RESOLUTION LAB
Environmental and Analytical Solutions
Our mission
to carry specialized analytical services, problem solving, training, knowledge transfer and value-added analytical expertise to research and to the society through innovative solutions combining environmental research and advanced chromatographic systems for the study of complex environmental and biological systems.
About/Who are we?
The RESOLUTION LAB is a research-oriented facility, located at FCT NOVA, staffed with an experienced team that brings specialized and value-added analytical expertise, state of the art instrumentation and methodologies for research, researchers and for partnerships with external academic institutions and industry.
Our Environmental research focuses on the effects of the elements and chemical compounds on nature - air, water, soil, food, food chains, biome, chemical ecology, environmental remediation, waste valorization and recovery of critical raw materials.
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Our research using chromatography aims the study and development of new analytical approaches, method optimization and final user transfer of analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative characterization of complex environmental, biological and food matrices, Chemical Ecology and problem solving in the environment (remediation processes and environmental monitoring).
What we do/activities
The infrastructure allows, technical advice and consultancy, analytical problem solving, compositional matrix characterization, qualitative and quantitative analytical monitoring, with resolution, accuracy and sensitivity, of legacy/persistent organic pollutants (e.g. PAHs), pesticides and emergent contaminants (e.g. PPCPs) in environmental food and other biological matrices, monitoring of target contaminants and metabolites in remediation and bio-remediation processes, environmental forensic analysis, biomarkers discovery, headspace analysis and detection and identification of semiochemicals (pheromones, kairomones, etc.) that mediate insect-plant and insect-insect behavior, producing knowledge that allows the development of environmental friendly methods for pest management.
The lab work recognition granted partnerships with national industry, to solve analytical, quality and process issues, leveraging final product competitiveness and has been recognized by several awards in meetings and symposiums (Genzo Shimadzu award, in 2014, at the 38th International Symposium of Capillary Chromatography; Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, in 2017, at the 18th European Meeting on Environmental and Bruker awards at the 10º Encontro Nacional de Cromatografia and at the 5º Encontro Nacional de Espectrometria de Massa)
Available technologies/equipment
The Resolution Lab houses liquid chromatography (HPLC with DAD, UV and FLD), gas chromatography (GC, mdGC and GCxGC) and mass spectrometry systems (GC/QqQMS and GC/TOFMS), state-of-the-art instrumentation that allows high-throughput, quantitative and qualitative workflows for environmental monitoring in all its compartments (water, air, soil and biota) with regulatory compliance and biological matrices.
The unit is recently equipped with an olfactometer connected to a gas chromatograph (GC-O) that allow the use of human assessors to detect and evaluate odour-active compounds in samples submitted to GC separation and with electroantennography (EAG), a high selective technique that in connection with a GC separation, allows an insect antenna to be used as an "electroantennographic detector" (GC-EAD), thus providing information on the olfactory perception of insects leading to the detection of bioactive compounds (semiochemicals such pheromones) in complex biological matrices.