This year was packed with exciting moments in the chromatography field and with proud accomplishments for my entire team. Read about our most memorable experiences from 2018 and how we plan to outdo ourselves in 2019.

The chromatography field enjoyed another thrilling year in 2018. The technique continued to evolve and expand its application range, especially in the pharmaceuticals, environmental and diagnostics fields. For example, scientists used high-pressure liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (HPLC-MS) for the first time to analyse samples from human embryos culture medium. This feat was accomplished based on the principle that many microorganisms have their own unique mass spectral signature generated by specific cellular proteins and peptides.

Advances were made in the analysis of the metabolome, which refers to the complete range of small organic biomolecules or metabolites. Chemists improved the coverage of the metabolome this past year by using new approaches such as serial combination of columns in tandem, column switching and different variations of two-dimensional chromatography.

Undoubtedly, the chromatography field will continue to evolve in 2019. Focus will certainly be laid on miniaturization, automation, acceleration and efficiency growth. The clinical lab will be one of the main areas to profit from any advances. Here, scientists will aim to replace standard immunoassays with more cost-efficient and sensitive liquid chromatography tests for diagnostics.

How did 2018 fare for my chromatography team and what do we look forward to in 2019?

Here are our most memorable impressions and future expectations in a few words.

My thoughts on the launch of Bart’s Blog

One of the most exciting moments for me this year happened right at the beginning of 2018: the first Büchi blog posts were published! I can’t deny that I was very flattered to be chosen to head the blog. We have so much in-house experience at Büchi, it was about time to start sharing our knowledge and observations in different fields. It makes us incredibly happy to support people in many, many labs. We hope that we are making their lives easier by sharing tips and tricks on how to simplify complex topics.

Peter on his best experiences of the year

When I travel, I am often on the road with Büchi colleagues who are based locally. Face-to-face contact helps us to get to know each other on a much more personal level and helps me gain an entirely new perspective on the challenges the subsidiaries face. Travelling helps to form better relationships and to gather interesting new insights, so that working with all kinds of different people becomes more fun.  This year I had the pleasure to visit contacts in the U.S., China, Taiwan and VAE. I cannot wait to see where 2019 takes me.

Birke on the launch of FlashPure Scout

When I was a child, I loved to spend time in corn fields, finding my way through the labyrinths. I thought back to those days, when I started to work on our digital tool FlashPure Scout at beginning of the year. Most roads lead to Rome, but some lead to your ideal flash cartridge. It is amazing how easy it is now to navigate your way through the 174 FlashPure cartridge types. Selecting a cartridge has become almost as fun as conquering those corn mazes.

Adela on being the newest member of the team

I joined Bart’s team in March 2018. After a three-year residence abroad, I was very happy to find a new position where I could use my former work experience as a product specialist and still gain new knowledge in the chromatography field. I feel very lucky as part of Bart’s team, where hard work mixes with good fun.

My positive outlook for 2019

This past year, we mainly focused on supporting and expanding Büchi’s global chromatography business. Besides maintaining the existing business, we have also been busy preparing for the future. We want to share our excitement and good ideas in the chromatography field, so we have been working hard on achieving new developments.  We are convinced these will make our customers’ lives easier and will help them to overcome complicated challenges in purification. The entire team is really looking forward to presenting you these novelties in 2019. We also plan to keep the blog evolving in the new year. How you may ask? Well, you just have to keep dropping by to see any exciting changes for yourself. I can assure you, you will not be disappointed.

Happy holidays and I will see you again in the new year!