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The University of Southampton
Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute

Development of Lab on a Chip Pre-concentration System for Metals in Seawater Seminar

Time:
14:00 - 15:00
Date:
27 June 2013
Venue:
National Oceanography Centre University of Southampton Waterfront Campus European Way Southampton SO14 3ZH This is a conference practice talk and will be 15 minutes long followed by questions

For more information regarding this seminar, please email Anna Hickman at a.hickman@noc.soton.ac.uk .

Event details

The oceans of our planet play a major role in the biogeochemical cycles of a range of key metal elements. Biogeochemical cycles of metals like Fe and Mn are linked with climatic variability and ocean productivity. To understand the cycles and impacts of these metals, present in sea water in trace amounts, we need to make measurements at high frequency and over extended time and space scales. Lab on a chip technology (LOAC) can provide these data. LOAC technologies have the significant advantages of small size, portability, limited reagent and power requirements, faster analysis and response times and reduced risk of contamination. However, even with recent developments in cell design and noise reduction, existing LOAC systems do not have adequate sensitivity for determining extremely low concentrations of trace metals, in particular Mn and Fe, typical of ocean waters. Incorporating a pre-concentration step onto a chip based metrology system will allow us to measure lower concentrations. Chelating solid phase materials have been widely used for pre-concentration and separation of trace metal ions, and appear most readily interfaced with LOAC technology. We therefore propose the development of a new and innovative approach to enhancing sensitivity through use of on chip chelating resin pre-concentration. Scaling the resin pre-concentration procedures that are presently used in bench-top flow injection analysers to LOAC dimensions is an exciting analytical and technological challenge.

The generic challenges associated with interfacing existing colorimetric systems with pre-concentration methods were characterised. The study was undertaken to optimise the efficiency of the Toyopearl AF-Chelate-650M resin including capacity and elution characteristics. The uptake of the metal on the resin column, the recovery and elution efficiency of the resin were examined and the optimal conditions for the pre-concentration were obtained. Analytical method combined with the pre-concentration step has been optimised to be more easily incorporated into microfluidic system.
The pre-concentration approaches tested have the potential to substantially reduce the detection limits of existing direct LOAC colorimetric systems.

Speaker information

Marta Skiba,I completed my degree in Chemistry with Specialty in Ecology and Environment Monitoring from Military University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland, which involved internship placement in Pharmaceutical Company, Polfa Tarchomin S.A. in Department of Analysis (Quality Control) in Warsaw. I was working as an Analytical Chemist in Pharmaceutical Analysis, in contract research organisation Quotient Bioresearch for 3.5 years. I am currently a PhD student in Sensors Development Group, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre. My research is focused on Development of Lab on a chip pre-concentration for metals in seawater.

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