The Social Lab · LAB BUSINESS September/October 2011 3 Sept./Oct. 2011 The definitive source for lab products, news and developments standards 5 EDITOR’S NOTE 6 NEWS 18 TECH WATCH

September/October 2011 www.labbusinessmag.com

The definitive source for lab products, news and developments

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Shakers

Saving Caribou

Global Warming

Architects Add Art to Science with New Lab Designs

The Social Lab

Science For Sale An Interview With Philip Mirowski

Focusing on the NanoworldAdvances in Electron Microscopy in Edmonton

LB_SeptOct11_Issue5.indd 1 10/17/11 11:12 AM

CHOICEMATTERS

Choice Matters

VWR, forms of VWR and the VWR logo and/or design are either registered trademarks ® or trademarks™, or service marks SM of VWR International, LLC in the United States and/or other countries. ©2011 VWR International, LLC. All rights reserved.

Contact your VWR Sales Representative, visit VWR.com, or call 1.800.932.5000 today.

Because No Two Labs are Completely AlikeScience should never be limited by a lack of options. Every lab deserves the freedom to � nd tools perfectly suited to speci� c needs. VWR is committed to offering broad product choice to a world of accelerating scienti� c advancement. We give you direct access to the world’s most respected equipment, supplies, chemicals, furniture, and more.

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LAB BUSINESS September/October 2011 3

Sept./Oct. 2011 www.labbusinessmag.com


standards5 EDITOR’S NOTE

6 NEWS

18 TECH WATCH

20 LAB WARE

BEAUTY AND OPENNESS IN LAB DESIGN Contemporary lab designs epitomize fashionable ideas of openness and collaboration. Whether the designs produce better science remains a question, say critics.

ABOVE: The Automotive Centre of Excellence at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, completed in 2011. Photo credit: Tom Arban

ON THE COVER: University of British Columbia Life Sciences Centre. Cover credit: Diamond & Schmitt Architects

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September/October 2011 www.labbusinessmag.com


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Global Warming

Architects Add Art to Science with New Lab Designs

The Social Lab

Science For Sale An Interview With Philip Mirowski

Focusing on the NanoworldAdvances in Electron Microscopy in Edmonton

inside

9 More Must Be Done to Save the CaribouThescienceonhowtosaveWoodlandCaribouisclearbutgovernmentpolicyisnot.DavidSuzukiarguesthatmoremustbedonetosavethissymbolofCanada.

15 Seeing at Smaller ScalesAdvancesinmicroscopygiveEdmontonlabsaviewoftheatomicworldandmakeitaworldleaderinthefield—andtheenvyofmanyotherlabs.

16 Science-Mart Sell OutsPhilipMorowskiarguescommercialsciencesellsoutsomeofthebasicpremisesofthescientificendeavour.

17 Political Intimidation in Science AreviewofRaymondS.Bradley’slatestbookdiscusseshowpoliticalconservativesintimidatescientistsandsuppresssciencethatdoesn’tsuittheirideology.

22 Communicating with the PublicJaneAubin,thenewChiefScientificOfficer/Vice-President,ResearchatCanadianInstitutesofHealthResearch,saysthedividebetweenscienceandfaithisoftencreatedoutoffearoflosingfaith,notahopeforgainingscientificunderstanding.

25

CHOICEMATTERS

Choice Matters

VWR, forms of VWR and the VWR logo and/or design are either registered trademarks ® or trademarks™, or service marks SM of VWR International, LLC in the United States and/or other countries. ©2011 VWR International, LLC. All rights reserved.

Contact your VWR Sales Representative, visit VWR.com, or call 1.800.932.5000 today.

Because No Two Labs are Completely AlikeScience should never be limited by a lack of options. Every lab deserves the freedom to � nd tools perfectly suited to speci� c needs. VWR is committed to offering broad product choice to a world of accelerating scienti� c advancement. We give you direct access to the world’s most respected equipment, supplies, chemicals, furniture, and more.

Talk to us about the needs of your lab. We are ready to help you succeed.

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editor’s note

Boundariesdetermineform.Changetheboundariesandyouchangewhatthethingis.

