tories were originally designed to serve the multilateral Chemical Weapons Agreement and the Wyoming Memorandum of Understanding. These jet-setting labs have traveled around the world, making stops in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Iraq, and the United States—most notably serving at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the Democratic National Convention. According to Monica Heyl, program manager for the Army Material Command Treaty Laboratory, "The lab not only needs to land where it's supposed to be, but also must be fully operational and self-sustainable." The U.S. Army's Chemical and Biological Defense Command at the Aberdeen Proving Ground has relied on Heyl's assistance to develop a flying lab capable of producing results on the spot Heyl enlisted ENG Mobile Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and EAI Corporation to make it happen. The data from the instrumentation had to be accurate in order to withstand safety and regulatory challenges—not to mention the intricacies of politics in various destinations. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the production, use, and storage of chemical weapons. Inspectors cannot remove any samples from the country, which minimizes the potential for claiming that samples were tampered with offsite. Precursors and degradation products in air, soil, and water samples require analyses in the areas in which they are found to comply with current laws. "Detectors, methods, and field operating principles were designed, demonstrated, and evaluated to test field efficacy," says Heyl. "Proper collection of samples, elimination of cross-contamination, and
assurance of chain of custody are difficult to prove unless you are willing to prepare the samples in the field. Each day we deal with significant mandates to provide accurate and defensible reports," says Heyl. Airline regulations of weight and size also needed to be considered-^along with bundling the right instrumentation. Dick Glass of ENG, along with Tom Albro, Patti Riggs, and Rodney Hudson of EAI Corporation handled the logistics. "Pulling together mobile systems that comply with the needs of the mission and are easy for a couple of people to move is a must. About 150 lbs is what two individuals can carry. We created modules of a total analytical system that met the limits. However, try as we did to meet such standards a couple of heavier systems still require more manpower to unload safely" Glass admits. Albro states, "EAI had to use off--he-shelf analytical equipment and get it into rugged packaging." Heyl takes it a step further. "You need to think about power, compressed gases, a viable operational environment, size and weight, and the ergonomics for efficient transport and integration." Laptop computers run the instrumentation. One controls the gas chromatograph, which is equipped with both a dualwavelength flame photometric detector and a quadrupole mass-selective detector. Optional detectors include a pulsed-flame photometric detector, a halogen selective detector, and thermal conductivity detector. Other available instrumentation includes an FT-IR spectrometer, an ion chromatograph, and a high-performance liquid chromatograph. Included also are the tools for obtaining samples and preparing them correctly. Gray Gil-
fillan, a Joint Services Group team leader at Hewlett Packard, was responsible for integrating the system hardware and software for this array of equipment. To be effective at once, the Fly-AwayLab demands self-supporting capabilities, both to protect the safety of the team and the efficacy of the analyses. On-board generators prevent power fluctuations that can devastate data collection and shut down the instrument. "Because the lab must verify a variety of compounds at the ppm or lower levels, transporting the equipment and not being vulnerable to susceptibility, such as cheating, spoofing, and circumventing, is imperative," says Albro. Active and reliable upon arrival, the FlyAway-Lab was designed to use minimal amounts of hazardous materials or nonvital components for more than simple convenience. "Imagine going through customs, unloading equipment, calibrating everything, and conducting analyses within hours," says Heyl. The laboratory has been streamlined since its original inception. Lighter cases, hoods with filtration, thermal desorption units for automated analyses of air samples, and a supertoxic glove-box system to take care of high-concentration warfare agents have been added. Future plans include looking at miniaturized LC/MS and CE systems to ensure additional strength in chemical, biological, and radiation analyses capabilities. The lab's globetrotting days are far from over. "The Fly-Away-Lab is earning more frequent-flyer miles than most of my colleagues put together," says Heyl. Crispin Littlehales
tors for the environmental (IAETL) section, and that is new. There has not been a board of directors for individual sections [of ACIL] prior to this," says Janis Butler of Continental Analytical Services and cochair on the IAETL section board. "We will have our own director who will report to the IAETL section board on policy issues and to the ACIL executive director on administrative issues." The new IAETL section board is composed of roughly one-half former IAETL members and one-half ACIL members S3.VS Butler. IAETL was formed in 1988 to address issues such as certification/accreditation
and tax-favored competition, faced by the environmental testing industry in the United States and Canada. ACIL, founded in 1937, is a broader-based association representing independent, commercial scientific and engineering laboratories, as well as testtng, ,onsulting, and R&D firms. The two ooganizations have long been in competition, which, according to some, resulted in an unnecessary duplication of efforts. 'We were too small an organization to have an effective voice in Washington," says Ron Hass, president and CEO of Triangle Labs. The environmental testing industry has undergone significant consolidation over
GOVERNMENT
