Analytical Biochemistry Services Offered

If you have any questions about the services offered or a custom-designed chemical analysis, please contact:
Adrian Franke, PhD at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (808) 586-3008.

Resources and Instrumentation in this laboratory

  1. For targeted analysis: 3 fully automated liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) systems including 2 orbitrap (model Q-Exactive, Thermo, Woburn, MA) and 1 triple quadrupole instrument (model TSQ Ultra, Thermo) with the following sources: electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), atmospheric pressure photo ionization (APPI) or direct analysis in real time (DART; model SVP-1000, IonSense, Saugus.MA), all allowing positive and negative ion monitoring. LC models are all Accela (Thermo)
  2. For untargeted analysis (Metabolomics): Two liquid chromatography mass spectrometry systems, ACQUITY ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a Xevo G2-S quadrupole time-of-flight MS (UPLC-QTOF-MS, Waters Corp., Milford, MA) and an ACQUITY ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a Xevo TQ-S triple quadrupole MS (UPLC-TQMS, Waters Corp., Milford, MA); Gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry system (GC-TOFMS, Pegasus HT, LECO Corp., St Joseph, MI).
  3. 3 fully automated high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems (model Surveyor, Thermo) and 2 ultra high pressure liquid chromatography systems (UHPLC; model Accela, Thermo, attached to the mass spectrometers above), all with quaternary pumps that can all be connected to the above MS systems or/and to one of 5 available photo-diode array (PDA) detectors or to fluorescence (FL; model FD100, GTI/SpectroVision, Concord, MA) or electrochemical detection (Coulochem III with 5021 dual cell or Coularray with 8 cells, ESA, Chelmsford, MA) devices
  4. 1 Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD) reader based on heterochromatic flicker spectrophotometry (Macular Metrix II, Macular Metrics, Rehoboth, MA)
  5. 2 nitrogen generators (Peak Scientific, Billerica, MA)
  6. 1 post column derivatization system (Timberline Co., Boulder, CO)
  7. For routine ELISA assays: 2 model 'VersaMax' microplate reader with 'Analyst AD' capabilities for UV/fluorescence readings (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA) and one Luminex200 instrument (Luminex Corpor., Austin, TX) for multiplexing immunoassays
  8. 1 spectrophotometer (model BioSpec160I, Shimadzu Co., Columbia, MD)
  9. 2 clinical autoanalyzers (Roche Cobas Mira Plus CC, Roche Diagnostics Inc., Indianapolis, IN)
  10. 1 liquid handling robot (model Versa 100, Aurorabiomed, Vancouver, BC)
  11. 2 rotating evaporators (Büchi, Switzerland)
  12. 2 lyophilizers
  13. 1 speed vac
  14. 2 centrifuges (IEC Co., Vermont Hill, IL),
  15. 2 8ºC refrigerators
  16. 1 -4ºC freezer
  17. 1 -20ºC freezer
  18. 2 -80ºC freezers (Fisher Scientific Co., VWR Scientific Co.)
  19. 3 biological fume hood with laminar flow (Labconco, Kansas City, MO)
  20. one 4 TB backup system for data storage and archiving

Other equipment this operation has access to includes a solid-phase extraction system, nitrogen gas evaporation system, rotary evaporation system, and a complete Millipore water filter system with ion exchange columns (all from Waters, Milford, MA). Additional shared equipment includes a Beckman L2-65B and a L8-70M ultracentrifuges (SW55 Ti, SW27, 70 Ti, SW41 rotors), Sorvall OTD-50 ultracentrifuge (TV865 rotor), a lyophilizer (Labconco), a Beckman LS 7500 and LS100 liquid scintillation counters, a Beckman Gamma 5500B counter, a model AS 160 speed-vac (Savant, Farmingdale, NY) for evaporation of small multiple samples, five ultra-low temperature freezers (Forma Scientif. Co., Queue Systems, Revco Scientific Co., Asheville, NC), a Coulter automatic cell counter, a fluorometer (Perkin-Elmer Co., Cupertino, CA), and several sterilizers including a high pressure vapor sterilizer.