Jaron Lanier makes this point in his excellent book, You Are Not a Gadget.Privacy serves science in the samewaya cellwall aids life:without aboundarytoseparatetheinsidefromtheoutside,thechemicalsinsidethecellthatdrivelifewilldissolveintoaseaofeverything.Cellwallsigniteactivity,justasboundariesaroundbusinessesstimulateaction.AsLanierpointsout,Apple’sinventivenesshappenswithinahighlydeterminedenvironment.It’sonlyafterApple finalizes a product that it lets outsiders contribute ideas to theApple experience.

Lanier’s book is a critique of fashionable ideas about openness and collabora-tion espoused by New Age gurus. For all the good that collaboration and datasharing can do to advance science, solve social problems, and liberate democracy,endless collaboration—or collaboration at the wrong moments—can just asquickly undermine creativity, silence renegade voices, and inspire groupthink.

The newest generation of labs embody popular ideas of collaboration andopenness (see the cover story on page 10). Bright and voluminous, these labsmake a virtue of group discussions, accidental meetings, and lounge space.Administrators will relish in the positive vibes and snappy backdrops of thesecavernous, contemporary palaces. Funding agencies will appreciate the cost-savings that come from tucking any number of disciplines under one roof. Allaround, these buildings are good PR. But will collaborative labs lead to betterscience? To know, we need to examine the results of these lab designs. We needto hear from the people who work inside the labs, not the administrators. (Anddon’t ask architects to provide a fair critique of these new labs. Generally, archi-tects prefer to give each other awards.)

Before we build more of these fashionable spaces, perhaps we need to ask amore fundamental question: do we need more collaboration in the discoverysciences? With thousands of journal articles published each year, hundreds ofconferences staged around the world, networking events held all the time, jointresearch ventures—and, on top of all this, the limitless resources of the Web—does anybody think scientists suffer from impaired communications or the tor-tures of isolation?

If isolation is a serious issue, can we really solve this by creating a nice placefor researchers to have coffee? Likely not. We’ll get farther by tearing down thepretentions that surround individual disciplines. And, even better, by reformingintellectual property rules to make patent trolling impossible. Then, maybe,reluctant scientists—wherever they’re hiding—will come into the open andwork together.

A Nice Place for a Coffee

Robert Price,Managing Editor

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C130.A1.0102.D.CA-LBU.indd 1 8/30/11 12:12 PM LB_SeptOct11_Issue5.indd 5 10/17/11 11:12 AM

6 September/October 2011 LAB BUSINESS

news beat

Bucks for BeesGenome BC received $25 million from the Ministry of Health to

continue to develop and apply genomics tools that can be applied to issues that affect British Columbia’s economy. Beekeepers are experienc-ing annual colony loss due to bee-specific diseases caused by mites, viruses and bacteria. Since bees contribute approximately $200 million to British Columbia’s economy as honey producers and crop pollinators, researchers will work to annotate the bee genome to allow beekeepers to understand the natural pathogen-resistant traits in bees.

Roche invests

$190M

in Ontario facilityRoche Canada will invest $190 million over the next five years to build a Pharmaceutical Development site in Mississauga, Ontario, an endeavour which will create 200 biotech jobs. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade invested an additional $7.79 million in the project. The new site will be one of six similar Roche sites in the world driving the development of innova-tive medicines.

CSMLS Turns 75The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2012. CSMLS Executive Director Christine Nielson says she is proud that the vision founders had in 1937, to set a standard of excellence for the profession, is still rele-vant today. CSMLS is a voluntary certifica-tion board and members choose to belong and to be certified by the society.

8.7 million

Species on EarthAccording to data from the Census of Marine Life, there are 8.7 million species on Earth, 6.5 million of which are on land and 2.2 in water.

Ateam led by Dr. Gerard Wright, theDirector of the Michael G.

DeGroote Institute for InfectiousDisease Research at McMasterUniversity in Ontario, discoveredancient antibiotic-resistant bacteria in

the sediments at a site at Bear Creek inthe Yukon Territory. The finding sup-ports the theory that antibiotic resis-tance is a natural occurrence that pre-dates the use of antibiotics in healthcare.

