Services

ABrC is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory under National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), Australia. At present, ABrC is offering the following services:

1. Workplace safety
2. Environmental Toxicology
3. Food safety and security
4. NMR Services
5. Proteomics and Peptidomics Services - Protein identification and peptide sequence identification
6. Metabolomics Services - Natural product prediction
7.  Honey authentication
8. Biofermentation facilities

Workplace Safety

Drug and alcohol abuse and their effects on employees have become serious concerns in many countries. Individuals are experimenting with an increasing range of psychoactive substances, leading to an escalating number of problems and spiraling costs. The impact on small to medium sized industries, multinationals and society at large has been estimated in the billions of Ringgit in terms of lower productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, sickness, accidents, disciplinary problems, workplace disputes and insurance claims. A comprehensive company-wide program targeting drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace can be the single most powerful instrument an employer can use to ensure productivity, safeguard the workplace and promote family stability and harmony. The goals and objectives of such an approach must be clearly defined in a policy statement, which carries the written commitments of both the employer and the employee. Key elements in this strategic plan include prevention through awareness and education, early assistance to halt the casual user and rehabilitation of the habitual abuser. The list of drugs analyzed under the Workplace Safety includes:

1. Profile 1; Screening of 9 drugs (Package A)
2. Profile 2; Screening of 5 drugs (Package B)
3. Alcohol Confirmation in Blood (Package C)
4. Screening of 1 drug (Package D)
5. Confirmation and Quantification for Cannabinoids /Barbiturates/ Cocaine (Package E)
6. Confirmation and Quantification for Opiates (Package F)
7. Confirmation and Quantification for Benzodiazepines (Package G)
8. Confirmation and Quantification for Stimulants & Narcotics (Package H)
9. Confirmation and Quantification of 1 analoque from Stimulants & Narcotics (Package I)
10. Quantification and reconfirmation of 1 drug (Package J)
11. Determination of Amphetamine Isomer (Package K)

Environmental Toxicology

Environmental pollution is a problem in both developed and developing countries due to population growth and urbanization, which happened since the onset of the industrial revolution. This technology progress has facilitated the production of pollutants. The area of service is defined as the investigation of the chemicals in the environment, such as heavy metal, dioxins, and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), which could bring toxic effects to human being. This service will assist private or government agencies to understand the potential effects from hazardous environmental exposures to the public health. The analyses which are provided by ABrC are:

1. Analysis of Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibendofurans (PCDFs) and Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs)*
2. Dioxins-Furans in Stack Emission (air sample)*
3. Full Cadmium Analysis (Cadmium Urine, Creatinine , β2M & Cadmium Blood)*
4. Cadmium Analysis in Blood by ICP-MS *
5. Single Element in Urine (with Creatinine)*
6. Single Element in Urine (with Creatinine & β2M)*
7. Analysis of  Beta -2-Microglobulin with Creatinine*
8. Analysis of Creatinine*
9. Cadmium Analysis in Membrane Cellulose Ester by ICP-MS*

*All analyses are not accredited by ISO 17025

Food Safety 

Food is not safe if it would be likely to cause physical harm to a person who might later consume it. However, food is not unsafe, merely because its inherent nutritional or chemical properties cause, or its inherent causes, adverse reactions only in persons with allergies or sensitivities that are not common to the majority. It could be due to the processes during the preparation. This service is offered to private and government agencies in order to inspect food materials for the purpose of safeguarding public health by providing consumers food that is safe, unadulterated and honestly presented. The range of service is as below:

1. Determination of 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-Diol in Food (3-MCPD)
2. Determination of b-Agonists In Food And Agricultural Materials
3. Determination Of Chloramphenicol In Food And Agricultural Materials
4. Determination Of Nitrofuran Metabolites In Food And Agricultural Materials
5. Analysis Of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons In Food And Agricultural Materials
6. Analysis of Melamine in Food
7. Analysis Of Steroid And Stilbene In Food And Agricultural Materials
8. Analysis Of Dyes In Food And Agricultural Materials
9. Analysis Of Antihelmintic Drugs In Food And Agricultural Materials
10. Analysis Of Growth Promoter In Animal Feed Sample
11. Analysis Of Nitrofuran In Agricultural Materials
12. Analysis Of Acrylamide In Aqueous
13. Analysis Of Acrylamide In Food
14. Analysis Of Target Compound-Aristolochic Acid*
15. Analysis Of Target Compound- Glucocorticosteroid*
16. Analysis Of Target Compound-Sibutramine*
17. Analysis Of Target Compound-Sildenafil & Tadalafil*
18. Analysis of Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibendofurans (PCDFs) and Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs)*

 All analyses are accredited by ISO 17025, except for analysis, which is marked with *

 

Advance your research with NMR 700 MHz ASCEND™ spectrometer

UPNMR At a Glance

IPharm in collaboration with USM under the management of ‘Unit Perkhidmatan NMR’ (UPNMR) provide access to a state-of-the-art NMR facility with Bruker’s 700 MHz  ASCEND™ spectrometer. The facility is ideal for natural products elucidation, structural biology research and materials research applications. Additionally, it comes with a TCI cryo-probe which gives a much needed sensitivity to observe sample amounts that were considered too small only a few years ago.

