5-day Hands-on HPLC & LC-MS

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Course summary

Course approval

Royal Society of Chemistry approved training logo

This course has been approved by the Royal Society of Chemistry for purposes of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

What will you learn on this course?

This course provides the theory of HPLC and LC-MS essential to any participant, along with the hands-on practical element in the laboratory to practice and re-enforce the theoretical knowledge. These courses are 50% theory and 50% practical in a lab environment.

After an introduction to liquid chromatography, this course addresses solvents & buffers (the mobile phase), pumps, isocratic and gradient elution, sample introduction, analytical columns, HPLC detectors, mass spectrometry including tuning, ionisation, mass analysers, ion detector and data analysis. The knowledge is then used to create methods, perform injections and change parameters to see the effects. The course discusses the need for maintenance along with practicals to carry out maintenance on both an HPLC and an LC-MS system such as the autosampler, injector, columns, detectors, MS tuning, vacuum system, ion source and the mass analyser. A day is spent on troubleshooting an HPLC and LC-MS instrument and learning what problems can occur, with real problem solving on the instruments and data analysis software.

This course combines the five individual hands-on days covering HPLC Theory and Methods, HPLC Maintenance, LC-MS Theory and Methods, LC-MS Maintenance and HPLC & LC-MS Troubleshooting.

Learning outcomes

  • You will learn the importance of good chromatography
  • You will learn about the function & operation of the individual HPLC components
  • You will become familiar with the HPLC instrumentation
  • You will have practical experience of adjusting the parameters for each HPLC component
  • You will have practical experience of performing maintenance on each HPLC component
  • You will learn the principles of mass spectrometry
  • You will learn about the function & operation of the LC-MS individual components
  • You will become familiar with the MS instrumentation
  • You will have practical experience of adjusting the parameters for each MS component
  • You will have practical experience of performing maintenance on each MS component
  • You will learn the strategies for HPLC & LC-MS instrument troubleshooting
  • You will have practical experience of HPLC & LC-MS instrument troubleshooting

Who is this course for?

This course is suitable for all levels of knowledge; however for complete beginners it is advisable to attend the 1-day Absolute Basics of HPLC & LC-MS first to get a good basic overview of liquid chromatography and LC-MS.

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Feedback from previous attendees

"Flexible, can tailor to my needs, small class size is best for intimate learning."  Delegate, July 2023.

"Instructor explaining really well, answering the questions without hesitation- even non relative ones. (Compared to other courses) This one is definitely on top!"  Delegate, July 2023.

"(I enjoyed) the mixture of hands-on lab work to consolidate theory."  Gushi Hunjan, Associate Scientist, LifeArc, May 2023.

"(I enjoyed) the structure and slides. The teachings have been easy to understand."  Puja Patani, Senior Biomedical Scientist, Kettering General Hospital Biochemistry Dept, November 2022.

"Reading material was provided so it was easy to follow instructor. Getting to see everything practically, the instructor was very knowledgeable."  Stephanie Nabuduwa, Laboratory Technologist, Makerere University, August 2022.

"The instructor was excellent and very knowledgeable."  Gideon Nsubuga, Laboratory Technologist, Makerere University, August 2022.

"The whole concept of what the instrument is able to do - a lot of information... instructor is really knowledgeable and passionate which makes the learning easier."  August 2022.

"Course is very informative. Very practical."  August 2022.

"All my questions were answered thoroughly and I came away from the course with a much better understanding about LC theory / Practices."  Munawar Khan, Field Service Engineer, Providion (July 2022).

"[I enjoyed] the way Giles was presenting (easy going) but a lot of technical expertise, experience, real examples/life stories. Access to instrument, facilities and people at Providion."  Research Scientist, March 2022.

"The depth of coverage was great for me, going from practically zero. This was really helped by Giles' ease of explanation. The course materials were also fantastic!"  Research Scientist, March 2022.

"[I enjoyed] Realising how diverse the needs and uses of MS and chromatography are around the world. Attending the course with engineers from Africa and biologists from Australia was both surprising and amazing. I came here expecting other chromatography analysts! [Most interesting topic:] Live tuning of analytes - will be very useful."  Daniel von Emloh, Analyst, Reach Separations (attended the 2-day Hands-on LC-MS Theory, Methods and Maintenance, March 2022).

"Clear information in handouts, good reference material."  Hands-on HPLC Maintenance and Hands-on HPLC & LC-MS Troubleshooting, March 2020.

"Course contents and how it was organised to meet the requirements of our expectations."  Josephat Bajwahuka, Quality Assurance Officer, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBOS), March 2020.

"Clear content. Great performance at Anthias Consulting Ltd."  Joackim Kajigili, Maintenance Engineer, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBOS), March 2020.

"[I most enjoyed] maintenance."  delegate from the food and drink industry (July 2018).

"The LC-MS workshop was definitely the best workshop I have ever attended. Dr.Giles' presentations were informative, inspiring and his delivery very easy to comprehend. I particularly enjoyed the practical sessions where he let us (participants) do real-time runs and even troubleshooting (with guidance of course). This hands-on approach made me feel like I might be able ‘to do this’. I have since started applying what I learned in my academic research, with incredible results so far. "
Josephine Ouma, Msc. Chemistry Student, JKUAT, Kenya (attended LC-MS training course as part of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Pan African Chemistry Network training programme, September 2017).

"The LC-MS training was very comprehensive as Dr Giles really simplified the whole course contents and makes it very interesting. The practical sessions were 100% hands-on, as we were given technical know-how on the maintenance of different components of LC-MS. The method developments were concise with necessary basics. I am greatly imparted with the whole sessions - practical and theory. I have since started sharing all the techniques learnt with my colleagues and students. The materials /literatures given to us are so precious and indispensable as all of us at Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos has greatly benefited from it."
Adegoke Adesina O. Technologist / Researcher, University of Lagos, Nigeria (attended LC-MS training course as part of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Pan African Chemistry Network training programme, September 2017).

"I must say that the maiden edition of the LC-MS training was truly hands-on. For the first time in this kind of trainings, all participants were in lab coats and we spent most of the time with the instrument. There was however, not enough time for the spectral interpretation. I hope that in subsequent trainings, the programme would be such that there would be some time for spectral interpretation as well. Also, most part of the theory and practical lessons were taught by Dr Edwards, which could be a bit tiring for him, although he never complained. In all, the organization of the programme was very good and the hands-on experience was excellent."
Dr Nathaniel Owusu Boadi, KNUST, Ghana (attended LC-MS training course as part of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Pan African Chemistry Network training programme, September 2017).