Ancient Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria

Lack of IT in Toronto Region

Although the Toronto Region is one of the top four Information and CommunicationsTechnology clusters in North America, the Region needs to accelerate the creation

of new IT start ups that bring new energy and ideas to the market, says Toronto RegionResearch Alliance President and CEO Patrick Draper. The Region, which includesToronto, the GTA, Guelph, Hamilton and Waterloo, needs to strengthen its position asan innovative hub. “The Ontario Places to Grow plan forecast that GTA employmentwill increase from 3.4M in 2011 to 3.8M in 2021. To achieve these jobs targets, theToronto Region must internationalize its economy, leveraging both increased foreigndirect investment and growth in export sales of resident companies,” says Draper.



EU Research Project Warns Major Threats Due to Global Warming

By combining scientific research and public outreach, ProjectCLAMER aims to bridge the gap between what researchers

know about the impact of climate change on oceans and whatpolicy makers and the public know. The project, coordinated bythe Royal Netherlands Institute forSea Research, involved 17 marineresearch institutes and universitiesfrom 11 European countries.Through a 200-page synthesis ofpapers from over 100 EU-fundedprojects and a survey from 10,000EU residents, Project CLAMERdetails the social and economicimpacts due to changing oceans as aresult of climate change. Societalimpacts forecast include risk of ris-ing illness, property damage as aresult of sea-level rise and coastalerosion and smaller fisheries andnorthward fish migrations. CarloHeip, General Director of the RoyalNetherlands Institute for SeaResearch, says the main messagethat came out of the research is thatchanges to the world’s oceans arehappening and they are happeningmuch faster than researchers origi-nally thought. “By bringing all thisevidence together, it’s quite clearthat we can now show that peoplehave to be aware of the fact that theseas around Europe and elsewhereare changing,” says Heip.

Partnership to Bring New Therapies to Neurological Disorder Sufferers

Apartnership between the Centre for DrugResearch Development (CDRD) and the

Brain Research Centre (BRC) will enablethe advancement of the rate of discovery andthe development and commercializationgeared toward the diagnosis and treatment ofneurological and psychiatric disorders. TheCDRD and the BRC are working togetherto further several ongoing research projectsthat explore new approaches to neurologicaland psychiatric disorders. One such is projectis based on research by Dr. Yu Tian Wang, Professor in theFaculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, whoidentified a peptide that may have potential as a therapeutic inmild cognitive impairment and early onset Alzheimer’s. MaxCynader, Director of the Brain Research Centre, believes braindiseases represent Canada’s largest health challenge and bringingtogether researchers from the BRC with the CDRD’s drug devel-opment capabilities will accelerate the process by which newtherapeutics are brought to patients.

1/3 square

Safeguard Our Aquatic Animal Resources

Protect aquatic animals against diseaseIf you find or suspect a reportable disease in finfish, molluscsor crustaceans, you must tell the Canadian Food InspectionAgency (CFIA).

Reportable diseases could seriously harm Canada’s aquaticanimals, international trade and the economy. The CFIA worksto prevent these diseases from being introduced into, andspreading within, Canada.

For more information and a listing of reportable aquatic animal diseases,

call 1-800-442-2342 or visit

www.inspection.gc.ca/aquatic

Lab_bus:2 2011/09/19 1:19 PM Page 1



news beat

As part of the international effort in phase one of the Brassica rapa sequencing project, scientists from Agriculture and

Agri-Food Canada and the National Research Council of Canada succeeded in determining part of the genome of cano-la. Dr. Isobel Parkin, a molecular geneticist at AAFC’s Saskatoon Research Centre and co-principal investigator of the Canadian Canola Sequencing Initiative, says that the project’s goal of facilitating breeding of the crop and increasing sustain-ability will enhance the crop’s ability to grow well for the pro-

ducers. Dr. Parkin led a group that sequenced 53,124 bacterial artificial chromosome end sequences that provid-ed scaffold points in the b. rapa genome sequence. The group defined anchor points between the b. rapa genome sequence and the genetic linkage map of the equivalent A genome of Canola. Canola is Canada’s major oilseed crop and brings over $13.8 billion per year to the Canadian economy.

