Iso-Analytical Student Award Provides a First for Deuterium Analysis

Unravelling complexities in benthic food webs using a dual stable isotope (hydrogen and carbon) approach.

Peter Deines, Matthew J. Wooller and Jonathan Grey, Freshwater Biology (2009) 54, 2243-2251.

In the journal article above the authors provide preliminary evidence to suggest that hydrogen and carbon isotope values in macroinvertebrates may be used to distinguish between methane formation pathways and help to explain inter-depth and inter-specific differences between co-existing chironomid species found in the same lake.

Peter Deines of the Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Plon, Germany used his Iso-Analytical Student award to send samples to our laboratory for analysis. Samples of chironomid larvae collected from German lakes were measured for their deuterium abundance. As far as the authors are aware this is the first study to use deuterium as a second biochemical marker in combination with carbon-13 (measured in their own laboratory), to unravel linkages between microbial fauna in sediment and macroinvertebrate consumers.

SIMSUG 2010

28th to 30th April 2010, University of Exeter



The annual meeting of the Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer Users Group (SIMSUG) presents an ideal opportunity to share our experiences of analysing stable isotopes both formally and informally. Registration for the meeting and accomodation and submission of abstracts is now open. More details can be found on the SIMSUG website which can be accessed at the link below:

SIMSUG 2010

Iso-Analytical are one of the sponsors of the meeting and will be in attendance throughout. I look forward to meeting new and existing customers and catching up with colleagues and friends I have met in the 30+ years I have been involved in research with stable isotopes.

Steve Brookes

Inter-laboratory Testing - Honey

Food analysis using Isotopic Techniques - Proficiency Testing Scheme.

Results of carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 analysis of Honey undertaken in the first round of 2008 are shown below. The Z-scores (see explanation below the charts) show that the participating laboratories were in good agreement with each other and our own Z scores are comfortably in the desired range.










The evaluation of data is performed according to the ISO/IUPAC/AOAC International Harmonised Protocol for Proficiency Testing of analytical laboratories. Individual laboratories results are expressed as Z-scores:

Z = (x-X)/s

Where :
x is the reported result from the participating laboratory.
X is the assigned or "true" value for the analyte being determined. In this exercise the assigned values are taken as the robust mean of all reported results.
s is the target value for standard deviation. In this exercise the target SD values are derived from recently reported collaborative trial results or from the robust standard deviation of all reported values.

If X and s are good estimates of the population mean and standard deviation, and the underlying distributions are normal, Z is normally distributed with a mean of zero and unit standard deviation.

Almost one year on

It's hard to believe that it will soon be a year since we moved into the new laboratory here in Crewe. All of the initial teething troubles are now out of the way and I'm glad to say that we're now settled for the years to come. All areas of the new building are now a lot more organised, leaving us free to concentrate on the day to day analysis of the samples you send us.

The building now has our name above the door:



The main instrument area is fully functional:



So too is the sample preparation area:



We have a new technician, Sharon Hinett, working on the team:



And the office areas are a much better place to work in:



There is plenty of space for storage of standards, spares and our (your) sample archive:

Thank You for Your Patience

I am please to say that we are well and truly settled in our new laboratory and offices and back up to speed with all of our normal services. The move cost us at least a month of analysis time which immediately impacted on the turnaround of results. So at the current time all orders are running behind the normal schedule. We must have a lot of busy customers out there because the backlog caused by the move has been compounded by an extraordinary influx of samples this year. We're currently running the instruments 7 days to keep up with the demand and have just taken on a new technician to help with sample preparation.

I would like to thank all of our customers for their patience at this time while we try to get to their samples, which are being analysed in the order in which they are received.

While our website and e-mail addresses have not been affected by the move, it was necessary to get new telephone numbers. These are now:

Tel: +44 (0)1270 509533
Fax: +44 (0)1270 509511

Steve Brookes

New Year, New Laboratory

As we entered our Tenth year of providing stable isotope analysis we took a big decision to move out of our leased home in to a purpose built facility. As of today, 26th January 2009, Iso-Analytical's new home is:

Iso-Analytical Ltd
Unit D, Phase 3, The Quantum
Marshfield Bank Business Park
Crewe
Cheshire
CW2 8UY
United Kingdom



The planning started back in July of last year when we found a new building development close to where we were currently located. However, ready built stable isotope analysis laboratories don't really exist so we had to set about designing the layout of the building so that it would fulfill our current and future needs. This meant fitting in many visits to the new site to check progress in between analysing our customers samples. By December 2008 the building started to take shape as shown by the photos below:




Now one week into the move, everything from the old lab is in and we're ready to start re-commissioning the instruments. With five instruments to move and all the associated sample preparation equipment (not to mention the office and IT equipment) this has been a major task. However, with twice the floor area of the previous premises we should be good for the next 20 years. The photos below show just what sort of chaos is involved with moving a stable isotope laboratory!

Isolytix - New Agent for New Zealand and Australia

We are pleased to announce that Ken Neal (Isolytix Ltd, Dunedin, New Zealand) has been appointed as our agent for Australia and New Zealand. We have known and worked with Ken for many years. He has been working in the field of Analytical Chemistry for 20 years since graduating from Sunderland Polytechnic ( now university) with a BSc (hons) in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Previously he has worked in Industry, the health service, academia and private laboratory settings

Ken has been in the field of stable isotopes for the last 10 years starting with four years at Oxford University, then to laboratory manager at Bradford University stable isotope facility before heading to New Zealand where Ken worked at the Institute of geological and Nuclear Sciences before becoming laboratory manager at Isotrace, a private light stable isotope laboratory in Dunedin.

Ken has now started his own company, Isolytix Ltd which is based in Dunedin , New Zealand. This new venture will benefit both companies and its customers by providing a link between Iso-Analytical Ltd and those requiring stable isotope services in the Southern hemisphere. Isolytix will be able to ensure that samples reach Iso-Analytical on time with the minimum of fuss, track their progress during the analysis, report the results back to you and take care of all the associated administration and paperwork.

Contact details for Isolytix Ltd are:

Ken Neal
Director
Isolytix
Dunedin
New Zealand
www.isolytix.com

+64 021 824388