If you’ve installed ZS Xplorer 3.1 (and if you haven’t yet here’s the link) you may have noticed there’s a whole new Tab that has been added, Studies.

Studies is a brand-new addition to ZS Xplorer and, as the Cambridge English Dictionary definition used as the title of this blog implies, Studies will allow users to discover new information.

Studies are therefore the analysis of multiple measurements and how these “trend”.  I use the word trend as that is what a study contains – trends that show how does this sample vary or change with respect to some other variable? The first trend measurement that Studies supports is that of sample concentration or Concentration Trend, to give it its correct title.

Concentration Trends

What can be determined by measuring a sample at different concentrations? 

Let’s look at an example; determining the B₂₂ of proteins in a range of buffer conditions to optimize the buffer conditions. Usually, this sort of measurement is complex to set up, run and analyze as you will have multiple conditions to measure across multiple concentrations. Then once this is all measured one or two outlier data points can throw off the results.

Using Studies however lets you set up and visualize the Trends all at once, run them in any order you like and even interact with the graphs to exclude outliers and ensure robust results.  This is a very flexible approach to making these types of measurements allowing you a greater degree of freedom and to evaluate your data and results easily.

What can Studies do for me?

Easy setup of multiple Trends: Quickly create multiple concentration trends for different samples and conditions.

One trend, lots of information: A single concentration trend can provide mean molecular weight and B₂₂ values from static light scattering as well as the size and the diffusion interaction parameter, k_D, from dynamic light scattering.

Flexible Measurements: Individual concentrations can be run one at a time or sequence the whole trend or anything in between.

Live Analysis: See your results early with data quality indicators to identify any potential problems before running the whole trend.

Easy remeasuring: We know making mistakes can happen with complex experiments so to redo a measurement simply click on one or multiple concentration points and click the Run button

Trend Quality Guidance: Automated assessment of the data going into the trend lets you quickly see the quality of your trends and guidance on how to improve them if needed.

Reduced sample preparation: Aggregate scattering correction in the Mw and B₂₂ analysis means samples don’t need to be filtered until they are perfectly clean, giving you time to do more important things.

Interactive Analysis: Outliers can be excluded per concentration or per measurement to ensure you have robust results that you can make decisions on.

What’s the future of Studies?

While Studies only has concentration trends available at first, we have much more planned for it including:

• Advanced Concentration Trend Analysis: Additional analysis options such as weighted fits and shape correction to improve the accuracy of results
• OmniTrust support: Ensure 21CFR Part 11 compliance when measuring concentration trends by using OmniTrust with Studies

Studies opens many possibilities for other complex analyses so watch this space for more to come or perhaps you can suggest what types of studies you would want to see?

So if you hadn’t downloaded ZS Xplorer 3.1 before reading this blog and didn’t click the link at the start then you definitely should want to click this one now.

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Further reading

• Frequently asked questions about the ZS Xplorer software
• ZS Xplorer – How to import and export data and install the software
• OmniTrust: Making the impossible possible!