Due to federal budget cuts, Environment Canada laid off 50

contract employees, mostly junior scien-tists and technicians in June 2011. In August 2011, Environment Canada informed the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada that about 700 employees are in jeopardy as the agency plans to cut about 300 jobs and

relocate remaining employess in other government positions. On the list to be cut are many scientists involved in the agency’s ozone program. This sparked national and international concern as the Canadian ozone network and relat-ed data may be shut down as a result. Budget reductions at National Resources Canada have caused speculation that

the Ice Core Research Laboratory’s archive of ancient ice cores will be shut down as a result of downsizing. The National Research Council of Canada received more than a 20 per cent reduction to its budget for 2011 to 2012. The budget was reduced to $690,836,000 from $881,137,581 last fiscal year.

Government Cuts Public Science

Unravelling Canola’s Genetic Code

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suzuki comment

Woodland Caribou are at a CrossroadsBy David Suzuki

As a nation and a global community, Canada has a historyof ignoring environmental crises until it’s all but too late.Many of us remember the 1990s, when tens of thousands

of Canadians in the Maritimes lost their livelihoods after over-fishing wiped out fish stocks.

The boom-and-bust history reflected in the collapse of theEast Coast cod fishery, and in logging communities and miningtowns, should teach us that when an opportunity to get some-thing right on the environment comes along we must take imme-diate action or suffer the inevitable ecological and social conse-quences of our own short-sightedness.

Such a window of opportunity, to protect one of Canada’smost threatened wildlife species, has opened with the long-awaited release of the federal govern-ment’s draft recovery strategy for borealwoodland caribou. The boreal caribou isan iconic species threatened with extinc-tion from the Yukon right across thecountry to Labrador.

A major prey species for wolves andother animals, including humans,woodland caribou are critical to sustain-ing the health of complex food websthat have evolved over millennia and tothe well-being of hundreds of Aboriginal communities in theNorth that depend on the animal for sustenance and survival.

Although woodland caribou were once abundant throughoutmuch of Canada and the northern United States, they have sincelost around half of their historical range because of logging, min-ing, seismic lines, roads, hydroelectric projects, and other develop-ments that have disturbed and fragmented their forest habitat.

One endangered herd in Alberta’s tar sands region west of FortMcMurray is at great risk of disappearing. Clear-cutting and no-holds-barred oil and gas exploration and development haveaffected more than 60 per cent of the habitat of the Red Earthcaribou herd, leaving little undisturbed forest where it can feed,breed, and roam.

If there is good news, it is that the science is clear about whatmust be done to save this species from extinction. A recent

analysis by experts with the International Boreal ConservationScience Panel concludes that governments need to ensure thatlarge stretches of woodland caribou habitat are protected fromindustrial disturbance. Specifically, herds will need at least twothirds of their ranges to be maintained in an undisturbed condi-tion or restored to such. In core areas this could mean from10,000 to 15,000 square kilometres of old-growth boreal forestbeing set aside.

Under the federal Species at Risk Act, recovery strategies mustuse the best available science and traditional Aboriginal knowl-edge to identify habitat the species needs to survive and recover.The government must also set population objectives and identifythreats to species survival and how these threats can be reduced

through better management.The federal government has incorpo-

rated some of the important ideasadvanced by scientists. Under the recov-ery strategy, core habitat will be protect-ed for about half the herds left in Canada.However, the strategy suffers from seri-ous shortcomings. Many herds, deemednot to be self-sustaining, appear to havebeen written off to remove barriers tofurther industrial activities in their habi-

tat, such as tar sands development in Alberta. Instead of protect-ing and restoring the remaining habitat of these herds, the gov-ernment is proposing controversial band-aid measures like killingthousands of wolves and other predators. This kind of manage-ment is aimed at stabilizing declining caribou populations ratherthan recovering them—a contravention of Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

The federal government’s plans will help those herds that havebeen deemed self-sustaining, but they fall far short of what isnecessary to ensure that dozens of herds won’t perish. As such, itis a compromise that is too costly for caribou, and ultimately ourown country, to bear.

With contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Terrestrial Conservation and Science Program director Faisal Moola and biologist Jeff Wells. LB

If there is good news, it is that the science is clear about what must be done

to save this species from extinction.

