On the Road Again…
SETAC North America
Our Technical Services Specialist, Elizabeth Madonick and Sales Manager, Jamie Fox, will be attending the 36th Annual North America Meeting for SETAC in Salt Lake City, UT from November 1-5, 2015. This year’s theme is “Buzzing with Science, Cross-Pollination for Environmental Progress” and will draw more than 1900 scientists and environmental professionals to collaborate and learn about the latest environmental research and technology. Elizabeth and Jamie would love to connect with you, so let us know if you will be attending as well!
International Water Conference
Join our Director of Business Development, Russ Gerads and Technical Sales Manager, Jamie Fox, at the 76th Annual International Water Conference in Orlando, FL from November 15-19, 2015. The IWC is considered the world’s premier conference confronting the challenges of industrial water treatment. Certainly let us know if you will be attending so we can discuss how BAL can assist you with your wastewater treatment challenges.
Couldn’t attend the 129th Annual AOAC Meeting in Los Angles in September? Brooks Applied Labs was there, and here’s what you missed:
Recently, there have been growing concern related to cobalt (Co) exposure through supplement intake and in patients receiving metal hip implants made with a Co-alloy material, prompting an investigation into analytical methodologies for the determination of total Co in biological fluids. Co is a component of cyanocobalamin and is necessary in the production of hemoglobin and red blood cells. In coordination with 
Coal usually contains high levels of selenium, particularly from sources that are also high in sulfur. This results in waste streams from coal-fired power plants having selenium concentrations that far exceed industrial discharge limits.
Removal of selenium from these wastewater streams can present a significant challenge since the effectiveness of most treatment processes depends on the forms (or species) of selenium present. Different plant operating conditions and treatment additives are well-known to impact selenium speciation in flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewaters. Monitoring which forms of selenium are present at various stages and over time, particularly as changes are made to plant operations, is critical for ensuring that wastewater treatment systems are functioning properly.
Brooks Applied Labs (BAL) offers advanced analytical services for the determination selenium species by a variety of hyphenated techniques, the most common of which is IC-ICP-CRC-MS. Coupling ion chromatography (IC) separation methods to inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instruments equipped with collision reaction cell (CRC) technology allows for high sensitivity and accuracy in even the most complex matrices. Over a dozen different selenium species can be measured with these methods, including selenite [Se(IV)], selenate [Se(VI)], selenocyanate [SeCN], selenosulfate [SeSO32-], selenomethionine [SeMet], selenomethionine oxide [SeMetO], methylseleninic acid [MeSe(IV)], and methaneselenonic acid [MeSe(VI)]. An example chromatogram for selenium speciation by IC-ICP-CRC-MS is shown below:
Should these routine methods indicate the presence of “missing” forms of Se, BAL has both the expertise and other developed methods to close the selenium mass balance. For example, reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography ICP-CRC-MS (RP-HPLC-ICP-CRC-MS), can be used for measurement of non-ionic forms of selenium like dimethylselenide [DMSe] and dimethyldiselenide [DMDSe]. The latter two species can be formed in biological treatment systems that are often used for selenium removal.
To find out more about how we can help with your next project, please 
It has become increasingly common for risk assessment and treatability studies to require arsenic speciation data to determine the potential mobility of this toxic contaminant at varying sites.
Human exposure to natural and synthetic contaminants has recently come to the forefront of public concern with frequent stories in the media about the potential harm from metals in our environment. Fish consumption, vaccines, contaminated food products, and poorly regulated supplements are all potential threats to human health. Assessing human biomonitoring samples can be quite challenging because every sample has its own unique chemistry depending on lifestyle and genetics, as well as differences from food and supplement intake. Brooks Rand Labs can support the elemental and molecular quantitation of metals and halogenated compounds for every distinctive sample submitted. For more than a decade, Brooks Rand Labs has provided analytical method development and specialized analysis of ions, small molecules, amino acids, proteins, and other more complex molecular forms in a variety of human tissues and fluids, including blood, urine, organ tissue, hair, and teeth. If you would like further information or a quotation for your next project, please