First week of work!

( Note: Post Edited on 24th July)

I know it seems like we're only having fun and games here but that's not true! We're learning alot too!!

We've truly put ALL our pharmaceutical analysis knowledge here to good use. Seriously, in the past, lessons about HPLC, GC blah blah was just theory & fluff. But after coming to this lab, it all really makes sense!

Of course we've seen these stuff in our labs during the practical sessions. But practical sessions, no matter how 'practical', can only be THAT real. What we've seen here is the application of those things we thought were so irrelevant. Will show you why now!

Small portion of the lab with the reagents.

Alot of the reagents are produced by the lab itself because they have a production facility. Well, most chemicals, so long as they are not the commercial immunoassay stuff, I think!

Most of our stay here this week we've been shadowing Albert-Jan (aka Bao Mu (babysitter in Chinese)) , so he's the one who's been showing us everything!

Presenting to you a HPLC (high performance liquid chromtography, for the uninitiated) machine!

Coupled with a UV-detector

The HPLC column on the outside

Side view of the machine

The metal thing to the right of the machine close to the door is the valve with the loop thing that Prof Ho explained to us. Didn't really understand then anyway, but now I know what he's talking about! Some things you just have to see it for yourself.

Thanks to Albert-Jan's drawing!

Can't really remember which substance we used the HPLC to analyse already because we've observed A-J doing so many!

A-J has been explaining things really clearly & in detailed. It doesn't matter that we're not ever going to do any work there, he still does make every effort to explain the principles & that is very, very nice of him.

Maggie with the Gas Chromatography machine

The GC machine was used to analyse the levels of GHB (a rape drug) & ethanol levels!

It's quite cool watching the whole procedure because this is FOR REAL. A true analysis... Not for fun or practice :) And now we truly understand how the labs work (maybe not the Singapore ones, I don't know) and we understand the beauty of pharm analysis!

The GC columns!

Other HPLC columns

Maggie going to be as round as the conical flasks in no time....

Maggie trying to burn down the lab

Stupid face of mine beside the ICP machine

A-J used the ICP machine is used to measure Lithium levels! Cos Lithium is a Group 1 metal, remember? Hehehe. Lithium......... Caught a Sandra Bullock movie "Premonition"on the KLM flight here & she was taking lithium for mania. Maybe we would get her tested...

Cool lab chair

Feels like a horse saddle

Tools to keep the lab healthy

A nice pipette (multi-pipette) that dispenses the same volume each time you press it!

Multitube vortex that saves time

Calibration of pipettes! We did this!




GCMS machine , which we haven't used

Analysts hard at work

A fume cupboard

Maggie with Immunoassay machines

Cool immunoassay autosampler that analyses the quantity of substances such as cocaine, cannabis or therapeutic drugs like antibiotics

Just another fume cupboard

Another machine, don't know what (yet) :)

Yup, so here's a true blue analytical lab for you! Things that are found naturally in the body are not analysed here (like eletrolytes, i think) but in the clinical chemistry lab. This lab analyses substances foreign to the body for the purpose of therapeutic drug monitoring, detection of drug abuse etc...

This week we're doing somethings different but more on that another time!

P.S. Don't bother diluting your urine if you've used illicit drugs because they measure the creatine levels & they'll know if it's diluted!