Federal Plans for Caribou a Band-Aid Measure


At the busy intersection of Victoria and Shuter indowntown Toronto stands Li Ka Shing KnowledgeInstitute, a nine-storey glass building connected toSt. Michael’s hospital. The building’s VictoriaStreet entrance opens onto a two-storey crystallobby. A blonde wood staircase leads up to an exhi-

bition hall on the second floor where researchers sit on white-cushioned benches and discuss test results.

New laboratory and research spaces such as The Li Ka ShingKnowledge Institute are designed to encourage social interaction.Modern labs replicate the key elements of social media: connect-edness, openness and immediacy.

Constructing interdisciplinary scienceIn an age where social connectivity enhances productivity, modernlab spaces are open and interactive. They are designed to startconversations and get ideas flowing between scientists from mul-tiple disciplines. Social spaces that foster interaction are becomingthe norm rather than the exception because of an increase ininterdisciplinary research, says Jim Hill, an architect at BSALifeStructures who specializes in lab planning and design. Areasdesignated specifically for social interaction confirm that methodsof communication among scientists are changing. While scienceas a social discipline may run contrary to the cliché of the isolatedscientist, the features that are incorporated into new laboratoryand research facilities, such as glass walls, connective staircasesand intimate lounge areas encourage interaction between research-ers and foster creativity. The days of the solitary scientist are over.

“Science is a social construct,” says Dr. Jane Rossant, Chief ofResearch at the Hospital for Sick Children. “In fact, it is aboutteams and bouncing ideas off each other. It is about puttingtogether people who have different ways of doing things.”

By Julia Teeluck

lab spotlight


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A lounge in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St.

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The hope is that by bringing together researchers and scientistsfrom various fields of study and having convenient points of inter-action set up around the research facility, the rate at which theymake important discoveries will increase. “Today, especially in thelife sciences and health research, it is an interdisciplinary approach.You really need to have the opportunity for people who work indifferent ways to work together,” says Dr. Rossant.

A modern lab needs multiple scales of areas for interaction,from larger conference rooms to smaller sitting areas, says JosephCollins, an architect at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects.Bringing together researchers from multiple disciplines by puttingthem in the same building or on the same floor is not enough forsuccessful interaction. “In order for interdisciplinary to work,people have to talk to each other,” says Collins. Social areas aredesigned with the intention of getting workers to interact. Areasthat encourage informal interaction are the most critical. Theseinclude sitting areas such as benches and armchairs that offer one-on-one or two-on-two communication and provide scientists withthe option to sit down and engage in a discussion or to plug in alaptop and share their research.

“We want people to run into each other in the hallway, goingto break, going to lunch, getting on the ele-vator. We call that ‘creative collisions’,” saysCollins. Creative collisions can happen any-

where. For instance, two scientists from separate departmentsfind themselves waiting in a long lineup at Tim Hortons. Topass the time they begin to chat about their individual research.After a few minutes they realize their work correlates and decideto collaborate on a project. They return to work with their largedouble-doubles in hand, each knowing that if it had not been fora chance meeting during the lunchtime rush, they may neverhave spoken to each other. A brief and informal encounter, suchas this one, can lead to a positive outcome. At the very least,these informal encounters allow scientists to stay up-to-date ontheir colleagues’ progress.

Socializing at workYour new lab space at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute is bya window, and after working for a few hours, you decide to take abreak. You walk over to one of the three lounge areas that meet atthe intersection of the East wing and the West wing. You preparea snack in the kitchenette and relax in one of the leather armchairsnext to the fireplace. If you happen to stir up a work-related con-versation with a colleague, you both have the option of movingover to one of the meeting rooms a few steps away to continue the


Flexibility in New Labs

As research facilities become increasingly connected through the integration of social areas, a flexible and open lab space that accommodates researchers from multiple disciplines is necessary. “Most of today’s labs are designed to

be adaptable to changing layouts with flexible casework systems including mobile casework,” says Peter Kocher, President of Canadian Scientific Inc. Lab Systems and Installations.

