What you’ re going to read is a quick presentation of Eureka Lab Division and what it did to succeed in researching, developing and producing
the World ‘s Largest Range of Diagnostic Kits for chromatographic analytical instruments
Many years ago, Dr. Gilberto Coppa , Dr. Stefano Sartori and dr. Angela Cusenza decided to pursue a professional path that few companies had dealt with:
Simplify, Improve, Standardize
the analytical procedures existing in clinical laboratories, thanks to the realization of
Ready to use Kits
using HPLC, GC, GC-MS, LC-MS/MS chromatographic techniques.
From the very outset, they concentrated their activity on the development of an Analytical Method for the Determination of Urinary and Plasma Catecholamines in HPLC with Fluorimetric Detection.
The decision to work with Catecholamines was due to the shared thought, along with many Oncologists, that the need of Formulating a Correct Diagnosis of cancer patients was fundamental and extremely important
The concentration of catecholamines (Noradrenaline, Adrenaline, Dopamine), which are a group of hormones produced by the adrenal glands, are greatly increased in biological fluids in the presence of such pathologies.
To help doctors to properly diagnose these tumor forms, they asked some laboratories about their problems and issues in their structures since the 1970s.
Here are some of the problems raised:
- Direct measurement in amperometry was sufficiently sensitive for the analysis of noradrenaline and urinary dopamine, but it was not sufficiently sensitive for the quantitative analysis of urinary adrenaline.
- Direct measurement in amperometry was not sufficiently sensitive for the analysis of plasma catecholamines even when starting from a high plasma volume (at least 2 ml).
- Direct measurement in amperometry had taken the role of reference technique for a long time, but the amperometric detector proved to be difficult to handle for routine analysis.
- Despite the replacement of the amperometer detector with the, more sensitive Coulometric detector, it was still difficult to handle for routine analysis as well as being particularly costly.
After collecting these information relative to the problems arising from the use of the amperometer and coulometric detectors they decided to “create”
Eureka Lab Division Research and Development Team
Our team worked long for the development of a fluorimetric, chromatographic, analytical method for the determination of catecholamines with the benefit that:
- International research from the ’90s was geared towards selecting more powerful analytical methods capable of selectively analyzing catecholamines in biological fluids, compared to methods born at the end of the 1970’s in amperometry.
- Works published by the Japanese groups of Y. Ohkura, K. Imai, H. Iizuka, M. Yamaguchi and by the Dutch G. Alberts and F. Boomsma, led to the selection of a selective quantitative yield reagent for the catecholic group that was transformed to a benzotriazole group, with a FLUORESCENCE response of 50 times higher than the amperometric detection.
Their work involved the development of a biologic matrix purification method that was more self-explanatory than the methods used up to that time.
After purification, the sample undergoes a process of derivatization.
At this point, the derivatized sample is read in fluorimetry, allowing it to obtain excellent sensitivity and specificity for the analysis.
This has allowed us to reach the much anticipated goal:
Simplify, Improve, Standardize
the analytical procedures existing in clinical laboratories, regarding the dosage of both urine and plasma catecholamines.
But this was just the beginning … Since 2000 the Eureka Lab Division Team, has continued to develop
New Chromatografic Analitycal Methods
Initially the Team dealt with
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC / UHPLC) coupled to
detectors:
UV/VIS
FLUORIMETER
(for analysis of SPECIAL CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY and OCCUPATIONAL TOXICOLOGY)
We then dedicated ourselves to
Gas Chromatography (GC) coupled to detectors:
FID (flame ionization detector)
ECD (electron capture detector)
MASS SPECTROMETER
(for analysis of SPECIAL CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, OCCUPATIONAL TOXICOLOGY AND FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY)
Finally, since 2008, we have focused our work on
Liquid Chromatography (LC) coupled with
Mass Spectrometer / Triple Quadruple / Ion Trap
(for analysis of SPECIAL CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY AND FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY)
In order to be able to continuously increase the range of new Eureka Kits, the company has for several years been working with the
“STUDY GROUP OF EXTERNAL AUTHORS”
They are Specialists in Clinical Biochemistry, Pharmaco – Toxicology and expert in
Chromatographic Analytical Techniques.
They collect the requests of Doctors who are in close contact with patients and iniziate for the development of Chromatographic Analytical Methods that will then be engineered into EUREKA KITS.
It’s like having many research and development teams across Italy working to increase the development of new chromatographic analytical methods that will then be engineered in the form of ready-to-use kits.
After a long research and development work by the Eureka Lab Division Team and by the Study Group of External Authors, Eureka Kit are Validated to GUARANTEE their
Accuracy
Precision
Recovery
Selectivity
Calibration Curve
Reproducibility
Stability
This work is done by the
“STUDY GROUP OF EXTERNAL VALIDATORS”
They are also passionate about chromatographic analytical techniques and make available their analytical systems and their human biological samples.
It is crucial to have the opportunity to use more chromatographic analytical systems and human biological samples , because ONLY THEN is it possible to determine
THE KIT’S STRENGTH
and its
EASY OF USE
That is why thanks to the work of Eureka Team, together with the group of “Authors and Validators” , we can
GUARANTEE
to Clinical Laboratories around the World
that the Eureka Kits
WORK CORRECTLY AND PROVIDE APPROPRIATE RESULTS
To confirm the correct operation and the appropriate results of the Eureka Kits, we have been participating in Quality Control Programs (VEQs) for several years,
SPECIAL CLINICAL CHEMISTRY INSTAD
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY INSTAD
OCCUPATIONAL TOXICOLOGY G-EQUAS
FOREST TOXICOLOGY IST. SUP. DI SANITA’
TESTIMONIALS
WHAT some of our existing clients think
“Thanks to steroid hormones Eureka Kit now I can obtain 17 steroids results in a unique chromatographic runlenght. Once I used to work with several immunochemical analytical platforms, obviously more expensive for my lab, furthermore I wasn’t exactly satisfied about results.
Now I am!”srhabif@gmail.com
Why didn’t I first adopt the Eureka Kit for the determination of VMA in urine?
The pre-analytical phase is fast, I just need to dilute the sample and not process it by SPE purification as I did before using the amphetamine method. Also every 10 minutes I get a result.
The time saved in purification and chromatographic run can now be used in a second analysis within the same day, thus doubling the productivity of my Laboratory.
These results are not negligible at all …
fumagalli2@virgilio.it
I came from another field and I started to work in LC MS / MS autonomously thanks to Eureka – Lab Division.
The training and after care service has allowed me to embark on a new path for mass spectrometry and to work safely.
lucia.bartoloni@ulss12ve.it