BioMICADAS: Compact next generation AMS system for pharmaceutical science

The next generation Accelerator Mass Spectrometer system specifically designed to address the needs of the growing pharmaceutical science market has passed validation testing. The system dubbed BioMICADAS is based on a previously developed compact carbon dating instrument, the MICADAS. Like its predecessor, it has an overall footprint of only 2.5 x 3 m(2) and uses a 200 kV high voltage platform for tandem based ion acceleration. The ion source can accommodate samples as graphite or gaseous CO2. It is equipped with two independently operating vacuum locks, allowing continuous measurement sequence and providing a capacity of similar to 20,000 samples per annum. A barcoded cathode tracking system allows data capture into Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) regulated work. It can be housed in research laboratories alongside other complementary bioanalytical equipment and operated by general laboratory staff as the system is designed to be robust and user-friendly. The system has undergone rigorous validation over the range from 0.1 to 100 Modern Carbon, including accuracy, linearity, robustness, and precision experiments over the course of 7 months. It has been shipped and installed at the site of our collaborative partner, Vitalea Science in Davis, California. The installation process took similar to 2 weeks from boxes to beam. The feasibility of the system to determine the absolute specific activity of biogenic samples was also shown by using the method of isotopic dilution. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.