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Mobile lab sniffs out environmental contaminants

Vancouver Island University unveils $1-million vehicle that tracks and maps chemical spills
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Chris Gill, Vancouver Island University professor of chemistry and co-director of VIU’s applied environmental research laboratories, looks at a graph representing a chemical’s molecular signature that was measured in the university’s mobile mass spectrometry laboratory, unveiled at Wednesday at VIU. CHRIS BUSH/The News Bulletin

Researchers at Vancouver Island University are proving they really know how to follow their nose, so to speak, in the pursuit of practical science.

Wednesday Chris Gill and Erik Krogh, chemistry professors and co-directors of VIU’s applied environmental research labs, introduced the university’s newest and most unique addition to its vehicle fleet, the mobile mass spectrometry laboratory – a Mercedes utility van packed with state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and global positioning technology allowing researchers to drive anywhere and find out if there are environmental contaminants that could affect human or ecosystem health or to just get a baseline reading of an environment prior to pending environmental influences, such as industrial development.

Mass spectrometers sniff chemical molecular signatures, but are usually used in stationary applications. The VIU researchers adapted the latest mass spectrometry technology and combined it with GPS and other technologies to create a mobile lab that analyzes samples in real time and maps chemical signature dispersion on Google Earth. This combination of capabilities in one vehicle is the first of its kind in Canada and possibly anywhere in the world.

“We can start to now map chemical concentrations in both time and space so we can look at how those concentrations vary over time, in a dynamic process like dispersion, or we can look at how chemical concentrations vary over locations, so you can see regions of high concentrations versus regions of low concentrations; differences between day and night … We’ll get large data sets with unprecedented resolution and high precision,” Krogh said.

To give a sense of the system’s sensitivity, during the unveiling ceremony hosted in VIU’s welcome centre, students in the lab parked outside were able to isolate the varieties of fruit, cheese and other snacks put out for the event.

“Mass spectrometers give us that molecular-level information to tell the difference between the source of things that would be in the air,” Krogh said. “So you can tell the difference, not surprisingly, between blue cheese and cheddar cheese. It’s essentially an electronic nose. Human evolution has allowed us to develop sensitivities to certain ranges of molecules. Mass spectrometers don’t have that built in bias. They can ‘smell’ molecules that we can’t.”

Gill said the mobile lab is fully capable of responding to and giving real-time analysis of critical scenarios such as chemical or oil spills.

“We’re not in the business of doing that yet, but we have the technology and capability to be involved, if we’re needed … or also being able to make assessments so that you have an understanding of what the background looks like,” Gill said. “So it’s not always chasing ambulances, it’s knowing that it’s clean that’s equally important. I mean, ultimately, both are valuable.”

The lab has already taken part in environmental projects on the Island and Vancouver. The lab is about to participate in a project to enhance existing air quality studies already conducted by four south Island municipalities.

“We can look at multiple components that may not have been part of those other studies,” Gill said. “One of the goals in being able to make these measurements isn’t just to say there’s bad stuff there, but to be able to say where is the bad stuff coming from or where is the good stuff coming from? What’s the flavour, if you will,” he said.

Cost of the lab is about $1 million, paid for with money by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.



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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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