IRMS Laboratory

About

We are primarily a collaborative service facility that aims to enable and develop stable isotope applications and to answer congruent research questions.

We support interdisciplinary investigations of soil and aquatic habitats by offering scientific consultation, student training, and a broad range of instrumentation and approaches for determining stable isotopic ratios of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen. Our commitment is to scientific merit and publication of the stable isotope ratio measurements generated by our combined thought, time, resources, and facilities.

Our facility was established with funding from the EU structural and investment funds. We charge at-cost prices for analyses to cover consumables. For the time we invest into providing each isotope value, our academic staff therefore prefers to participate as collaborators and co-authors for all projects, conference abstracts, publications, etc. that report data generated from our instrumentation. We’re also keen to assist with data interpretation and writing manuscripts, services that you don’t typically receive from commercial labs. In summary, we primarily contribute our knowledge, experience, and machine-time to research projects that advance a significant scientific agenda.

The SoWa Stable Isotope Facility is located in České Budějovice, Czechia within the framework of the Soil & Water Research Infrastructure, Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences. Initiated in February 2018, the facility currently provides the following measurements:

• δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ ³⁴S solids
• δ²H and δ¹⁸O of solids
• δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O carbonates
• δ²H, δ¹⁸O water
• δ¹³C and δ²H methane and C_2-6 gases
• δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O of atmosphere CO₂
• δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, δ²H fatty acid methyl esters, n-alkanes, and other biomarkers
• δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ²H amino acids
• δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O of N₂O reduced from nitrate (TiCl3 method)

Analysis protocols currently in development include:

• δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, δ²H monosaccharides
• δ¹³C organic acids

 

Services & Capabilities

Protocols for each analysis are linked to the parameters below.

Analyte	δ13C	δ15N	δ 34S	δ18O	δ2H
Solids: CNS or OH	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Alcohols	✔			✔	✔
Carbonates	✔			✔
Water				✔	✔
C1-6 gases	✔✔				✔✔
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon	✔
Atmospheric CO2	✔			✔
N2 , N2O, NO2 , NO3		✔		✔
n-alkanes & lipids	✔			✔	✔
Amino acids	✔✔	✔		✔
Monosaccharides	✔✔	✔		✔
Organic acids	✔
DOM	✔✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

 

 

Instrumentation

The SoWa Stable Isotope Facility is equipped with a Thermo Scientific^TM 253 Plus^TM 10 kV IRMS configured for determining the stable isotopic ratios of C, N, S, O, and H introduced as CO₂, N₂, SO₂, H₂, CO, or N₂O via continuous flow from the peripheral instruments listed below.

• SmartEA Isolink (Thermo Scientific^TM) converts solid and liquid samples to CO₂, N₂, SO₂, H₂, and/or CO gases via flash combustion and, in a single injection, allows for determination of δ ¹³C, δ ¹⁵N, δ³⁴S in samples with C:S ratios up to 10³. A high temperature combustion furnace is also available for δ ²H and δ ¹⁸O measurements.

• Trace GC 1310 Isolink II with Conflo-IV and tandem ISQ (Thermo Scientific^TM) for separation of ≥C₁ gases and combustion/pyrolysis for determination of stable isotopic composition. Analytes may also be channeled to the ISQ for simultaneous generation of MS2 spectra to support compound identification. The GC injection ports are equipped with both standard and PTV injectors as well as a double-shot pyrolyzer.

• GasBench II (Thermo Scientific^TM) with cold trap allows for pre-concentration, purification, and separation of CO₂, N₂, SO₂, H₂, CO, and N₂O introduced via autosampler injection of headspace samples as well as direct injection onto sample loops (50-250 µL). Flow can also be diverted to GC-Isolink reactors for CH4 isotopic analysis

• LC IsoLink for separation and conversion of organic compounds to CO₂ for IRMS analysis. The LC flow may be split to an ICPMS/MS detector, allowing for simultaneous analysis of stable isotopic and metal compositions. LC & IC column chromatography is envisioned to allow separation of targeted compound groups (i.e., mono- and oligo-saccharides, sugar alcohols, amino acids and organic acids) as well as non-targeted mixtures of complex natural substances with molecular weights ranging up to 1000 kDa.

