Tatsuya Urabe has completed his PhD in 2010 from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and worked as a postdoctoral researcher of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) until 2011. Now he is working in an accelerator facility at RIKEN and developing a new mass spectrometer based on accelerator science.

We have been developing a mass spectrometer based on plasma ion source, ECRIS (Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source). Although ECRIS is known as a large-sized ion source in accelerator facility, we succeeded to miniaturize and mount it on a portable mass spectrometer (called “miniECRIS-MS”) for detecting gas compounds1). The miniECRIS-MS contains a permanent magnet for an ion source, ion optical system, quadrupole mass analyzer and so on. In this poster session, we will present our ongoing project for quantifying elements in liquid samples. Comparing gas samples, liquid sample introduction into high vacuum plasma (i.e. ECRIS) is troublesome. However, it can offer great advantages over present analytical methods such as ICP-MS in terms of stability, sensitivity, freedam from polyatomic (spectral) interence, initial/running costs, and portability. Details of sample introduction system are as follows. Electrospray is used as a splaying unit of liquid samples at first stage.The solutions containing the analyte of interest are electrosprayed and gradually desolvated with the aid of heated assist gas at atmospheric pressure. Then, sample aerosol was introduced into ECRIS through differential pumping systems. Since analytes of interest are charged by electrospray (as relatively large clusters), they can be electrically extracted by ion lenses such as ion funnel in the pumping system. And they are finally reached at ECRIS and ionized (decomposed) into monvalent atomic ions for quantitative purpose. By this system some solvents (water and methanol) and inorganic elements (Na) were successfully observed, and the potential of miniECRIS-MS will be discussed in the session.

I have completed my PhD at the age of 28 years from Ganpat University, Gujarat, India. I am assistant professor in Quality Assurance Department, Shree S. K. Patel College of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ganpat University, Gujarat, India since last 10 years. I have published more than 37 papers in reputed national and international journals.

In this study, an attempt was made to describe and validate a liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of methoxsalen, an antipsoriatic agent in human EDTA K3 plasma according to the current bioanalytical guidelines. The internal standard used was methoxsalen D3. The separation was performed on a Symmetry, C18, 4.6X 150 mm, 5 µm column using a mobile phase of 2 mM ammonium acetate and methanol 15:85 (v/v) with a flow rate of 0.80 ml/min. The detection of methoxsalen and the internal standard was performed in multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode using LC/MS/MS Mass Spectrometer with electro spray ionization, operating in positive ion mode. The human plasma samples were extracted using liquid-liquid extraction with methyl tert-butyl ether. The method shows a good linearity (R2 > 0.98), precision and accuracy over the range of 0.1-100 ng/ml methoxsalen in plasma. The recovery was between 93.85 and 105.25%. The limit of quantification was 0.1 ng/ml. The analysis required about 3.2 minutes run with retention time of drug 2.2 minutes. The proposed method was selective, sensitive, accurate and precise enough to be successfully applied to bioequivalence study.

Ruoting Zhan obtained his PhD in 2012 from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China. He is currently the vice-director of Research Center of Chinese Medicine Resources Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. He specializes in studying resources of Chinese medicinal materials. His researches focus on authenticating the medicinal herbs in South China area, which includes resources survey on the botanical origins, identification of the commercial products, the pharmacognosy studies on different species, etc. His most recent work emphasizes the importance of the sustainable development and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine resources. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites from molds. Presently, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) has been widely used to evaluate mycotoxin contaminations in food and feed. However, application of LC-MS-MS to Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) is difficult，because their complex matrices can cause matrix effect. Routinely, some purification procedures like immunoaffinity columns (IAC) should be included before injection to improve the accuracy and protect mass spectrometer. However, the high costs of columns restrict their application for large-scale screening. Therefore, the objective of our study is to develop a simple, rapid and cost-effective LC-MS-MS method for simultaneous determination of aflatoxins (AFB1, B2, G1 and G2) and sterigmatocystin (ST) in TCMs. The method is based on single extraction with (84/16, v/v) acetonitrile-water then analysis of the diluted crude extract without further clean-up. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 column, with a mobile phase gradient prepared from aqueous 4 mmol L-1 ammonium acetate-0.1% formic acid and methanol. Quantification of the analytes was by selective reaction monitoring (SRM) on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in positive ionization mode. Special focus was on investigating and reducing matrix effects to improve accuracy. The established method was validated by determination of linearity, sensitivity, extraction recovery and precision. Comparison with IAC pretreatment demonstrated both methods are comparable in respect of the recovery of aflatoxins. Finally, the validated method was used to evaluate mycotoxin contamination in total 294 samples of 30 TCMs collected from local hospitals and pharmacies and the results obtained were analyzed.

Weiwen Chen obtained his PhD in cell biology in 1988 from the Xavier-Bichat Medical School, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, France. He is currently the Vice Principal of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. His research interests focus on curing gastric-intestinal diseases using integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, as well as on novel drugs R & D. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals.

Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC (Rutaceae), called Liangmianzhen in China, is used traditionally for several medicinal purposes. Its pharmacological effect have been primarily attributed to the presence of a number of alkaloids. However, due to lack of metabolism research, its main bioactive alkaloids in vivo is still unknown. A systematic method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) technique combined with MetabolitePilot software was developed to speculate the metabolites and excretion profiles of the main alkaloids in Zanthoxylum nitidum decoction in rats plasma, urine and feces samples after oral administration of the decoction. As a result, 6 parent components and a total of 18 metabolites of 3 main alkaloids including magnoflorine (MF), α-allocryptopine (AC) and skimmianine (SA) were tentatively detected in vivo. All metabolites were detected including hydroxylated, demethylated, ketonization products and their sulfate and glucuronide conjugates. 11 metabolites were from the rat plasma, 14 from the urine and 8 from the feces. Among them, metabolites of AC and SA were reported firstly. In conclusion, the research provided useful information for further study of the pharmacology and mechanism of action of Zanthoxylum nitidum decoction in vivo.

Daniele Bobrowski Rodrigues has a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and a Master’s degree in Food Science and Technology. She is a PhD student in the Food Science Department at University of Campinas-Brazil. The main themes of her research are extration and identification of pigments by HPLC-DAD-MS/MS, antioxidant capacity and carotenoid bioaccessibility.

Identification of carotenoid esters is a challenge and much more difficult and laborious than that of free carotenoids in saponified extracts since the number of possible carotenoid esters found in plant materials is quite high. Xanthophylls can have 1 or 2 hydroxyl groups in the molecule which can be acylated or not with several fatty acids. We carried out a comprehensive identification of the carotenoids from marigold petals by LC-APCI-MS/MS and identified 56 carotenoids: 6 free carotenoids, 20 monoesters and 30 diesters. This was the first time that esters of auroxanthin, zeinoxanthin and -cryptoxanthin were identified in marigold petals, while lutein esters were the major carotenoids, as expected. Differentiation between lutein mono- or heterodiester isomers was based on the different intensities of the ion fragments in the MS spectrum due to the loss of the substituent attached to the -ring (more stable and more intense m/z signal) and the one attached to the β-ring. Moreover, the heterodiester with the fatty acid of the highest molecular mass acylated at the 3’-O-position eluted before the correspondent 3-O-regioisomer. For instance, both lutein 3-O-laurate-3’-O-myristate and lutein 3-O-myristate-3’-O-laurate presented in their MS spectra the fragment ions at m/z 733 [M+H-myristic acid]+ and m/z 761 [M+H-lauric acid]; however, in the first diester MS spectrum, the fragment ion at m/z 733 was more intense than at m/z 761 and the contrary occured for the other isomer.

Heba M Adly has completed her PhD from Ain Shams University and Postdoctoral studies from American University in Cairo. She is an Assistant Professor of environmental health and supervisor of enviromental health lab, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University. Her technical expertise includes air modelling, environmental chemistry, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and atomic absorption. She is a member of many academic and administrative committees at UQU.

Cancer prediction may afford significant approach to assess risk and prognosis. Over 2.3 million of pilgrims stay in Makkah during Hajj season creating unspecified amount of trace elements pollution in air. This study aimed to determine cancer risk (ECR) for population exposed to (Cd, Cr, As, Be) compared to short term exposure during hajj. The study was conducted in Arafat area, air samples were collected using mini volume Hi-sampler for 24 hrs once in a week through summer and autumn 2015 including Hajj season. Concentrations of PM10 trace elements (Cd, Cr, As, Be) were analysed using ICP-MS 7300 (Perkin Elmer, USA). Collected sample filters were analysed in reference to a standard solution of trace elements using a protocol certified by (US-NIST). Each filter was extracted with 7 ml of nitric acid and 2 ml of ultra-pure water. The recovery yields of trace elements were higher than 95% with detection limits ≤3 ng/m3 for all trace metals. Concentration of PM10 in Arafat during Hajj period in autumn was 786.6 mg/m3 compared to 204.7 mg/3 in summer, both showed greater values than European Commission annual standards. Atmospheric Cd, Cr and As concentrations were elevated during Hajj season comparing with summer months, The ECR during hajj season was found to be (5.08×10-4, 9.21×10-4, 7×10-6 and 7.4×10-6) for Cd, Cr, As and Be respectively, compared to (1.08×10-4, 7.21×10-4, 4×10-6 and 4.6×10-6) in summer months exceeding USEPA’s level of acceptable inhalation risk (10-6) for each element.

Chang-Yih Duh has completed his PhD at the age of 31 years from University of Illinois. He is currently a professor of Marine Natural Products at National Sun Yat-sen University. He has published more than 180 papers in reputed journals.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a member of Herpesviridae, is an ubiquitous pathogens among human population. Global prevalence rates are around 60 to 99% in geological distribution. For most of the health people, the HCMV remains life-long latency. Nevertheless, the HCMV is a leading etiological agent causing fetal congenital defects in central nerve system. Moreover, the reactivation of latent HCMV infection can be detrimental or even fatal for those susceptible groups, the organ transplant recipients, and the immunocompromised patients. Especially, cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Previous studies demonstrated that HCMV UL76 targets ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) which is involved in every phase of viral lytic cycle. In addition, many proteasome inhibitors have been demonstrated to effectively inhibit HCMV replication and to treat malignant tumor. Previous studies demonstrated that UL76 interacts with S5a (Rpn10, PSMD4), the major acceptor of polyubiquitinated proteins in UPS, resulting in the impairment of UPS proteolysis. Consequently, their association leads to nuclear aggresome formation. We have constructed an S5a (Rpn10, PSMD4)-based target-focus high through put screening system. A workflow for the image-based high content screening has been established and the screening assays are undergoing. For this project, we will isolate bioactive compounds from three marine organisms by S5a (Rpn10, PSMD4)-based target-focus high throughput screening.