece in auto now available, and the exposition v mating the laboratory of the future, provided a showcase for several new
Ethernet links computers at 11 booths A hookup of computers in 11 different booths at the Pittsburgh Conference exposition provided a dramatic dem onstration of the ways local area net works can be used. The hookup was via a half-inch-wide Ethernet cable used with DECnet local area network architecture from Digital Equipment Corp. Exhibitors on the network be sides Digital were Chesapeake Soft ware, Jeol USA, Kevex, Molecular De sign, Nelson Analytical, New Methods Research, Nicolet Analytical Instru ments, Varian Associates, VG Labora tory Systems, and Waters chromatog raphy division of Millipore. The network tied together more than 30 computers, ranging from a Digital Professional 380 work station to a
24
March 24. 1986 C&EN
Ethernet cable runs In trough over top of Digital's booth
ones as well as extensions or en hancements of existing ones. For example, Varian Associates and Digital Equipment have reached an agreement for cooperative marketing of LIMS software based on Digital's VAX computer system. Under the agreement, Varian has granted a worldwide, exclusive license to Digital-to sell its LIMS/ DM data management software in combination with Digital's VAX LIMS/SM sample management software as an integrated VAX LIMS system (Circle 237). Each retains rights to sell a stand-alone version of its own part. Both software packages are supported on most VAX/VMS processors, from the VAX-11 /730 and larg er. Digital's LIMS/SM focuses on laboratory management functions of sample tracking, management of final results, collection lists, and generation and distribution of final sampie reports. Varian's DM software primarily manages detailed analytical testing and data acquisition. Among the functions it includes are test assignment, management of data collection and data-handling pro cesses through user-specified methods and procedures, assignment and scheduling of tests through work lists, automatic data acquisition from analytical instruments, and data transformation. Varian says the software is now under test in five inPDP-11, MicroVAX II computers, and high-end VAX computer systems, as well as an IBM PC. The various users were running applications such as lab oratory information management sys tems, molecular modeling, scientific word processing, data acquisition, and management functions such as mail. Although many were just making use of the VAX computers, several users, including Digital, Nicolet, and Varian, were sending data directly into a LIMS. Two years ago, Digital introduced the Ethernet/DECnet architecture by connecting four computers within its own booth. Last year, it networked a total of 20 computers together, but between adjacent booths—Its own and Varian's. This year, the users were located throughout the three exposi tion areas.
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INSTRUMENTATION Ό 6 dustrial chemical labs. LIMS/DM (Circle 238), including training and installation, is priced from about $46,500 and will be available in May. Perkin-Elmer has added a lowcost LIMS 1000 to its LIMS family. Based on the IBM PC AT, the LIMS 1000 (Circle 239) is designed pri marily for quality control laborato ries and automates many activities, including sample entry, work-list generation, results entry, informa tion reporting, and data archiving. A quality control template proce dure allows a user automatically to assign blanks, duplicates, spikes, and standards in work lists. Entry of re sults is accomplished through a work list orientation to create a co hesive system. Specifications are checked automatically as results are entered. And spread-sheetlike cal culations during results entry make for easy manipulation of data, in cluding quality control parameters. At IBM's booth, the company demonstrated what it says is a thrust to bring all of its resources togeth er. All five divisions of the compa ny were in evidence: IBM Instru ments, Engineering 'Systems, IBM Information Services (software de velopers), Academic Computing Or ganization (which deals with uni versities), and Information Systems
Hertz: improve efficiency 26
March 24, 1986 C&EN
Group (the U.S. marketing arm for large computers). The company says it is aiming at the marriage of com puter and instrument expertise and at the development of data systems that are instrument independent. Among developments on view at IBM's exhibit was a LIMS devel oped by Purvis Systems Inc. for IBM 4300 series computers. The VM LIMS (Circle 240) provides a com prehensive set of functions ranging from sample submission, scheduling, and tracking to work list display, exception entry and reporting with audit trail, accumulation of account ing data, management reporting, electronic transfer of reports, and archiving. All information about samples, their location, status, re quirements, and data is stored in the IBM relational database SQL/ DS and is available to all users with the appropriate level of access. Re ports may be sent electronically us ing PROFS, the IBM office automa tion system. Purvis expects VM LIMS to be available in October and to be priced at $50,000. Purvis notes that among the high lights of VM LIMS is that it allows anticipation of workload, followup on expected sample submissions, monitoring of health information on samples, control of stability stud ies, and regular quality control checks through sample scheduling. The Pittsburgh Conference was also Nelson Analytical's first chance to exhibit the LIMS software it gained marketing, support, and fur ther development rights to in a licensing agreement reached last November with the U.K.'s Impe rial Chemical Industries. Named ACCOMPLIS, the LIMS is unusual if not unique in that it was designed not by an instrument or computer company but by a chemical compa ny—ICI's agricultural division. ACCOMPLIS (Circle 241) employs a star network configuration, with the core system being a Digital Equipment VAX or Micro VAX II running under the VMS operating system. Each user-defined section of the analytical organization, which may be one or more laboratories,
has its own Micro VAX II reporting to the core VAX. The MicroVAX supports the section's total resources, such as staff, instruments, and asso ciated methods. ACCOMPLIS makes extensive use of bar-code technology, with bar coding and bar-code wands used for sample entry and tracking and data acquisition functions. Situated at sys tem data-entry stations, such as bal ances, autosamplers, and terminals, bar-code wands reduce the need for manual keyboard entry of data con cerning sample, operator, instru ment, and location. VAX LIMS, LIMS 1000, VM LIMS, and ACCOMPLIS illustrate contin uing efforts to automate the man agement of laboratory information. But automation efforts directed at the front end of the analytical scheme generating that information continue as well. Robotics has en tered a second generation. Zymark Corp., which pioneered laboratory robotics with its firstgeneration Zymate system intro duced in 1982, has now brought out the second-generation Zymate II (Circle 242). A major feature of the new robot is its speed. The speed has been doubled and is variable over a 1:5 range. A further gain in sample throughput comes from the provision of a tactile sensing capa bility in the robot hand. That capa bility eliminates any need during a preparation procedure for the robot
Régnier: purification not trivial
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