Superior Analytics

The goal of Superior Analytics is to use the concept of complete quality management to produce analytical results of known, documented, and acceptable quality. The validity of data resulting from day-to-day analysis depends on a strong, effective, and consistently practiced quality assurance program. Superior Analytics’ Quality Assurance Manual (QAM) outlines that program for all aspects of laboratory chemical and microbiological testing operation. Superior Analytics’ objectives for precision, accuracy, and detectability of analytical results, and the associated quality control measures are described.

Superior Analytics’ quality assurance program is designed to be dynamic in nature. It currently encompasses activities for traditional wet chemical analysis techniques, classical and state-of-the-art instrumental analysis methods, and field measurements using portable analysis equipment. The program is designed to facilitate the fulfillment of both the Superior Analytics’ and the client’s goals for its analytical products. It also satisfies appropriate university, local, state, and federal regulatory requirements. The QAM is updated at a minimum annually, based on the results of quality assurance monitoring of analytical processes, internal and external assessments, and evolving regulatory policies.

Established in 2002, the Lake Superior State University Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL) was created to meet the analysis and research needs of Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula. As the regions only full service environmental lab the EAL offers a wide range of analytical services to its clients including sample collection, inorganic and organic analysis in a variety of matrices, as well as genetic, microscopy & microanalysis, project design, and project implementation consultation.

Under the direction of LSSU faculty and staff the EAL offers undergraduate students internship opportunities within the lab. Student Interns are involved in all aspects of laboratory operation, affording them real hands on experience with not only the analytical side of a laboratory but also business side including data reporting and direct client interaction. The goal of these internships is to provide our students with a skill set allowing them to make a seamless transition to the workforce or graduate school. To date the EAL has employed nearly sixty students, all of which have moved on to become successful professionals.

Since its inception the EAL has matured into a fully-functioning analytical laboratory that allows students to gain hands on experience working on real projects with experienced faculty and staff. The combination of analytical services and practical education makes the LSSU EAL unique and allows the university to better serve its students and foster strong collaborations with both public and private sector partners.

Instrumentation includes:

• Agilent 7800 ICP-MS with He/H₂ mode collision reaction cell and O₂ plasma addition
• Agilent 4200 MP-AES with external gas control module for N₂ spectrophotometer purge and O₂ plasma addition
• CEM Mars 6 microwave digestor
• Benchtop HEPA hood systems

Instrumentation includes:

• Agilent 6070A LC-MS/MS with Agilent Jet Stream ESI and APCI sources and 1290 Infinity II UHPLC
• Agilent 6020B LC-TOF-MS with Agilent Jet Stream ESI and APCI sources and 1290 Infinity II UHPLC
• Agilent 7010B GC-MS/MS with High Efficiency EI Source and 8890 GC
• Agilent 5977B GC-MS with Inert Plus EI and CI sources, 8890 GC, and 7697A Headspace Sampler
• Agilent 5973 GC-MS with Inert EI source and Varian/Teledyne Tekmar Velocity XPT purge and trap sampler

Gas Chromatography

Instrumentation includes:

• Metrohm 930 IC for anion chromatography
• Agilent Cary 8454 UV/Vis with diode array detector, kinetics software, and temperature controlled cell
• Molecular Devices SpectraMax M2 UV/Vis cuvette/microplate reader with fluorescence and luminescence capabilities
• Shimadzu BioSpec-nano microvolume UV/Vis with diode array detector
• Agilent 4200 MP-AES with external gas control module for N₂ spectrophotometer purge and O₂ plasma addition
• Seal Analytical AQ1 – Automated Discrete Analyzer

Instrumentation includes:

• Applied Biosystems StepOne Plus qPCR
• Applied Biosystems Thermocycler

qPCR