Scotch Literature Festival 2007 > Nigel
Dr. Nigel Simpson
Dr. Nigel Simpson is a world expert on Solid-Phase Extraction. He is the editor and a contributing author of the "Handbook of Sorbent Extraction Technology". Dr. Simpson has presented over 300 seminars and workshops around the world including as keynote speaker at conferences, and is author of several research papers on SPE, specializing in the application of SPE to environmental residues and toxicological analysis. Dr. Simpson received a BA Hons in Chemistry from Oxford University in 1986 and completed a D.Phil on quantum effects in photo-initiated free radical reactions. He moved to Australia in 2001 to take up the position of Australian Consumables Manager in Varian's Mulgrave factory and is now responsible for the consumables business in the Western Pacific region.
Creating a mobile forensic laboratory; stamping out use of performance-enhancing substances in horse racing.
(Year 11 & 12)
Horse racing is a business and the proprietors of the business such as Racing Victoria need to
ensure that it is run openly and fairly. One part of this responsibility is to ensure that performance-enhancing
substances are not used to affect the outcome of a race. This talk will describe how, through use of powerful
separation and detection technology, the presence of prohibited substances such as steroids or amphetamines,
can be detected at sub-parts-per-billion levels in horse urine and plasma. A case study will show how the
Racing Analytical Services laboratory in Flemington, developed a world-first mobile laboratory that combines
the power of Solid-Phase Extraction, Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, to enable doping to be
detected at the track-side before the race. A brief description of the implications of national standards
for drug testing in humans, as well as animals, will conclude the talk.