In situ instrumentation that can detect amino acids at parts-per-billion concentration levels and distinguish an enantiomeric excess of either d-or l-amino acids is vital for future robotic life-detection missions to promising targets in our solar system. In this article, a novel chiral amino acid analysis method is described, which reduces the risk of organic contamination and spurious signals from by-products by avoiding organic solvents and organic additives. Online solid-phase extraction, chiral liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry were used for automated analysis of amino acids from solid and aqueous environmental samples. Carbonated water (pH *3, *5 wt % CO 2 achieved at 6 MPa) was used as the extraction solvent for solid samples at 150°C and as the mobile phase at ambient temperature for chiral chromatographic separation. Of 18 enantiomeric amino acids, 5 enantiomeric pairs were separated with a chromatographic resolution >1.5 and 12 pairs with a resolution >0.7. The median lower limit of detection of amino acids was 2.5 mg/L, with the lowest experimentally verified as low as 0.25 mg/L. Samples from a geyser site (Great Fountain Geyser) and a geothermal spring site (Lemon Spring) in Yellowstone National Park were analyzed to demonstrate the viability of the method for future in situ missions to Ocean Worlds.

No abstract

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Producer Education team works on the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and other Beef Checkoff-funded programs each day to ensure cattle producers have industry leading information and resources. Veterinarians can use these resources to build on new or existing producer relationships to enhance the care and productivity of the operation. These opportunities not only add value to your practice, but they also reinforce livestock veterinarians’ dedication to healthy animals and a safe food supply. It is important not only to the producer and veterinarian, but to the industry as a whole, that cattle are responsibly handled and transported, and welfare of the animal is always a priority. Several resources developed by the Producer Education team at NCBA are available for producers, veterinarians, and transporters to review for more information on cattle welfare. Producers and veterinarians are encouraged to review the tools and resources, get certified in BQA, and ensure they are following best management practices for cattle in their care. It is important that the education producers, veterinarians, and transporters receive is current and up to date, but not all groups have the time or resources to leave their operation.

Biosecurity is the one aspect of a cattle operation that the pro­ducer has the most control over. Each producer has practices in place to protect their cattle and optimize their health. Vet­erinarians are purposefully trained to understand the compo­nents of biosecurity including animal health, epidemiology, infectious disease and public health consequences. Biosecurity planning is an important piece to herd health planning that can benefit the producer and the veterinarian. The National Cattle­men’s Beef Association (NCBA) Producer Education team works on the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and other Beef Checkoff-funded programs each day to ensure cattle producers and vet­erinarians have industry-leading information and resources. Several resources developed by the Producer Education team at NCBA, and the separately managed Secure Beef Supply, are available for producers, veterinarians and transporters to re­view for more information on biosecurity to improve cattle wel­fare before and during potential disease outbreaks.