An analytical platform for mercury speciation in liquid and solid matrices

我们在渥太华大学的汞（Hg）分析平台是19年前建立的，现在正处于不可靠和过时的边缘。我们的水中总汞（THg）系统的替换部件不再可用，我们的车间不再能够解决最近出现的问题。此外，我们的甲基汞（MeHg）设置并没有反映最近的高通量汞分析的改进。如果这些仪器停止工作，我们的研究项目将处于危险之中，因为在国家首都地区没有其他替代品。最后，由于我们无法提供快速可靠的实地生物样本汞测量结果，我们充分接触土著社区的能力受到了阻碍。我们正在申请资金，以购买一个最新的三汞和甲基汞分析平台，以及一个便携式汞分析仪，以便直接在实地分析生物样本。迄今为止，uOttawa汞形态分析平台除了为学术界、政府、工业界和非政府组织合作伙伴提供服务外，还通过提供各种基质中汞形态的痕量检测，为60名HQP的培训做出了贡献。如果不按要求对我们的仪器进行紧急更新，我们就无法保持在汞地球化学和生态毒理学研究方面的国家和国际领导地位。

Our mercury (Hg) analytical platform at the University of Ottawa was established 19 years ago and is on the verge of becoming unreliable and obsolete. Replacement parts for our total mercury (THg) system in water are not available anymore and our workshop is no longer able to fix issues that have recently been coming up. Furthermore, our methylmercury (MeHg) setup does not reflect recent improvements for high throughput Hg analyses. Our research programs are in jeopardy should the instruments stop working because there are no other alternatives in the National Capital Region. Finally, our capacity to adequately reach out to indigenous communities is hampered by our inability to provide quick and reliable, field-based Hg measurements in biological samples. We are requesting funds to purchase an updated THg and MeHg analytical platform, and a portable Hg analyzer to analyze biological samples directly in the field. The uOttawa mercury speciation analytical platform has so far contributed to the training of 60 HQPs in addition to serving academic, government, industry and NGO partners by providing trace-level detection of Hg species in various matrices. We cannot maintain our national and international leadership in Hg biogeochemistry and ecotoxicology research without the requested urgent update to our instrumentation.