New instrument to boost capacity at Alaska Stable Isotope Facility
December 7, 2018
The Alaska Stable Isotope Facility has received a grant to purchase new instrumentation
next year, allowing a significant expansion in analytical capacity at the University
of Alaska Fairbanks.
The new instrumentation, a gas-chromatograph attached to a stable isotope ratio mass
spectrometer, can measure stable isotope ratios of elements in specific compounds
such as amino acids and fatty acids. ASIF Director Matthew Wooller said there are
many applications for the new equipment and many of these will serve UAF’s One Health
initiatives. Analyses can be conducted on samples from human and animal dietary biomarkers
on samples such as blood, hair and nails.
UAF already has an identical instrument at ASIF, but it’s heavily in demand and overbooked.
The new instrumentation, which is expected to arrive at UAF in early 2019, will double
ASIF’s capacity to conduct such research.
Wooller said scheduling projections looked like many planned projects would need to
go out-of-state for analytical facilities. He expects the added capacity in Fairbanks
will allow ASIF to facilitate research from more university, state, federal and private-sector
investigators.
“It’s a new playing field for research, but it’s a playing field that can be significantly
limited by access to appropriate instrumentation,” he said. “There is no end of projects
that are ready to jump onto this.”
Research will include an ongoing National Institutes of Health Project on human dietary
biomarkers led by Diane O’Brien at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research, and
Ben Baarst at ASIF to study the movement of contaminants through ecosystems in the
Arctic.
The new $200,000 spectrometer will be purchased with the help of a $140,400 grant
from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Matching funds were provided by the Office
of the UAF Vice Chancellor for Research, Institute of Arctic Biology, and ASIF.
Researchers interested in developing proposals for the new instrument may contact
Wooller at mjwooller@alaska.edu or 907-474-6738.