Establishing an Analytical Core Facility at CENA

• Grant number: 13/24265-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Technical Reserve for Institutional Research Infrastructure
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Tsai Siu Mui
• Grantee: Tsai Siu Mui
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Elias Ayres Guidetti Zagatto ; Francisco José Krug

Abstract

The increasing analytical capacity of conventional equipments and the continuous development of novel analytical technologies yielded an increasing power of analyte detection and quantification, and automation have allowed a higher analytical throughput. In addition, a continuous downsizing has been noted, reflecting in an expressive reduction in size of the equipments, in the required sample and reagent volumes, and in the single analysis cost. In general, these technological innovations have increased the cost of acquisition and maintenance of these individual modern, efficient, versatile equipments, which provide highly precise, accurate and reliable results. Although the high sample throughput favors a gain in scale of use, it generally outreaches the demand from a single research group. In the same way, purchase and maintenance costs also restrict the establishment of those equipments for a single or few research groups. These limitations can be circumvented by establishing an Analytical Core Facility, where specialized technicians with exclusive dedication would perform with more efficiency, thus upgrading the analysis.The availability of a wide range of analytical possibilities would benefit the quality and assortment of research projects at CENA. Following the global trend, the expansion of scientific activities at the 'Universidade de São Paulo' should focus on the improvement of outputs with quality, which requires specialization of the personnel, equipments and facilities. The establishment of an Analytical Core Facility would allow a more efficient use of the CENA´s technical staff, by hiring a laboratory specialist to operate and manage the facility activities. The presence of professionals fully dedicated to the Core Facility would allow a better updating of technological innovations in the analytical field, assisting the faculty members in the decisions related to acquisitions of new equipments. Moreover, the establishment of the Core Facility would allow the implementation of quality assurance systems, with important consequences on analytical results and accreditation in organisms outside the University, as well as the direct benefits to the learning process by students to experiences close to real demands.The Analytical Facility would allow the access of faculty and researchers to a wide range of analytical capabilities without involving the cost to purchase equipments and the consequent implementation and validation of protocols. There would be a saving in resources decreasing the requirement of faculty and researchers involvement, thus avoiding waste of efforts to implement and maintain an individual analytical ground, allowing a large time and resources for exclusive dedication to the scientific focus of the laboratory. The interaction between faculty members of CENA in the field of Analytical Chemistry and the technical staff of the Core Facility would allow the development of innovative methods. The implementation of a Quality Assurance System in the Core Facility will serve as an irradiating center of the Quality Assurance culture to other laboratories at CENA, as well as a teaching example for user and other customers of CENA and other institutions of the Campus 'Luiz de Queiroz'. (AU)