Reseña publicada en la revista de divulgación científica National Measurement News en el año 2010, titulada “Hair today, gone tomorrow! – tracking travel movements".
1. TUV NEL
CCS: Concept to reality
While the UK Government and
various bodies are putting in place
the necessary legal framework and
financial incentives to accelerate
the arrival of Carbon Capture and
Storage (CCS), a TUV NEL
conference, held in November 2009,
brought together key industry
players from each element of the
CCS chain to discuss the challenges
involved in taking CCS from a
concept to a reality.
The conference focused on the
technological developments needed to
put the UK and other countries on the
path to achieving full-scale capture,
transportation and storage of CO2
emissions, tackling such topics as:
Pilot Plants: The latest development
and learning from the CO2 capture
pilot plants
Transportation: The practicalities and
challenges associated with transporting
CO2 by pipeline and ship
Measurement & Reporting: The needs
and challenges associated with process
and regulatory measurement
throughout the CCS chain, from capture
to injection into the storage formation
North Sea Storage: The value, capacity
and qualification of the North Sea for
CO2 storage
Post Geological Monitoring: Ensuring
the safe containment of CO2 in the
geological storage sites
LGC
‘Hair’ today, gone
tomorrow! - tracking travel
movements
LGC scientists are at the forefront
of forensic methods that aim to
enable the tracking of the recent
geographical movements of
individuals and provide a powerful
tool for international law
enforcement.
Santamaria–Fernandez, R.; Giner Martinez-Sierra,
J.; Garcia Alonso, J.I. and Hearn, R. Measurement
of longitudinal sulfur isotopic variations by laser
ablation MC-ICP-MS in single human hair strands
Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 2009, 394(1), 225-233.
For the first time, under the NMS
Innovation R&D Programme, the
potential of sulfur isotope measurements
in a single hair strand by laser ablation
multicollector inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) has
been demonstrated as an indicator of an
individual’s recent geographical
movements. Upon contact with the hair,
the laser generates an aerosol that is
ionised within the plasma source of the
mass spectrometer and the mass to
charge ratios of sulphur isotopes are
subsequently measured. The main
advantage of the new approach versus
conventional isotope ratio mass
spectrometry (IRMS) techniques is that
variations in sulfur isotope ratios can be
detected over time in a single hair as,
due to hair growth, each sample will
give a chronological record of recent
variations up to the time of analysis.
These variations can occur as a result of
a change in eating habits and via
geographical movement. Proof of
concept with human scalp hair strands
from three individuals, two UK residents
and one traveller has recently been
demonstrated. Future work will extend
the study to >100 volunteers with
different diets, ethnic backgrounds and
lifestyle habits and to carbon and
nitrogen isotopes.
The newly developed rapid screening
tool enables the gathering of highly
resolved information from single human
hair strands. What makes the
methodology attractive for forensic
analysis is the fact that hair samples can
be collected covertly and non-invasively,
without consent (as opposed to DNA),
and that only one strand is required for
analysis. The approach has vast potential
to be used in combination with DNA
fingerprinting to become a valuable tool
for human provenance studies that will
be of immeasurable value to security,
police & forensic services.
LGC Contact:
Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez
T: +44 (0)20 8943 7644
E: rebeca.santamaria-fernandez
@lgc.co.uk
How the NMIs are rising to national challenges
The essential components of the
National Measurement System (NMS)
are the National Measurement
Institutes (NMIs) that deliver most of
the NMS work. In addition to the Legal
Metrology work of NMO, the other
NMIs are:
• the National Physical Laboratory
(NPL);
• LGC;
• and TUV NEL, the former National
Engineering Laboratory.
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