Acquisition of a iXR Raman Spectrometer

A RheoRaman instrument will be of tremendous value to uncover and fully understand not only the described biobarrier interaction, but also interactions with drugs and chemicals relevant for development of novel pharmaceutical materials, as wells and to explore the dynamics and potential for eradication of bacterial biofilm. This is key research carried out at the Department of Pharmacy, UCPH, where the instrument will be located.

Purchase of a Raman unit compatible with our existing rheometer to perform RheoRaman analysis. By coupling Raman spectroscopy to an existing state-of-the-art rheo-microscope in a novel and critically relevant RheoRaman infrastructure, we can go beyond state-of-the-art providing deeper understanding of the bio-nano interactions occurring within the human biobarriers.

The Rheo-Raman Accessory from TA Instruments integrates with the iXR Raman Spectrometer from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Gammadata) to provide a turnkey, safe system with Class 1 laser certification. The features included by combining the iXR Raman unit with our existing TA Rheometer is integrated operation between the two units, choice of different lasers for maximum versatility (432nm, 532nm, 785nm with high brightness and high-power options) and user installable laser sets. The design of the instrument allows for free space coupling maximizing laser intensity at the sample. A special and highly important aspect of the compatibility between our existing TA HR-30 rheometer and the iXR Raman Spectrometer is the software integration that provides seamless Rheo-Raman experiments by synchronized data collection between the TA TRIO and Thermo ScientificTM OMNICTM software with Rheo-Raman data analysis in the OMNIC software. On top of this, the instrument allows for temperature control up to 100degC, alignment and vibration free measurements, micrometer driven access to any radial position, fine axial adjustment for focusing inside the sample and finally quartz plates minimizing the fluorescence artefacts.