Chromatography Forum

Hello everybody.

I am starting my PhD and they offered me to do my research in Electrophoresis MEEKC analysing pharmaceutical compounds or onother choice is to do my research in Determination of Sterols in Biological Samples using LC-MS.

Because of personal reason I am thinking to choose Electrophoresis but I am afraid this tecnique is dead.

What do you think about it? Shall i go for LC-MS or EC is still a good choice?

Thank you for the forum

Fernando

There is no simple answer to that question. It depends a bit on what you intend to do after you get your PhD.

LC-MS is definitely a "mainstream" technique today. If you intend to work in industry, having significant experience would be an advantage. If you are looking more toward academia, it may be a disadvantage; the more popular the technique, the more difficult it is to be "novel".

Capillary electrophoresis generally has been much more widely used for "big molecule" (e.g., DNA) work and has found limited acceptance for small-molecule (e.g., pharmaceutical) analysis. That means fewer industrial opportunities, but more of a chance to differentiate yourself in the academic arena.

You may also think of CE-MS. MS gives powerful detection and identification whereas CE provides a unique separation mechnism. There are many interesting applications using CE-MS.

It is also very easy for you to shift between LC-MS and CE-MS. Althoug now LC-MS is more popular than CE-MS, situation may change a few years later when CE becomes more user friendly.