March 2009

Springborn is proud to be celebrating our 40th anniversary. Since our establishment in 1969, Springborn has partnered with sponsors worldwide to help protect the environment and improve quality of life. We want to thank all of our clients for the opportunity to work with you, and we look forward to our continued partnerships and future successes. We hope you found our premier issue in January to be informative and helpful. If you have any suggestions on how we might improve our newsletter to bring you better information, please fill out our brief questionnaire below.

Springborn will attend the Society of Toxicology conference in Baltimore, MD, March 16-19. We’ll be at booth 2716, along with our sister company, Synomics Pharma. Stop by to meet our staff and talk with our business development team about your upcoming testing needs.

Global Capacity

Many of Springborn’s clients are taking advantage of added capacity in both our US and European facilities. If you are having trouble scheduling your testing due to capacity issues, Springborn can help! Contact Deb Teixeira, Springborn’s North American Director of Business Development, at dteixeira@springbornsmithers.com, or Adrian Zobrist, Springborn’s European Director of Business Development in Horn, Switzerland at azobrist@springbornsmithers.ch, to see how we can help you speed your time to market and meet your company’s deadlines.

Environmental fate testing – Regulatory guidelines overview

Need help determining which environmental fate studies need to be conducted for your new substances? Visit Springborn’s Environmental Fate and Metabolism site to download an overview of the current OECD, OPPTS, and JMAFF guideline numbers. This helpful document identifies the various testing requirements for each environmental fate or metabolism test. These studies are available at our facilities in Wareham, MA, or at our Horn, Switzerland facility. For more information, contact info@springbornsmithers.com.

Plant Metabolism Capabilities

In our greenhouse at our Wareham location, we grow a variety of species from seed to maturity for use in Plant Metabolism studies. Plants are monitored over a fixed period of time to measure the uptake and metabolism of the test substance in the plant tissue as well as in the fruit. Available species include strawberries, squash, lettuce, tomato, radishes. Additional tests can be performed on most any field crop, including wheat and canola seeds. Our scientists measure the residues of parent compound and metabolites by radiochemical detection. We test crops that are identified for treatment with agrichemicals to determine the metabolic pathway and changes in residue levels with time. We have dedicated equipment for these tests, and each study is customized based on the sponsors needs, such as application rate or expected metabolites. Test phases include in-life (treatment of crops and harvest) and analytical testing, and analysis points include harvest intervals as determined by use. For more information about Springborn’s Plant Metabolism studies, click here.

News from our Swiss Research Facility

Springborn welcomes Dr. Jutta Frank as our European Director of Environmental Fate and Metabolism, at the Horn, Switzerland facility. Jutta performed her Ph. D. work at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Thereafter she worked at Hamilton Company as a product manager in the chromatography department. She joined Springborn in May 2008, and is very happy to be a part of the Smithers family. When Jutta’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her horse `Bastian`, who joined her in Switzerland in July 2008. For your Environmental Fate and Metabolism testing needs, contact us at info@springbornsmithers.com.

The SETAC Europe conference has accepted abstracts from three of our scientists. Merve Anne Biester, will present “The effect of coloured substances on algal growth”. Sebastian Hoffmann will speak about the “Influence of vessel dimensions and light conditions on the outcome of toxicity tests with larvae of Poecilus cupreus (L.) (Coleoptera: Carabidae)”, and Marc Hamitou will talk about “The Double Mixing Chamber System – an approach for difficult to test substances.” Visit us at booth H01:10. See you in Gotenberg!

Analytical testing and Bioanalytical services for pharmaceutical manufacturers

Synomics Pharmaceutical Services, a division of The Smithers Group, is also headquartered at the Wareham, MA facility. Synomics Pharma provides high-quality, client specific testing solutions, such as analytical chemistry, method development and validation, and stability studies, bringing you a broad portfolio of services in support of drug development through production. For full-service partnering, Springborn can assist you with your environmental testing compliance, while Synomics Pharma provides GLP/cGMP support for your preclinical and clinical studies. For more information, visit www.synomicspharma.com, or contact Pat McDermott, Director of Business Development, at pmcdermott@synomicspharma.com.

Ecotox Nanotechnology News

Springborn’s Lee Sayers, Senior Research Biologist, and Michael Lee, Biologist, attended “Nanotechnology: Environmental Implications and Applications”, a short course offered by The North Atlantic Chapter of SETAC in January. Course presenters estimated that the share of the Nanotech global market place will be 3.1 trillion dollars by 2015. Applications range from engineering uses and pharmaceutical delivery, to anti-bacterial uses. The entry of nanoparticles into the environment, whether directly or through manufacture and use, may have testing and regulatory implications. Due to the nature of these materials (agglomeration & coagulation), testing procedures still need to be ironed out. The EPA recently classified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to be unique chemical substances, different from the forms of carbon and graphite which are currently listed in the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). This is in accordance with the EU, under REACH, and indicates that regulations and testing requirements may be on the horizon. Information from the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), as well as links to current news articles and educational tools, can be found at www.nano.gov. This initiative consists of input from multifaceted agencies and includes strategic plans for research, funding opportunities and information relative to environmental and occupational safety. Springborn plans to participate in SETAC’s nanotech ecotoxicology data collection.

Analytical Chemistry – Residue analysis

Springborn Analytical Chemistry department offers residue chemistry for registration and environmental monitoring needs. Our scientists have significant experience in method development and method validation. We measure the active ingredient and/or its metabolites or the degradation products produced from the parent. We can test water, soil and sludge, and analyze how much of the AI and its metabolites are present in the matrices we tested. We conduct the tests in greenhouses and in field tests, and have a variety of instrumentation, including 5 LCMSMS (one with a Qtrap) that we use for metabolite ID. Other equipment includes 5 mass specs, 12 HPLCs, 6 GCs and 2 GCMS. To request a proposal, contact Deb Teixeira, Springborn’s Director of Business Development, at dteixeira@springbornsmithers.com.

New Smithers company supports REACH registration

Smithers’ REACH Services Group provides clients with chemical safety assessments, data gap analysis, and candidate list management. The group will have two offices, one co-located with Smithers Rapra in Shropshire UK, the other co-located with Springborn in Wareham, Massachusetts in the US. As REACH enters the registration phase, companies face new challenges. Today one of the concerns is with the industry’s ability to meet the demand for annex testing. Smithers’ clients have available, through one company, both testing and consulting services. Chemical analysis, materials testing, exposure testing, exposure modeling and ecotoxicology testing are provided by Springborn and other Smithers Group companies. To read the complete press release, visit: www.smithersreach.com. For questions about your specific REACH objectives, email reach@smithersmail.com.