Mobile caseworks and removable systems allow scientists to effectively share spaces. For example, since a chemist needs more fume hood space than a biologist does, if the fume hood can be removed, the biologist can use the area for bench space, says Ben Elliot, an architect who specializes in planning and designing sci-ence facilities at Lord, Aeck and Sargent.

Elliot says a main consideration in creating optimal flexibility is to limit the number of fixed elements in a room. Utilities that are routed in a way that they don’t become fixed or limit the configuration of the room, such as by overhead, is a common method, says Elliot. The benefit of a flexible lab in a social building is that if a stem cell researcher and a brain and mind scientist discover an overlap in their work, they can collaborate on a project in the same lab.

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Lab at the Sick Kids Research Tower. Scheduled for completion in 2013.

Got class?Get LAB BusinessUniversity and college teachers:

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[email protected].

July/August 2011 www.labbusinessmag.com


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Animal Ethics

Thorium’s Time?

Ill Oceans

Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do

Safer Science

Everybody is a ScientistDr. Mary Ann White on Educating the Public

Quantum QuakeHigh Power Computers Arrive

www.biobusinessmag.com

National Biotech Week Preview

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CHAMPIONING THE BUSINESS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CANADA July/August 2011

Doing the DormBoston refines the research cluster

Worn Out WordsPEI’s Rory Francis on biotech buzzwords

Dr. Tom Hudson leads the fight to break cancer’s code

Mastering the Basics


discussion. Or perhaps you stay seated and reflect on your workwhile gazing out the window at the bustling cityscape below. Youlook up at the flat screen television above the fireplace. On thescreen is an announcement of a recent discovery made at theInstitute. You make a note to look into it and to find the teamresponsible for the work.

While lounge areas and meeting rooms serve their purpose,elements such as the connective staircases at the Li Ka ShingKnowledge Institute and the atria at the Hospital for SickChildren’s Research and Learning Tower, which is expected to becompleted by 2013, bring a vertical connection to the buildingand allow researchers to communicate across floors. A floor can bea huge barrier to interaction especially between researchers fromdifferent disciplines.

The 21-storey Research and Learning Tower will be the des-tination where researchers from six different fields of study willwork to transform children’s health care. Because of the Tower’sheight, it needed a means of connection between floors to ensurecollaboration between researchers. “The Sick Kids Tower hasmultiple two and three storey atria connecting lab floors to bringpeople together,” says John Featherstone, an architect at Diamondand Schmitt. Featherstone explains that a visual connectionbetween floors is critical to bringing people together becausesomeone viewing a space from another level will be able to see


Itati nonesti velicienimet qui quid ut ipsapit, commo tectorrore inis consequam

The interior of the Sick Kids Research Tower.

UBC’s new life sciences laboratories.

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lab spotlight


both the people and the activity and be more apt to join in.

Does it work?The sciences have a reputation for fostering introverted profes-sions. With more and more facilities being designed to encourageinteraction between disciplines, one question lingers: Are theseenvironments conducive to a researcher’s productivity?

According to Mark Lansdale, Professor of Psychology atLeicester University, the answer is “it depends.” Lansdale contrib-uted to a study, “Designing for interaction in research environ-ments,” soon to be released in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.The study investigates whether the belief that increasedinteraction positively influences research productivity. He explainsthat there is nothing to be gained in productivity if researchers areworking in the same area but upon different projects. “You mightincrease the social chit-chat, but more likely drive the others awayto work at home—simply to get peace, privacy and quiet.”However, he believes social environments can be beneficial if thegroup is a team with definable goals, cooperation, and a shareddependency upon the spaces they use and the things in thosespaces. “Then there is everything to be gained by thinking aboutthe space design, because it is the vehicle within which peoplethink, define their team identities and remember where the teamas a whole has got to,” says Lansdale. LB

McGill University Life Sciences Complex, completed in 2009.

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application note

In 1958, C.W. Oatley, professor of engineering at CambridgeUniversity, believed that samples at temperatures up to 1000 Ccould be studied at high magnification. Today, as a result of the

rapid development in electron microscopy, the Hitachi-9500Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope is capable ofheating samples to over 1800 C and allows scientists to studychemical reactions of liquids and gases at a nanoscale.

