The Analytical Core Facility offers a comprehensive range of research services for the food and beverage industry including analyses of fragrance and aroma compounds, flavonoids and anthocyanins in fruits, as well as metabolite profiling of small molecules.

Open to the public, the Analytical Core Facility provides specialized equipment for the analysis of small molecules on a fee-for-service basis. We’re here to make sure you have access to the tools and resources you need to answer your research questions.

Part of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC, this is a shared resource facility offering high analytical data quality, relevant and effective instrument and analysis training, and expertise on analytical research projects. The facility provides training on analytical equipment for academic and non-academic research projects.

If you’re interested in analytical method development, quantitative and qualitative small molecule analysis, or equipment training please reach out! We have experience in a range of small molecules using our GC or LC system. We have the capacity for LC-MS, GC-MS, HPLC-UV, HPLC-RID, or HPLC-FLD chromatography.

Equipment and Services

LC-MS. With our LC-qTOF system we can provide high resolution MS1 and MS2 scans of targeted and untargeted analytes. This instrument is routinely used for the detection and quantification of low-abundance natural products in complex mixtures with high resolution mass.

GC-MS. Our gas chromatography – mass spectrometer instruments can reliably detect and quantify trace levels of volatile compounds in crude or purified samples. These instruments are regularly used for the quantification of compounds like terpenes, waxes, esters, and aldehydes.

GC-MS (Headspace or SPME). By using robotic autosamplers we can assess static headspace or SPME (solid-phase microextraction) concentrated volatiles through our GC-MS systems. Headspace can provide very clean data, while SPME can greatly enhance detection limits.

GC-MS-ODP. This instrument couples a mass spectrometer with sensory data using an olfactometry detection port. This allows you to combine chemical and sensory information in an “olfactogram”. The ODP technique is often used by flavorists, perfumists, product developers, and sensory studies coupled with gene identification.

GC-MSMS. With our Agilent GC-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer we can conduct trace level analysis of analytes using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). This is a widely used technique for trace analysis of environmental contaminants such as pesticides in plant tissue, analytes in ppb concentrations, and aglycone precursors.

HPLC (DAD, UV, RID, FLD). This is a robust technique used for reliable quantification and detection of compounds. We regularly use HPLC methods for the quantification of sugars, amino acids, small organic acids, and carotenoids. This technique is widespread in QC labs around the world. We have several HPLC or UPLC options, and can offer high sample throughput for those large sample sets.

Further information

Please visit the Analytical Core Facility website for further information.
Contact Facility Manager, Dr. Eerik Piirtola at eerik.piirtola@ubc.ca