Metallomics laboratory at the unit of Metals and Health

The metallomics laboratory performs measurements of toxic and essential trace elements, often within large epidemiological studies (high throughput). It has been developed and implemented for more than 15 years at the unit of Metals and Health, Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), KI, and has generated more than 100 original scientific publications. It is primarily a research laboratory, but we may also measure on request, particularly from other research groups, the health sector and Swedish authorities. We aim to develop the laboratory to a core facility at Karolinska Institutet.

In the metallomics laboratory, we measure metals and other elements in biological fluids (e.g. urine, blood and breast milk), tissues (whole tissue samples, specific cells and cellular constituents), and as well as environmental samples (e.g. water, food and particles), using a highly sensitive ICP-MS instrument in a clean-room facility.

The available instruments include one Agilent 7900 single quadrupole ICP-MS with collision/reaction cell technology and one Agilent 1260 Infinity II HPLC system. The ICP-MS and HPLC systems are easily connected for pre-separation of e.g. different metabolites. To enable ICP-MS analysis of samples with more complex matrices, foremost solid samples, these are first digested in a Milestone UltraCLAVE II microwave digestion system.