Rapid developmentDr. Marek Malac, Principal Investigator, Electron Microscopy, atthe National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, Alberta,attributes the rapid improvement of electron microscopy to agrowing global interest in nanotechnology. “Electron microscopyhas become a crucial tool in characterizing nanomaterials, replac-ing our senses at the nanoscale and providing much-needed datato replace theoretical knowledge of the nanoscale world withmeasured quantities,” says Dr. Malac. He explains that electronmicroscopy is crucial in understanding materials and nanoscaleprocesses. It can be applied to many areas thatinvolve material properties at the nanoscale,such as problems of corrosion or minimizingenvironmental impacts of oil extraction.

Breakthrough technologyThe Hitachi Electron Microscopy ProductsCentre at the National Institute forNanotechnology gives researchers at theInstitute access to three advanced micro-scopes: the Hitachi H-9500 Environmental TransmissionElectron Microscope, the Hitachi S-5500 Scanning ElectronMicroscope and the Hitachi NB5000 Focused Ion Beam andScanning Electron Microscope.

These microscopes have capabilities that allow researchers toperform experiments and analyze samples at nanoscale in-situ.“You can now see reactions happening under your eyes but at theatomic scale. You can see atoms moving from one phase toanother and restructuring,” says Yves Giroux, National SalesDirector at Hitachi High-Technologies Canada. “This is a revolu-tion.” Researchers will be able to take a video of the dynamic eventwhereas in the past it would have been a static picture.

The H-9500 ETEM allows researchers to expose samples tohigh-pressure gases up to one atmosphere and to temperaturesexceeding 1800 C, explains Dr. Malac. Samples can then be

observed and characterized for morphology, structure, chemicalcomposition, and chemical bonding. The microscope’s extensivegas handling capabilities allow researchers to custom mix gasesand sequence gas exposure experiments, says Dr. Malac. “Thebackground vacuum, at the border of ultra-high vacuum region,ensures that we observe the effect of the delivered gases ratherthan result of contamination from residual atmosphere.” Thisability, combined with the ability to fully control all aspects of themicroscope from an external computer, provides the flexibilityneeded for developing the most difficult in-situ experiments.

A hybrid microscopeThe Hitachi S-5500 SEM brings the transmission electronmicroscope’s ultra-high resolution power to the scanning elec-tron microscope. Transmission electron microscopes are com-plex and difficult to operate. Some researchers dedicate theirlives to acquiring the skills to fully exploit its capabilities. On theother hand, scanning electron microscopes can be operated by

an average lab worker. The S-5500 is aninstrument that combines the transmissionelectron microscope’s high-resolution capa-bility with the scanning electron micro-scope’s simple usability.

The Hitachi NB5000 is a dual beaminstrument, and combines a scanning elec-tron microscope column with a focused ionbeam column. Giroux explains that thefocused ion beam acts like a meat slicer. If, for

example, you go to a butcher and ask for a pound of ham, thebutcher uses a meat slicer to shave off thin slices. The NB 5000works in a similar manner, but at the nanoscale. “You can pick anyarea on a bulk sample where you want to cut and get a very precisethin sample,” says Giroux. Since the focused ion beam is vertical,the sample stage is horizontal during fabrication, which in turnresults in very high sample stability, says Dr. Malac. The NB 5000allows researchers to fabricate and repeatedly optimize samplesfor three dimensional imaging using the Hitachi double tilt androtate holder; and prepare samples for in-situ transmission elec-tron microscope experiments using the micromanipulation andmicro-fabrication capability of the NB 5000 dual beam instru-ment. These capabilities allow researchers to maximize the ana-lytical and functional analysis from the transmission electronmicroscopes, says Dr. Malac. LB

Looking at Very Small Things

By Julia Teeluck

Advanced Microscopy Gives Scientists a View

You can now see reactions happening under your eyes but at the atomic scale.



Welcome to Science-mart, Shoppers

In his new book Science-mart: Privatizing American Science(Harvard University Press, 2011), Philip Mirowski, an histo-rian at University of Notre Dame in Indiana, provides a

detailed critique of how a market-oriented approach to researchsaps the creativity of so many scientists. LAB Business spoke toMirowski about the nature of commercial science.

