Out with the Old, In with the New:

Scientists Improve a Critical Analysis Process

Good business analysts are sought out like firecrackers on the 4^th^ of
July: they can help companies save millions of dollars by making the
same or better product at less cost. While the Northwest Fisheries
Science Center isn't a fortune 500 company, it does perform many
different studies and analyses that produce data critical to
understanding our oceans and the health and status of important living
marine resources, including salmon, groundfish, and killer whales. One
Center process was recently revamped by a team of the Center's very own
"business analysts" and the outcome is better, faster, and less
expensive data.

Every year Center scientists analyze hundreds of samples from fish and
marine mammals for contaminants, including pesticides and
polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. This is a complicated
process---involving two primary instruments and many different
steps---and, like a temperamental car, there are always ways to
fine-tune the process to increase efficiency. Recently, when one of the
primary pieces of analysis equipment started to wear out, the Center's
environmental chemistry (EC) team decided to not only replace this piece
of equipment, but to give the whole process a tune-up by creatively
examining every step of the analysis process for possible improvements.

EC team scientists are veterans of the contaminant analysis process and
collectively had the skills and creativity necessary to take on the
challenge of revamping this complicated procedure. Like meticulous
detectives with a flair for bargain hunting, they researched equipment,
carefully examined instruments and different parts that were available,
and talked with product vendors. When the EC team found something that
they thought might work, they set it up and tried it out. Like all great
inventors, not everything panned out, but even small successes sometimes
resulted in tremendous improvements. For example, to prevent
contamination during the analysis process, all glassware must be new and
rinsed with solvents to ensure that it is clean. The rinsing process
takes staff time and produces hazardous materials. Through their
investigations, the EC team found sources of less expensive
glassware---from one half to one tenth the previous cost. They also
modified an existing furnace to heat the glassware to temperatures high
enough to clean it, eliminating the need for solvent rinsing. This
revised step in the process has saved costs and staff time and has
reduced exposure to and production of hazardous materials.

Not only did EC team scientists investigate a wide range of available
equipment, they also created their own. While almost all of us would be
reluctant or downright scared to take parts of old equipment and create
something new that involves electricity and chemicals, the EC team did
so with great success.

As part of the analysis process, staff concentrate each sample twice to
ensure there is an appropriate volume to feed into each of the two
analytical instruments. First, staff concentrate a sample from about 60
milliliters (ml) to 1ml and then later from 1ml to 100 microliters
(ul---a thousandth part of a milliliter). To improve these steps in the
process, EC team scientists built a piece of equipment---a block
evaporator---to help concentrate the samples and ensure that 1ml and 1ul
remains. Before this piece of equipment existed, staff visually gauged
when the sample level reached 1ml and 100ul---a somewhat tricky, and at
times, nerve-wracking task that sometimes could result in lost samples.

One of the biggest challenges the EC team faced, however, was not from
creating new equipment from old parts, but from a new piece of
equipment---the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry instrument or
GC/MS---that was purchased to replace the one that was wearing out. This
instrument separates chemical mixtures and has a very sensitive detector
that sends signals about each compound to a computer. These signals help
scientists identify the different compounds in a sample because every
compound, like a fingerprint, has a unique pattern or signal.

The GC/MS is critical to the Center's contaminant analyses, but the new
instrument did not work properly. Through much experimentation and
patience, EC team scientists worked with the GC/MS manufacturer to
explore and eventually fix the problems. For example, scientists
installed a different filament so that they could increase the source
temperature from 235° to 300°. They also installed a different mechanism
for injecting a sample into the GC/MS column for analysis. Ultimately,
the GC/MS produced results that all scientists dream of---accurate and
reliable. Moreover, these fixes eliminated one of the problems with the
previous GC/MS: the need to re-run samples, which is costly and
time-consuming.

With these improvements and more, EC team scientists revamped an
important analysis process that saves time and costs, improves safety,
and increases the quality of our data. Scientists can analyze 30% more
samples in the same amount of time and save about \$400 or 43% of the
costs per sample---that means hundreds of more samples can be run and
thousands of dollars are saved each year. In addition, with the revamped
process the Center has reduced exposure to and production of hazardous
materials by 40% and dramatically improved the accuracy and precision of
the data---an impressive and critical improvement.

While the details of the process are impressive, it is important to
remember that the data produced helps scientists understand what
contaminants, and how much of each contaminant, are present in different
marine mammal and fish samples. This information is key to deciphering
the multiple risks that marine mammals and fish face in their
environments, as well as to help ensure seafood safety. For example,
results from fish tissue samples run through this process have helped
scientists understand the impacts that certain restoration activities at
hazardous waste sites have had on contaminant levels in Puget Sound
bottom fish.

Given the application of the Center's contaminant analyses, it is
evident why the EC team's dedicated work to revamp this process will
have many immediate and long-lasting benefits. The EC team represents
some of the talented individuals that work at the Center and reminds us
that there is always room for invention and creativity in our work.