Acquisition of a scintillation counter

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Many important biochemical questions are related to understanding interactions between RNA-RNA, RNA-protein, RNA-metal, and protein-metal. Most of these interactions require the detection of tiny (10-14 to 10-6 mole) quantities of material. However, chemical tests are rarely responsive to less than  10-7 mole. This limitation has been alleviated by the development of radiotracer technology through which extraordinarily sensitive detection of radioisotopically labelled material has allowed studies of many substances in quantities of 10-12 mole and smaller to become routine. In addition, the use of radioactivity has permitted the development of powerful experimental approaches to various types of problems in biochemistry as well as molecular biology. This includes the double-labelling technique for following two substances simultaneously or for distinguishing two identical substances synthesized at different times; the pulse-chase method for following a substance at a time after its synthesis without interference of other material that is concurrently synthesized; and the exchange analysis for measuring participation in reactions, to name only a few examples. Although these techniques are quite different, they all depend on the precise detection of radiotracers, which are essential components of these techniques. For this reason, it is crucial that our department has access to a high performance scintillation counter that will allow us to prepare accurate radiotracers.