IAETL becomes the environmental section of ACIL On Jan. 1, the International Association of Environmental Testing Laboratories (IAETL) merged with the national trade organization ACIL. Many believe that this will provide a stronger, more unified voice in Washington for environmental testing laboratories. The environmental section of ACIL will now be referred to as the IAETL section and will operate semiautonomously within ACIL. "There will be a separate board of direc-
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, January 1, 1998 23 A
News
the past few years, struggling to stay afloat. "It is not a growing area," says Hass. The bottom line is there are not enough members to support two trade organizations. "By joining the resources of the two organizations together, more value will be added to government relations efforts, such as lobbying for bills that will help in the struggle with tax-favored competition and privatization," says Deborah Hockman, former president of the IAETL board. "There will also be a wider range of membership services that will be available to the
member companies through this merger." One major benefit for members is professional liability insurance, says Butler. Other money-saving benefits such as overnight delivery and long distance phone services will be provided to help member laboratories cut down on costs. The staff of IAETL has chosen not to accompany the association with the merger, and instead have gone their separate ways. "Whenever you merge two organizations it is very predictable that there will be resignations—people that will leave
to seek other opportunities as opposed to looking towards the new organization as the next opportunity," says Hockman. "The administrative functions of the new organization are going to be staffed by ACIL individuals, and there will be someone new to head up the environmental section." "We are very excited about this. The members of the two organizations have all become very close already, in terms of working relationships. We believe that this is going to be a wonderful thing for both organizations," says Butler. Britt Erickson
NEWS FROM FACSS Celia Henry reportsfromProvidence, RI of fluorescence and reflectance measurements for seven patients; the combination was for seven patients; and fluoresFluorescent diagno- cencebetter alone was better for one patient. sis of colon cancer Similarly, Van Dam's group used Ar+Spectroscopic methods are continuing laser excitation at 370 nm to excite fluorestheir journey from research laboratories to cence of colon tissue. They used fluoresdoctors' offices. For example, several recence to identify dysplasia, a precancerous search groups are using fluorescence spec- condition that most often takes the form of troscopy to diagnose colorectal cancer— adenomas, more commonly known as polthe third most prevalent kind of cancer but yps. They collected fluorescence images the second leading cause of cancer deaths from 14 adenomatous polyps and six hyperfor men and women. Because therapy has plastic polyps from 30 patients. Over the had little impact, the cancer must be despectral range 400-700 nm, the fluorestected earlier to reduce mortality. Haishan cence intensity from adenomatous polyps Zeng of the British Columbia Cancer was less than half that of normal tissue. Agency and Jacques Van Dam of Harvard Van Dam indicated that 1-mm dysplasic Medical School both presented results tissue would probably be missed by endosfrom fluorescence endoscopy applied to copy but that fluorescence detected such the diagnosis of colon cancer. small spots which then confirmed by histology The Canadian group used the 437-nm peak of a Hg arc lamp to excite autofluoresCurrently, the spectroscopic measurecence of colonic tissue. They collected the ments are serving as a guide, rather than fluorescence signal in two different waveas a replacement, for surgical biopsies. length bands (green and red) with two intensified charge-coupled device detectors, A PEBBLE in and the combination of the separate images was displayed in real time. They deyour cell termined that a significant decrease in fluo- A popular way of monitoring intracellular rescence intensity or an increase in the chemistry requires the direct injection of ratio of red to green fluorescence indicated dyes into the cell—a technique fraught abnormal tissue. The imaging system with potential problems. The dyes can clearly showed these regions, and suspibuffer the cell, cannot be positioned, and cious tissue could then be biopsied. can change the cell chemistry (masking the very information that is sought). PerIn a new imaging technique, they use a haps most detrimental to analytical mealight source that provides both blue light surements, appropriately selective dyes for fluorescence measurements and red/ near-IR light for reflectance measurements, aren't even available for many ions. One answer to dyes is a fiber-optic sensor with which are used to correct the fluorescence submicrometer tip. However, such a demeasurements for distance. In a prelimivice is large relative to the area being nary study of the diagnosis of 15 patients, fluorescence measurements alone provided monitored, and it can only monitor one position. diagnoses comparable to the combination 24 A
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, January 1, 1998
TEM micrograph of human neuroblastoma cell containing PEBBLEs.
Heather Clark, a member of Raoul Kopelman's group at the University of Michigan, describedfiberlessoptical sensors that they have dubbed PEBBLEs (probes encapsulated by biolistic embedding), which are formed in a microemulsion process and typically contain a polymer matrix, fluorescent dyes, and nonfluorescent ionophores. They range in size from 20 nm to 5 um. The group estimates that the 20-nm sensors are the smallest yet made. The PEBBLEs can be injected into cells with either a picoinjector or 3. Efcne Qfun The researchers discovered that both methods could damage cells if care was not taken. For example PEBBLEs have been injected into human neuroblastoma cells (brain tumor cells) When PEBBLEs were illuminated with 488-nm light, it was impossible to visually distinguish between autofluorescence from the organelles or overlapping cells and the PEBBLEs. However, because the autofluorescence and PEBBLE spectra were offset from one another, with the PEBBLE fluorescing at longer wavelengths, it was possible to zoom in on the areas containing PEBBLEs.