 

Collaborative Service Projects

Ongoing and completed projects, grants, & collaborations

Year	Collaborator	Institution	Project	Funding Source	Status
2020-2023	Przemysław Wachniew George Melikadze Aurel Persoiu Boris Chubarenko Yurii Nabyvanets	AGH University of Science and Technology Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine	Environmental tracers for the assessment of nitrate contamination of coupled groundwater – surface water systems	IAEA TC Project RER7013	Ongoing
2019-present	Vojtek Tlaskal, Anne Daebeler	Institute of Soil Biology & Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS	Methane cycling in peatland sediments		Ongoing
2018-present	Gerrit Angst	Biology Centre CAS – ISB/SOWA	Disentangling the effect of substrate quality on the formation and chemical composition of mineral-protected soil organic matter	GAČR 19-00533Y	Soil texture affects the coupling of litter decomposition and soil organic matter formation Ongoing
2020-present	Mojmir Vasek	Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS	Methane cycling in Rimov Reservoir		Ongoing
2020-present	Henry Wu	Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)	Dietary controls on coral fatty acid dynamics		Ongoing
2020-present	Andreas Lorke	Universität Koblenz-Landau	The effect of flow velocity on methane production and oxidation in aquatic sediments		Ongoing
2019-present	Veronika Jílková	Biology Centre CAS – ISB/SOWA	SOM contents in the High Artic Soil respiration and priming effect of plant root exudate		Carbon Sequestration Related to Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in the High Arctic Ongoing
2020-2021	Daniel Petras	Biology Centre CAS – SOWA	Microbially induced iron, nitrogen and phosphorus co-recycling and transient decoupling in lacustrine ferruginous ecosystems		Aqueous system-level processes and prokaryote assemblages in the ferruginous and sulfate-rich bottom waters of a post-mining lake
2020-2021	Lihini Aluwihare	Univ. California San Diego	Microbial antioxidants as biomarkers of recalcitrant organic matter	CAS MSM200961904	Photochemical (UV–vis/H2O2) degradation of carotenoids: Kinetics and molecular end products
2020-2021	Carsten Mueller	University of Copenhagen	Effects of simulated wildfires on organic matter		Ongoing
2018-2021	Yuliya Vystavna	Biology Centre CAS – HBU	Recharge time and water isotopes in Šumava lakes		Ongoing
2019-2020	Ivana Veřjiková	Biology Centre CAS – HBU	Reversal roles of predator and prey in the asp/bleak model system		Ongoing
2019-present	Tomaš Hajek	University of South Bohemia, Dept. of Experimental Plant Biology	Carbohydrate and phenol biomarkers in Sphagnum peat		Ongoing
2019-present	Alica Chroňáková	Biology Centre CAS – ISB/SOWA	Actinomycetes lipidome		Ongoing
2019-present	Anne Daebeler	University of Vienna	H2 consumption by bacterial nitrifiers		Ongoing
2018-2020	Hana Šantrůčková & Jolanta Niedzwiecka	Univ. South Bohemia	Carbon use efficiency of 13C-glucose under oxic and anoxic conditions in forest soil		Ongoing

 

Calendar

Our planned instrument constellation and analyses

People

Name	Role	Phone	Room	Email
Dr. Travis B. Meador	Head of Laboratory	+420 387 775 637	206-NB	travis.meador {at} bc.cas.cz
Mgr. Ljubov Poláková	Head Technician		205-NB	ljubov.polakova {at} bc.cas.cz
Karelys Umbria Salinas	Technician		131	karelys.umbria {at} bc.cas.cz
Stanislav Jabinski	Ph.D. Student		205-NB	stanislav.jabinski {at} bc.cas.cz
IRMS Lab	a.k.a. “The Luggage”		240-NB

Graduates & Alumni

Name	Role | Era	Whereabouts	Link, Email
Dr. Sofia Semitsoglou	Postdoc | 2019-2022	ICRA Catalan Institute for Water Research	ResearchGate
Laura Nübl	BSc Thesis | 2021-2022	Linz, Austria