www.alec.arizona.edu

You’re invited!*
To the open house at the
Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants [ALEC]!
Please mark your calendar!
When: Wednesday, January 21 @ 3pm
Where: ALEC [828/848 Gould-Simpson]
What: Introduction to ALEC capabilities and instruments
*Refreshments provided
As the societal need for potable water continues to grow worldwide, there is a
need to better understand environmental and human impacts on its availability,
quality and sustainability. As one part of the UA’s mission to serve as a reliable
public resource for decision-making in water quality, we announce the opening of the Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC).
www.alec.arizona.edu
Questions? Email [email protected]
Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants
ALEC is a collaborative core facility dedicated to advancing analytical capabilities in water and environmental quality. Faculty in four colleges at the UA, along with colleagues at ASU and NAU, have established the new state-of-the-art mass spectrometry facility for detecting and quantifying trace organic
and inorganic contaminants in water, biological fluids, biomass and environmental matrices. The facility
is intended to provide a keystone for future university growth in water and environmental science, engineering and toxicology.
ALEC is Co-Directed by Drs. Jon Chorover and John Chesley and is supported by funding from the NSF
Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, the University of Arizona’s Water Sustainability Program, the Arizona Water Institute, and the Deans of four UA colleges (CALS, CoS, CoE and CoP). ALEC
has two full-time mass spectrometrists (Dr. Leif Abrell and Mary Kay Amistadi) who will assist and train
faculty, students and staff from all three Arizona state universities in the analysis of metals and organic
micro-pollutants. This shared analytical facility, which became operative in Fall of 2008, comprises 2000
ft2 of newly remodeled space.
A principal focus is on the development and application of liquid and gas chromatography tandem
MS (LC-MSMS and GC-MSMS) techniques, along with inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-MS methods
(including HPLC pre-separations) to accurately measure organic and inorganic contaminants down to
trace (ng L-1) concentrations, and to understand the nature of pollutant carriers (dissolved and colloidal constituents). The NSF-AZ funding was for costly instrumentation and newly remodeled laboratory
space. Therefore, proposals to utilize ALEC facilities would leverage a significant NSF-AZ investment in
major research instrumentation that is dedicated to cross-disciplinary water science and engineering
studies. Further details can be found at the ALEC website http://www.alec.arizona.edu.
Specific instrumentation in ALEC includes:
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Perkin-Elmer HPLC-ICPMS (Series 200 with ELAN DRCII ICP-MS)
Waters Inc. Quattro-Micro GC-MSMS
Waters Inc. Quattro-Premier XE LC-MSMS
Caliper Life Sciences AutoTrace Automated Solid Phase Extraction system
Wyatt multi-angle static and dynamic light scattering, with on-line refractive index and UV detectors
coupled to size exclusion chromatography or an Eclipse Asymmetric Field Flow Fractionation (AFFF)
system
• Horiba Jobin Yvon Fluoromax-4 Spectrofluorometer
Inquiries regarding sample analysis should be directed to:
Leif Abrell, Ph.D.
Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 520-488-7475
Mary Kay Amistadi, M.S.
Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 520-488-6386