UPNMR provides

1. Natural Products and Synthesis Products Platform : Experiment: ¹H, ¹³C, HMBC, HSQC, COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, Full Set Package
2. Metabolomics and Proteomics Platform : Experiment: ¹H, Jres (Profilling), HSQC (profiling), Full Set Package
3. Time slot (hourly rate) Platform
4. Unlimited sample (monthly rate) Platform

Note:

• Price charges may vary with sample turnaround time
• Price charges depend on the number of samples received
• Unlimited sample package only for ¹H and ¹³C experiments.

Why Us?

• Higher sensitivity
• Better stability and reproducibility
• Suitable for volume limited samples
• Quick turnaround time
• Offers better accuracy and precision required for metabonomics and metabolomics application
• Platform-based service charge – flexible and affordable rate  

Contact Us:

1. Dr. Syahidah Akmal Muhammad (Unit Manager of UPNMR); Email: syahidah.muhammad@usm.my
2. Dr Lim Gin Keat (USM); Email: limgk@usm.my
3. Cik Azimah Amanah (IPharm); Email: azimah@ipharm-nibm.my
4. En. Zahari Othman; Email: zahario@hotmail.com

 Proteomics and Peptidomics Services

1. Proteomics/Glycoproteomics - This service involves tryptic-digestion as pretreatment of protein sample followed by LCMSMS analysis using LCMS LTQ Orbitrap. De novo sequencing and sequence matching with database (NCBIr or SwisProt) will then be performed using the data obtained. Post translational modification (PTM) of the protein can also be identified. 

2.  Peptidomics - Direct injection of the peptide samples into LCMS LTQ Orbitrap followed by de novo sequencing using Peaks Studio.  Modification of peptides can also be predicted. 

3. i2D-PAGE - An alternative and/or complementary technique to the conventional 2D-PAGE. Provides new point of view for two-dimensional separation of proteins. Exclusive at ABrC. More infro click here.

4. Glycomics -  Analysis of glycan structures from proteins using MALD-MS/MS.

Contacts:

1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gan Chee Yuen (Peptidomics and Proteomics); Email: cygan@usm.my
2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Nazri Ismail (Glycoproteomics, Proteomics, glycomics and i2D-PAGE): Email: mdnazri@usm.my

 Metabolomics service

This service provides a prediction of extracted metabolites using LCMS QTOF. Crude extract or isolated extract will be injected into the instrument and tandem MS will be performed. All the masses of the compounds will be detected and formula of each compound will be predicted. The data will then be subjected to database search. Confirmation of compounds can be performed using the MSMS peak as the fingerrprint matching.  

Contacts:

1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gan Chee Yuen; Email: cygan@usm.my
2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Nazri Ismail: Email: mdnazri@usm.my

 

Pure honey is known to have numerous health benefits and nutritional values. However, honey is often adulterated for financial gains as adulterated honey can be produced and offered for sale at lower rates to increase profit margins. Adulteration of honey can be done through feeding bees with different sugar syrups during honey production or adding different sugar syrups such as High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or cane sugar at certain ratios after production. Any adulterations and misleading statements about the honey’s geographical and botanical origin can cause severe problems to consumers and detrimental to pure honey producers.

Our laboratory offers honey authentication testing by detection of C4 sugar adulteration in pure honey based on AOAC Official Methods of Analysis 998.12. The test method employs analysis of isolation and purification of protein from honey and determination of carbon isotopic ratio of the extracted protein together with its honey by Elemental Analyser - Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (EA-IRMS).

 

 

No	Instrument	Quantity	Brand/model
1	Chiller	1	Constance
2	BSL II	1	Essco
3	Incubator Oven	1	Memert IN 110
4	Incubator Shaker with Cooling	1	Multitron, Infors
5	Orbital Shaker	1	Orbitron, Infors
6	Hotplate with Magnetic Stirrer	2	IKA, RCT Basic Magnatic B S105
7	Refrigerated High Speed Centrifuge 50ml	1	Beckman Coulter Allegra X30R
8	Autoclave 110L	1	Hirayama 110L
9	UV Visible Spectrometer	1	GENSYS 150 Uv-Vis
10	100L S/Steel Automatic Sterilization Bioreactor	1	Infors
11	500L S/Steel Automatic Sterilization Bioreactor	1
12	Continuous Centrifuge	1	Alfa Laval,Clara 20
13	Evaporator	1	EYLA N-1300V-WB
14	Drum Dryer	1	Buflovak
15	Sterile Mobile Tank	1	Infors
16	Water Distiller	1	Favorit W4L
17	Oven	1	Memert UF 110
18	Weighing Balance, Top Pan Balance	1	Fisher Brand FPRS 4262
19	Micropipette set (1, 10, 20, 200, 1000, 5000 µL)	1	Sartorius/Tacta
20	Vacuum Filtration Set	1	Favorit
21	Micro Centrifuge 2.0ml	1	Eppendorf 5425 G
22	Phase Contrast High Frequency Microscope with Camera	1	Olympus
23	Freezer (-20)	1	Lab Cold Advanced
24	PH Meter	1	Chemopharm/Eutech PH2700
25	Autoclave 150L	1	Systec 150L
26	Bunsen Burner	1	Schuett Phoenix iii
27	6L Bioreactor	1	Minifors 6 L Infors