The consumption of dietary supplements, especially those containing botanicals as ingredients, have been of increasing concerns related to their overall quality and safety. The botanicals present in various dietary formularies can be in the form of raw materials, extracts including essential oils and enriched phytochemicals.  Medicinal plant products are often misidentified, mislabeled, substituted or adulterated for various reasons including economic or consumer appeal. Authentication of plants and identification of possible adulterants are the fundamentals for quality control and assurance of botanical raw materials used in dietary supplements. To this end, the experts at the NCNPR will offer a training course covering the cutting-edge aspects and techniques associated with quality control of botanical dietary supplements.

Day one of the training program will cover the basics of plant taxonomy, botanical nomenclature, species identification, morphological features and microscopy. In addition to classical taxonomic tools in authentication of botanicals, some of the commonly utilized analytical techniques, such as gas-chromatography and thin-layer chromatography. The participants will gain understanding of the process of species identification and the importance of herbarium and voucher specimens, taxonomic keys and floras. There will also be discussions on, and exhibits of, authentic botanicals and their substitutes and adulterants.

During the next two days of the course, the participants will gain a basic understanding as well as hands-on training associated with chemical analyses and various techniques involving chromatographic methods for quality assurance of botanical dietary supplements. There will be discussions on various topics including sample preparation, method development and chemical profiling as well as data processing, interpretation, and reporting.

3-day course, $2995

Fee includes training and registration, lodging, and session materials. Airfare is not included.
You will receive confirmation e-mail after completing registration.

Limit of 15 seats per course. Once course is full, additional participants will be wait-listed and will receive first priority if a seat becomes available.

All courses will be held from 8:00 am -5:00 pm daily.

The five-day course will provide hands-on training on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in addition to the three-day course schedule (See 3-day course schedule).

Health risks are often associated with the consumption of contaminated, adulterated or mislabeled dietary supplement products. These risks include exposure to plant toxins, pesticides, mycotoxins, aflatoxins, etc. Mass spectrometry and hyphenated techniques such as LC-MS are key analytical tools for selective and sensitive determination of contaminants and exogenous synthetic chemicals with un-known pharmacological activities. The participants will receive hands-on experience on LC-MS and interpretative analytical skills.

The experts will also demonstrate sample preparation, method development, characterization and chemical profiling as well as data processing, interpretation and reporting using UHPLC-MS. These techniques will be useful especially for the confirmation and determination of trace levels of compounds in dietary supplement preparations.

5-day course, $4995

Fee includes training and registration, lodging, and session materials. Airfare is not included.
You will receive confirmation e-mail after completing registration.

Limit of 15 seats per course. Once course is full, additional participants will be wait-listed and will receive first priority if a seat becomes available.

All courses will be held from 8:00 am -5:00 pm daily.

This course will provide attendees with advanced training in analytical techniques. This will include a practical training and a critical understanding of the laboratory-based techniques the attendees may encountered in their research activities.

The advanced HPLC/UHPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS, HPTLC or Microscopy course will be of particular interest for those who have basic knowledge of liquid or gas chromatography.  Upon competition of this training, the attendee will have knowledge of all the practical theory relevant to liquid/gas chromatography and its related techniques including HPTLC.  Sample preparation, mobile phase optimization including gradient elution, calibration standards, method validation, data analysis for qualitative and quantitative purposes will be explored. In some cases, the experts at NCNPR will demonstrate how to develop appropriate application specific to HPTLC, GC-MS & LC-MS techniques including set-up, optimization, maintenance and troubleshooting associated with chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the three-day advanced course, the attendees will gain advanced understanding in hyphenated-chromatographic tools. These techniques will provide:

• Strategic planning of analytical techniques to apply to different types of samples including selection of the most appropriate technique/instrumentation for the analysis.
• Design an analytical work-flow to acquire and process data from the chosen instruments.
• Importance of good chromatography
• How to select/optimize an appropriate mobile phase and develop gradient or isocratic elution methods.
• Selection of columns/TLC plates (stationary and mobile phases)
• Selection of appropriate detection methods
• Principles and components of the mass spectrometer
• Sample preparation, calibration standards and sample properties
• Logical steps of instrument troubleshooting
• Examples of practical solutions specific to botanicals

The attendees will also gain advanced understanding in the areas depending on the following selected analytical technique:

• Liquid Chromatography with hyphenated detectors
• Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)/Microscopy
• High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)/Microscopy
• GC-MS/HPTLC

3-day course, $2995

Fee includes training and registration, lodging, and session materials. Airfare is not included.
You will receive confirmation e-mail after completing registration.

Limit of 15 seats per course. Once course is full, additional participants will be wait-listed and will receive first priority if a seat becomes available.

All courses will be held from 8:00 am -5:00 pm daily.

Upon completing the 2-day course, attendees will gain understanding and knowledge in the following areas:

• regulatory compliance
• taxonomy and nomenclature of cannabis
• macroscopy and microscopy
• sample preparation
• DNA extraction, PCR methods and fingerprinting
• basic principles and operation of HPTLC, UHPLC, and GC
• role of HPTLC, LC-UV/MS and GC/MS in identification and qualitative and quantitative analysis of materials
• method validation

This unique 2-day course is intended to aid researchers in conducting scientific studies involving cannabis.  Participants will learn to evaluate diverse forms of research materials used in systematic studies.  Employing both basic and advanced laboratory techniques, our experienced instructors will provide a better understanding of the complexities of the physical, chemical, and molecular properties of cannabis-based materials in order for investigators to substantiate the quality and identity of test articles.

2-day course, $2995

Fee includes training and registration, lodging, and session materials. Airfare is not included.
You will receive confirmation e-mail after completing registration.

Limit of 15 seats per course. Once course is full, additional participants will be wait-listed and will receive first priority if a seat becomes available.

All courses will be held from 8:00 am -5:00 pm daily.

July 24-27, 2024

April 29 – May 3, 2024

October 15-18, 2024

TBA