help me find meaning to my job.

[LC_labrat]

I think you can learn a lot from evaluating your current procedures. Most QC labs tend to run similar samples repeatedly. It can be challenging if the methods aren't developed as well as they could have been. For example-robustness is typically performed on some of the method parameters (temperature, solvents +/-5%, pH +/-2.0, etc.) but not necessarily all of them. I suggest choosing a method that has "known" difficulty meeting system suitability in your laboratory and evaluate the individual parameters and how they effect the retention time, tailing, resolution, (method requirements) etc. It can be very helpful if for example you are running potency and impurities. Where the main peak is sensitive to solvent changes and the impurity peak is sensitive to pH. If you need to adjust the retention time of the impurity peak, changing the solvent will have little impact, whereas a 0.2 change in pH will allow you to meet the resolution requirment. Plot out each parameter on a graph, it is a very useful QC tool.

[juddc]

Definitely start reading! The texts and other information suggested here is sufficient at least for a solid start. Whether learning how things work will help you in your current job is an open question, but having such information will definitely help you in the future. I started where you are many years ago. I was the de-facto guy in the lab at a small startup when the new HPLC arrived and was told to "learn it". So I did. I started by adopting methods put together by others, then modifying them as needed, then making my own - and I made plenty of mistakes along the way. All the while I read LC/GC, Practical HPLC Method Development, and as many relevant papers as I could get my hands on.

At this point, I certainly have more to learn, but my experience is broad enough that I can develop separations pretty quickly...and I can also take care of most other LC related tasks as well, including qualification and troubleshooting / repair of instrumentation.

I'm back at a small start-up again and I think that I was hired largely because I essentially built their LC out of scrap, then showed that it could still generate high quality data despite being obsolete.

My humble advice: Learn all you can, make it your mission to be of value, only "say no" when absolutely necessary, and you'll do well either where you are or somewhere else.

Cheers!

CJ