The University of Manchester’s School of Pharmacy has been using a Brookhaven BI-9000AT correlator to help improve research procedures and the instrument has proven particularly well matched to the detection of aggregates measuring only a few nanometers in size. The BI-9000AT was chosen over competitive systems because it offered more advanced features. These have been fully exploited by the department and will be a key factor in the choice of future systems.
Dr. David Attwood, Reader at the School of Pharmacy, University of Manchester, said: “We bought the Brookhaven BI-9000AT to replace our older system. After careful consideration of other instruments, we decided that the Brookhaven correlator was clearly the most advanced.”
The correlator is used as part of a photon correlation system to measure aggregation characteristics of surface-active molecules in aqueous solution. These include self-associating drug molecules, water soluble block co-polymers and also surfactants.
“High speed correlators are essential to measure the diffusion characteristics of these small aggregates in dilute solution,” said Dr Attwood. “We use the BI 9000AT for specialized research applications, for example, in combination with a powerful laser, it has enabled us to detect the presence of very small aggregates in our systems. An unexpected bonus was that it has also allowed us to examine intermicellar bridging in certain block co-polymer solutions.” Dr Attwood concluded: “Overall, we have been very pleased with the instrument and the service from Brookhaven has always been excellent. The performance of the BI 9000AT has enabled us to more easily examine aggregates down to the nanometer scale and this will certainly influence our choice of future correlator instruments for this laboratory.”
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