February CSW Meeting: College Chemistry Achievement Awards and FDA Presentation on Fish Oil Supplements

At this month’s CSW meeting, Dr. Cynthia Srigley, a Research Chemist at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, will give a presentation entitled, “Recent Advances in the Analysis of Long Chain Omega-3 PUFA in Fish Oil Dietary Supplements”. In addition, CSW will present the College Chemistry Achievement Awards. The College Chemistry Achievement Awards are presented annually by the Chemical Society of Washington to the outstanding seniors majoring in chemistry and biochemistry from each of the area colleges and universities.

Meeting logistics can be found below.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Cynthia Srigley is a Research Chemist at the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) in College Park, MD. Her current research focuses on the development and validation of gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy methods for the determination of fatty acids and other lipids in foods and dietary supplements. Dr. Srigley received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Animal Science from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. in Nutrition from the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University working with Dr. J. Thomas Brenna. Her dissertation research focused on the role of dietary arachidonic acid in neonatal piglet development. Dr. Srigley received her postdoctoral training in analytical methods development and validation at FDA’s CFSAN. She is an active member of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) and International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL), and enjoys skiing, golfing, and traveling with her husband in their free time.

Abstract: Recent Advances in the Analysis of Long Chain Omega-3 PUFA in Fish Oil Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements containing long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as those derived from fish oil, are frequently consumed in the United States (US) and other countries to support health and reduce the risk of chronic disease. The thriving market for fish oil supplements has been met with increasing concerns regarding the safety of such products, as well as issues of authenticity and deliberate mislabeling. Questions of accuracy in label declarations for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have also been raised. The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) is currently evaluating rapid spectroscopic procedures for the determination of fats and fatty acids in foods and dietary supplements as alternatives to conventional gas chromatographic methods which are time-consuming, laborious, and involve hazardous solvents and reagents. Rapid methods are intended to reduce the total time of analysis, but they must also be as accurate, sensitive, and precise as current official methods. This presentation will focus on the development and validation of a novel Fourier-transform mid-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic method combined with partial least squares regression (PLSR) for the rapid quantitative prediction of long chain omega-3 PUFA in fish oil dietary supplements. This rapid screening method offers the potential to significantly improve sample-throughput and cost-efficiency for the routine monitoring of label declarations and product compositions.

 

Logistics

Date: Thursday, February 9, 2017

Location: University of Maryland, Chemistry Building Atrium

Time:    6:00 p.m. Social Hour / Check-in / Dinner

7:00 p.m. College Achievement Awards

7:30 p.m. Speaker Presentation, “Recent Advances In the Analysis of Long Chain Omega-3 PUFA in fish Oil Dietary Supplements” by Cynthia T. Srigley, Ph.D., US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulatory Science

Cost:  $24.00  Members / Guests  $12.00  Students

Menu: Catering will be provided by La Prima Catering, and will feature a buffet of chicken with mushrooms, vegetarian pasta, and grilled vegetables, and includes a Caesar salad, assorted dessert bars, and beverages.

Please make reservations by Tuesday, February 7, 2017, 12:00 noon, by contacting the CSW office: [email protected] or 202-659-2650 (messages only).  Please include the names of all members in your party, including spelling. The public is invited to attend. You may attend the talk only, but reservations are appreciated. Those who make a dinner reservation, but are unable to attend, should send a check for the cost of their meal to the CSW office.

Directions: From Baltimore Avenue (US Hwy 1), enter the UMD campus using Campus Drive. At the traffic circle, bear right onto Regents Drive. Parking is available in the Regents Drive parking garage across from the Chemistry building. Parking is unrestricted after 4:00 p.m. in the non-metered spaces. Campus Drive is also accessible from University Boulevard or Adephi Road, on the west of campus. Metro: Green line to College Park. The University runs a free shuttle bus from College Park Metro Station. The bus stops at the Regents Drive Garage across from the Chemistry Building. If you need a map, one is available from the University of Maryland website, at www.umd.edu.


Cover photo credit: publicdomainpictures.net

Photo credit: Cynthia Srigley