How Lucky Am I?

I work at an organization that is behaving with absolute fairness and integrity throughout the pandemic. I have colleagues who have kept our site open, in a safe way, to continue serving our customers. I owe a particularly big ‘Thank you’ to Michelle Charles, our site leader, for making that happen.

Malvern Panalytical has an Executive Management Team in place who worked at the ‘speed of light’ to approve the loan of an instrument to a lab at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. The principal scientist, Dr. Anthony (Tony) Mittermaier presented his excellent proposal for developing Covid-19 inhibitors and that required a MicroCal PEAQ-ITC Automated system. It was compelling and, like many of us, we were searching for ways we could help, at least in some small way, to fight the disease. This fits the bill, and so ‘thank you’ Tony for giving us an opportunity to help.

It was fantastic to see how people in the team went out of their way to help make the loan happen, even in the most trying of circumstances. A special mention must go to Doug McGinn, our Ontario based engineer for getting the install done in the most difficult of circumstances involving long-distance driving, car breakdowns, and sleeping in camp beds.

The pandemic has brought the best out of a lot of people. Thank you all.
I am very lucky indeed.

McGill University has released a statement regarding this project lead by Nicolas Moitessier and Anthony Mittermaier, both associate professors in the Department of Chemistry.

Further reading:

• MicroCal ITC systems
• Isothermal Titration Calorimetry: Theory and Practice
• Using Isothermal Titration Calorimetry to Characterize Enzyme Kinetics
• Characterizing Enzyme Inhibition and Activation by ITC: Webinar by Anthony Mittermaier (2019)
• Innovative simulations and analysis accelerate search for COVID-19 treatment