As part of a planned leadership change at IV Labs of Christiansburg, Virginia, Brian Alexander, Ph.D., has been named president of its subsidiary, Inorganic Ventures. The specialty chemical company is a leading manufacturer of certified reference materials (CRM) and analytical inorganic standards trusted by laboratories worldwide.

He succeeds Christopher Gaines, who served as president of Inorganic Ventures and CEO of IV Labs. Gaines moves to board chair, and Justin Yalung has been named CEO of IV Labs.

Alexander, a geochemist, has served as the company's chief technical officer since 2020 and previously as vice president of technical operations. He brings more than a decade of deep scientific leadership to his new role. His promotion reflects Inorganic Ventures' commitment to science-driven growth and its ambition to strengthen its position as the partner of choice for analytical laboratories and manufacturers across the globe.

“Brian’s journey at Inorganic Ven

Gaines moves to board chair, Miller to vice chair, Alexander to president of Inorganic Ventures.

IV Labs, a Christiansburg-based specialty chemistry company serving manufacturers and laboratories worldwide, has appointed Justin Yalung as chief executive officer, and restructured its board of directors to reflect this change, effective June 1.

IV Labs is the parent company of Inorganic Ventures and PURE Laboratories. Together, the companies offer more than 2,000 stock elemental mixtures and compounds and more than 60,000 unique custom formulations. IV Labs products are used for critical production applications, research, testing, and calibration across sectors including pharmaceuticals, energy, environmental safety, mining, industrial manufacturing, and food & beverage.

“At IV Labs, we consider ourselves the quiet force for manufacturers across industries to deliver consistent, high-quality products with confidence,” Yalung said.

Quality Digest recently featured Inorganic Ventures in the article, “Beyond the Pit: Why Laboratory Integrity Now Shapes Mining Viability,” highlighting the growing role analytical accuracy plays in the future of mining operations.

The article examines how mining companies are operating under increasingly narrow economic margins as lower-grade deposits and complex rare earth materials become more common. In these environments, analytical data is no longer just a supporting fun

Global Mining Review recently featured Inorganic Ventures in the article, “Beyond the Pit: Why Laboratory Integrity Now Shapes Mining Viability,” highlighting the growing importance of analytical precision in modern mining operations. (

We’re excited to share that Inorganic Ventures was recently referenced in a Labcompare article exploring the growing importance of laboratory integrity in the mining industry.

Read the Full Article 

https://www.labcompare.com/10-Featured-Articles/624423-Beyond-the-Pit-Why-Laboratory-Integrity-Now-Shapes-Mining-Viability/

Why not use units of µg/g or µg/mL?

When performing elemental analysis most sample preparation and data workup is done in units of µg/g, µg/mL, µg/L, etc. However, when working with pharmaceutical samples the Permitted Daily Exposure (PDE) limits are reported in units of µg/day. Since different pharmaceutical products have different maximum dosages, it is critical to convert the conventional units used by elemental analysts into something that can be equated back to the PDE limit unit of µg/day. The J Value is used to perform this conversion.

What is a J Value?

If you are testing pharmaceutical samples using USP <232> / <233> and/or ICH Q3D, then you may be familiar with the concept of the J value. The J value is defined below:

PDE limits are determined by USP <232> and ICH Q3D, but the dilution factor and maximum daily dose is determined by you and your sample. The reason that the PDE limit is converted to a J

EPA Method 200.8 is an established and widely used ICP-MS method. It describes the analysis of water and wastes for 21 elements. Included in these 21 elements is arsenic, which has a large potential polyatomic interference from ⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl. It is common for analysts to face a high bias in their data for ⁷⁵As. To correct for this potential ⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl interference EPA Method 200.8, Table 5, prescribes using the correction equation below:

What is the Purpose of This Interference Correction Equation?

This correction equation subtracts the counts of ⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl from the total counts recorded for mass 75. This is done by measuring the counts from a similar polyatomic: ⁴⁰Ar37Cl. In theory, the counts for ⁴⁰Ar³⁵Cl and ⁴⁰Ar³⁷Cl should be the same

We’re proud to announce a major milestone in the continued integration of PURE Analytical Laboratories into the IV Labs family: Will Marble has been named President of PURE, effective July 1, 2025.

Will is a long-time executive at IV Labs and a New River Valley resident with over 14 years of leadership across operations, supply chain, and commercial strategy. His appointment reflects IV Labs’ commitment to developing leaders from within and further aligning PURE’s capabilities with our Virginia-based operations.

PURE Analytical Laboratories, based in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, joined the IV Labs portfolio in July 2024. Since then, the PURE team has continued to serve customers around the globe with ultr

NIST-traceable standards are reference materials certified to specific values laid out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They are designed specifically for standardized instrument calibration and quality assurance protocols aimed at eliminating measurement uncertainties. The implication with NIST-traceable standards is that all calibrations are part of an unbroken chain of comparisons from the manufacturer through to the end-user, which is where the term traceability comes from.

Understanding NIST-Traceability

Traceability is a crucial parameter in elemental analysis and wet chemistry applications. When we talk about the traceability of measurements, we are referring to systemic reliability – and subsequently the reliability of your results – relative to an accepted set of standards. This is the basic premise of standardized metrology and the international system of units (SI). Yet the traceability of chemical measurements is