A microwave digestion system for advanced trace element research

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The research groups of Dr. Gailer (Department of Chemistry), Dr. Wieser (Department of Physics) and Dr. Vogel (Department of Biological Sciences) conduct research directed at trace metals in biological systems, which includes the essential metals copper, iron and zinc as well as the environmentally abundant toxic metals cadmium and mercury. This 'metals in biological systems' field - which is also referred to as metallomics - is rapidly gaining momentum because a better understanding of the effect that these trace metals exert on/within organisms can provide fundamentally new insights into the human toxicology of metals (Gailer), the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases (Wieser) and the effect that salt stress exerts on agriculturally important plants (Vogel). Each of the aforementioned research programs has an urgent need for a critical infrastructure item to rapidly digest/mineralize small amounts (200 mg or less) of biological tissues for the accurate determination of metal concentrations and their isotopic composition. The Accelerated Discover SP-D Plus Closed Vessel Microwave Digestion platform from CEM Corporation ideally fulfills these requirements since it allows to digest biological tissues/fluids with high reproducibility while avoiding contamination in less than 10 min (including cool down!). The proposed system represents the most economical and user friendly practical configuration which is tailored to the needs of all applicants in terms of digestion vessel volume (10 ml Pyrex digestion vessels). Training of graduate students on this state-of-the-art digestion system will not only greatly expedite research, but also significantly increase their safety. This is because rather unsafe open Teflon vessel digestion systems (of biological tissues) that involve concentrated nitric acid and are currently practiced in Dr. Gailer's laboratory and the transport of Dr. Wieser's samples across a major roadway in Calgary for digestion can be altogether avoided. Furthermore, the programmable microwave digestion system will result in more consistent digestion conditions from sample to sample, which is critical to realize reproducible and accurate results that are a prerequisite to conduct high caliber trace element research.