The sign on the door is still to be changed to the new Y-Trace logo, but as of 4th January 2023, the laboratory is open for business. Services established to date include local honey analysis, packing, and working with companies to create new products.
The team includes Dr’s Liz Barbour, Khairul Islam and Omar Anwar, all moving from the CRC for Honey Bee Products and the University of Western Australia (UWA), to Y-Trace. Khairul is a High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) expert, undertaking his PhD research on this analytical equipment in the Division of Pharmacy at UWA. “Being able to offer a service from the research we undertook for the CRC for Honey Bee Products fulfils a promise to the industry” noted Khairul. “Using our research work to help Australian beekeepers authenticate the quality of their honey for their customers will be rewarding”. The HPTLC methodology for honey analysis was developed locally at UWA and over the past 5 years, there has been a rapid uptake internationally.
Based on the principles of thin-layer chromatography, the HPTLC provides essential benefits, such as:
- improved sample application,
- higher separation efficiencies,
- less mobile phase usage,
- automatization of the drying and derivatisation of the plates to visualise bands/spots that allow for fingerprinting and compound identification,
- less time required for analysis,
- minimised exposure to toxic solvents with reduced possibilities of environmental pollution. Previously the HPTLC technique was mainly used to prove the authenticity of natural medicines and essential oils.
Y-Trace will be extending its service offer to all of Australia in February 2023.