Big Science TIny Lab

About

Summary What do analytical chemists do when they need a particular piece of lab equipment? They invent it themselves. Elisenda Fornells Vernet is studying her PhD at the University, and is doing just that.  “I’m working in separation science, which allows us to separate all the compounds in a sample, and quantify them so we know how much there is of each. “In ASTech we do our investigations with portable analytical separation technologies. “These are ‘point of care’ devices that mean you don’t need to send your samples to a lab.  It’s a logistical problem we are trying to solve. If you wanted to test some water on the top of Mount Wellington, you would need a very small device- you cannot carry a two square metre device. “You can go to the source of the sample and test it there. You could go to the river and test your water sample, or test your blood at home. That’s why we need small devices,” she said. “I am developing my own small instrument for this.” The small device must also be able to test very small samples. “That is the problem that I am dealing with in my research. Sometimes very small samples don’t have much analyde so we get a big sample size and reduce it.