LUX Assure asked the Institute of Photonics, at the University of Strathclyde, to explore the feasibility of a combined fluorometer and spectrophotometer that would be portable. The project was supported by a SUPA START Award.
Portable Combined Fluorometer and Spectrophotometer
LUX Assure and Institute of Photonics, University of Strathclyde
LUX Assure asked the Institute of Photonics, at the University of Strathclyde, to explore the feasibility of a combined fluorometer and spectrophotometer that would be portable. The project was supported by a SUPA START Award.
LUX Assure, based in Livingston, specialises in delivering robust, highly sensitive and simple to use chemical monitoring technologies for both offshore and onshore use. Their products draw on their expertise in the life sciences. Most of their technologies use light-based methods which enable the development of rapid, simple and on site products.
The Institute of Photonics (IoP), at the University of Strathclyde, is a commercially-oriented research unit. The Institute’s key objective is to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications and development in the area of photonics. They work across a broad range of photonic source development - all solid-state lasers, semiconductor materials and devices - and applications -specialising in biophotonics, in the latest developments in optical communications, in semiconductor lithography and a host of other areas.
This SUPA Start project was in two parts. The first aimed at providing some assistance to Lux Assure to tailor commercially available equipment so that it was suitable for analysing samples containing the new fluorescent markers that Lux had developed.
The second part was a feasibility study into making an instrument that could perform the functions of two instruments – a fluorometer and a spectrophotometer – that are available commercially. This new instrument would be portable and enable Lux to perform measurements without needing to carry as much equipment as is currently the case. It could also offer added functionality such as user changeable filters.