The age of cell and gene therapies (CGTs) is upon us! It has been a long road to get to this time. The first gene therapy trial on humans was performed in 1990 by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The first FDA approved CGT came in 2017. One…

Although bioanalysis is KCAS’ principal area of expertise, we are always considering how we can build around those capabilities to ensure that we can provide optimal service for our clients. Our current breadth of service enables us to provide a comprehensive approach during non-GLP pre-clinical studies where it is feasible…

Why is Viability Staining so important for flow cytometry analysis? It seems pretty easy, just mix your cells with antibody conjugates, incubate, wash and you are ready to acquire, but actually cell staining for flow cytometry analysis is far from simple, particularly when it comes to the optimal distinguishing of rare cell populations, or in the deciphering of a complex immune response. There are some key considerations to optimizing flow cytometry cell staining and it requires a disciplined approach to understand the impact of certain steps on the staining process. So, how well do you plan and optimize your staining conditions to ensure the highest quality of flow cytometry data? In this blog, we explore some rules of thumb for Good Staining Practices for flow cytometry

Data can be the most important aspect of a GxP organization. Storage complexity and requirements are increasing, and cloud solutions can be an attractive option for maintaining this ever-growing pool of data. When considerations…

As a Senior Director for Discovery in the pharma division at KCAS, I would like people to think of “Bioanalytical Discovery” as a stage in drug development; one where you are doing your final…

It was early March 2020, the tendons in my right hand were swollen and throbbing, and I was seeking to learn more about off-the-bench careers at CROs and finally retire from pipetting. A few…

Tissue and Non-Liquid Matrices (such as cell lines, red blood cells, PBMCs, bone marrow aspirates, and suspension cells) are valuable matrices[] to test for biomarkers (PD) and drug levels (PK). Testing of tissues and…

A recent trend observed at KCAS is that the bioanalytical needs of our clients’ projects are becoming more complex.  There is increasing focus on monitoring delivery of therapeutics to the target of interest. This…

Pharmacodynamics (PD) is defined as the study of the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and the mechanisms of their actions. Where pharmacokinetics looks at how the organism processes the drug, pharmacodynamics studies…

To read part one of this 2-part series, click here. With increasing focus on large molecule therapeutics and interest in large molecule biomarkers it’s essential to have LC/MS available as a complimentary technology to ligand…

I have been studying Biological Markers (biomarkers) for over 25 years, but last 5 years they have exploded and become a key bioanalytical component to a drug’s success. Biomarkers are used to support drug…

The workflow for bioanalytical LC-MS/MS requires isolation of analytes of interest from biological samples prior to analysis. This usually involves an extraction procedure ahead of injection into the LC-MS/MS system where the target compounds…