Stellenbosch University
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New Vibrational Spectroscopy facility “world class”
Author: E Els
Published: 09/03/2018

The new Vibrational Spectroscopy unit within the Central Analytical Facilities (CAF) at Stellenbosch University was launched on 6 March. This world class facility offers students, researchers and industry wonderful new possibilities for applications across a broad spectrum of fields like food quality and safety, medical, agricultural, archaeological, palaeontological and the pharmaceutical industries.

 

Situated in the Department of Food Science building the unit houses newly acquired hyperspectral imaging equipment which make the study of spectral differences to resolve the chemical composition and spatial distribution of these components possible. The physical properties of the sample can also be investigated on a non-destructive and non-invasively way with minimum or no sample preparation.

Guests at the launch were welcomed by prof Gary Stevens, CAF director. “I am very excited to see what we can get this laboratory to do in terms of research across a very broad range of fields" Stevens said. The Unit is an initiative that was made possible by funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) through the National Equipment Programme and the excellent grant application that was written by prof Marena Manley and dr Paul Williams. Mr Stephen Dlamini from the NRF stated his excitement about the new laboratory and reminded guests about the range of opportunities and funding which the NRF offer.

Manley who first became aware of hyperspectral imaging in 2005 said that this laboratory “really is a dream come true". The equipment in the laboratory was installed in February 2018 by technicians from HySpex, Norsk Elektro Optikk in Norway.  HySpex reported that this is “the largest installation ever done on a single site". There is no such facility in the entire world. "This really is a world class facility". Manley encouraged students and researchers to use the laboratory and said that they made sure that the software (from Prediktera, called Breeze and Evince) is user friendly. “This is a research facility, not only to send your samples to, but also to get involved and use the facility."

Dr Janine Colling, manager of the facility, explained that the unit has three systems. A Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) system (operating in the 850 – 2500 nm spectral range); a Visible Near Infrared (VNIR) system (operating in the 400 – 1000 nm spectral range) and a dual VNIR/SWIR system to scan in transmission or reflectance mode. Colling invited students, researchers, academic institutions and industry to use the laboratory and apply for a training workshop scheduled for June (www.sun.ac.za/caf).  Hyperspectral imaging can be used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples.  Examples of applications include detection of bruising or chilling injury in fruit, to the identification of bacterial infestation in wheat.  Once applications are created they can also be used on the Breeze software for the real time analysis of samples.  

Guest speaker, Prof Christian Huck from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, said that all over the world serious food problems are seen. Some of these include food contamination from chicken farms, plastic found in chocolate and the very serious case in China in 2008 where melamine were added to baby nutrition to artificially increase the content of protein. 54 000 babies had to be hospitalised and some died. There are numerous other examples. Huck said that medicine applications, the testing and finding of new medicinal plants, has become more important in Europe. He emphasized the need for tools and easy to use equipment to do studies.

All those interested to know more or visit this facility can visit the website www.sun.ac.za/caf or send an email to dr Janine Colling at jcolling@sun.ac.za.

         

  Mr Stephen Dlamini (NRF) and prof Gary Stevens (CAF) -  Prof Marena Manley - Guests at the launch of the new facility

 

                                

  Dr Janine Colling, manager of the new Vibrational Spectroscopy unit - Mr Stephen Dlamini (NRF) -  Prof Christian Huck (Austria)