From MicrotracReviewed by Emily MageeDec 18 2025
In this interview, AZoNano speaks with Yoann Lefeuvre, Director of Product Management at Microtrac. Yoann discusses nanoparticle stability and how Turbiscan technology enables rapid, precise measurements that accelerate pharmaceutical development.
Can you please introduce yourself and your role at Microtrac?
My name is Yoann Lefeuvre, and I am the Director of Product Management at Microtrac. I oversee the development, deployment, and application support of our product portfolio – particularly for stability and dispersibility analysis using Turbiscan.
My role involves working closely with R&D teams, customers, and application specialists to ensure our instruments meet the evolving needs of nanoparticle, colloid, and formulation research.
What are lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), and why is their stability important in pharmaceutical applications?
Lipid nanoparticles are submicron carriers used to encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients. They're particularly helpful for lipophilic compounds. LNPs are so advantageous as they improve biocompatibility, protect sensitive drugs from degradation, control release kinetics, and efficiently deliver.
However, because LNPs are complex colloidal systems, their stability over time is often challenged. Maintaining stability is crucial for ensuring consistent dosage, shelf life, and efficacy of the final drug product.
Image Credit: Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock.com
How does Turbiscan technology measure stability in these complex dispersions?
Turbiscan employs Static Multiple Light Scattering (SMLS), enabling non-invasive scanning of the sample from bottom to top by measuring both transmitted and backscattered light.
Changes in scattering profiles over time, even subtle ones, correlate with phenomena such as sedimentation, creaming, aggregation, or coalescence. Because the method does not require dilution or disturbance of the sample, it provides a realistic assessment of stability under native formulation conditions.
What types of instability can Turbiscan detect in LNPs or other dispersions?
Turbiscan can detect:
- Physical instability: such as sedimentation (particles settling) or creaming (particles rising) under gravity over time.
- Colloidal instability: such as aggregation or coalescence of particles, which may not be visible under a microscope until well advanced.
By monitoring how the scattering profile changes at different heights in the sample over time, users can distinguish between migration-driven instability (settling or rising) and aggregation/coalescence events, providing insight into the type of instability occurring and when.
How does Turbiscan help accelerate LNP development timelines?
Because Turbiscan measures stability directly in undiluted, native formulations – and can detect early destabilization events far before they become visually apparent – formulators can screen many different lipid/surfactant combinations rapidly.
This reduces the number of long-term stability trials needed. Consequently, formulation optimization cycles become much shorter, accelerating development and reducing time to market for lipid-based drug delivery systems.
How does the Turbiscan Stability Index (TSI) simplify stability assessment?
The Turbiscan Stability Index (TSI) is a numerical parameter summarizing the overall destabilization of a sample. It is calculated from the cumulative differences between successive scans, reflecting the change in the sample’s scattering profile over time.
A higher TSI value indicates greater instability. This single index enables easy comparison of formulations, surfactant systems, or storage conditions without needing complex analysis of full scattering curves, which helps speed up decision-making in formulation development.
Does the technology apply beyond LNPs to other colloids, emulsions, or industrial dispersions?
Yes. Turbiscan is widely used across industries, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, and industrial dispersions, wherever the stability of colloidal or particle-based formulations is critical.
The same principles apply: by measuring scattering profiles over time, one can assess sedimentation, creaming, aggregation, or clarification in emulsions, suspensions, or nanoparticle dispersions.
Could you share an example or case where Turbiscan provided critical insight into formulation stability?
In our webinars and application reports, we've demonstrated how Turbiscan helped distinguish between formulations that seemed similar in initial appearance but diverged quickly in stability under storage conditions.
For example, certain lipid-based formulations remained stable under stress conditions while others showed early signs of creaming or aggregation - insight that would have gone unnoticed until much later using traditional visual inspection or particle size measurement.
This early detection helped developers refine surfactant/co-surfactant choices - saving time and resources during development.
What’s next for Microtrac and Turbiscan in terms of stability analysis and formulation support?
Our focus remains on enhancing automation, throughput, and application breadth. We aim to expand the use of Turbiscan for high-throughput stability screening, shelf-life prediction, and re-dispersion testing.
We are also working to support more complex formulations, such as those for injectable therapies, vaccine platforms, or advanced nanomedicines, to ensure reliability and robustness in real-world pharmaceutical products.
About Yoann Lefeuvre
Yoann Lefeuvre is Director of Product Management at Microtrac, specializing in particle characterization and stability solutions. Based in Toulouse, France, he leads the development and global support for the Turbiscan product line, which provides industry-leading solutions for measuring dispersion stability in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, and industrial formulations.
His educational background includes studies at Université Lille I - ENSCL, and over the years, he has built deep expertise bridging fundamental colloid/particle science, analytical instrumentation, and practical applications in industrial R&D.
This information has been sourced, reviewed, and adapted from materials provided by Microtrac.
For more information on this source, please visit Microtrac.
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