What do you mean when you say politically neutral science is an obsolete idea? There’s no longer the need to stress there’s some kind of imper-meable wall between science and politics anymore. In fact, if sci-entists are to become more responsive to the market, they have tobecome more political. In a way, science has become more for sale,and its political aspect just becomes another side of that. The waymany modern research situations are set up now is that everyonehires the experts for their side and then they go at it in the publicsphere or in the courts. That’s a much more market-based notionof what research is about. And, of course, scientists end up lookingmore political. How could they avoid it?

You write at length about how the commercial laboratory has changed over the years. What is the purpose of the lab now?The purpose is to be flexible because you’re never going to workon anything on the long-term. You’re constantly going from onecontract to another. And it’s also to adjust to the demands ofintellectual property. Now the person who commissions theresearch also wants their intellectual property protected in cer-tain ways. That changes the entire structure of the lab and Ithink we can see that since 1980. What happened is that labourbecame much more casualized. The people who do the researchdon’t expect a claim in the IP, but they’re supposed to protect theIP of the firm that commissions the research. That leads to adifferent way of reporting, different ways of owning the data andcontrolling the interpretation of the data. It changes everythingfrom top to bottom.

Why are you so critical about the role intellectual property plays in contemporary science?An important part of the neoliberal doctrine is that knowledge isa discrete, fungible thing that can be sold easily, easily alienated,and so forth. In a way, the current status of the IP system exists toreinforce that system. You don’t think of a lab as having tacit skillsthat have been built up over decades anymore because that couldnot be reduced to granular and saleable units of knowledge. So in

By Robert Price

New Book Argues Commercial Science Harms the Scientific Enterprise

a weird sort of way, the way IP is developing is to make knowledgeseem a certain way when it may not be that way, especially inscientific research. This kind of thinking could counteract certainkinds of knowledge development. And modern IP plays animportant role in that.

Has a quest for patents deformed the university enterprise?I think universities have given up on the idea that they exist forother purposes, like nation-building or developing the characterof their students. Now administrators only talk about the purposeof the university in narrow economic terms. An alternative litera-ture argues that the effect of all these changes [to patent laws]have been to degrade the quality of patents and at the same timeto make them worth more in terms of the ability to use them toextract tribute through all sorts of means. Patents are easier to get,they’re worth more, but in fact they mean less and so everybodygoes into them. So the whole system degrades in a certain direc-tion. It’s the same sort of story that economists tell about howdebasing the currency eventually leads to a race to the bottom. Ithink the same thing is happening to patents. LB

critical perspectives



Welcome to Science-mart, ShoppersReviewed: Global Warming and Political Intimidation: How Politicians Cracked Down on Scientists as the Earth Heated Up, by Raymond S. Bradley, University of Massachusetts Press

The Tyranny of Science, by Paul K. Feyerabend, Polity

Can science answer everyquestion?Moreimportantly,isitagoodideatotry to answer every question withscience?SciencephilosopherPaulK.Feyerabendsayswemakeamistakewhen a reverence to scientific fact-finding leads to scientism, thewor-shipofscienceasthesupremesourceofallhumanunderstanding.

Empire of the Beetle, by Andrew Nikiforuk, Greystone Books and the David Suzuki Foundation

NikiforukexamineshowbarkbeetlesdestroyedbillionsofpinetreesacrossNorth America. The beetles didn’tcausethemassivedie-offallbythem-selves. Bad science, out-of-controllogging, moronic public policy, and

centuryofforestfiresuppressioncontributedtothetrag-edyofthecontinent’soncevibrantforests.

With Global Warming and Political Intimidation, Raymond S. Bradleyshows readers what it’s like to be

reviled by the political right.Bradley is one of the researchers who devel-

oped the famous “hockey stick” graph that illus-trates the sudden intensification of the planet’stemperature. It’s the graph Al Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth, uses an electric lift to reach.It’s the graph that initiates Bradley’s story.

In 2005, the Chair of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, the TexasRepublican Joe Barton, wrote a letter demanding Bradley and hiscolleagues give the government a detailed accounting of everycent they received over their entirecareers and every atom of data they usedin their climate research. It’s an awfulletter. It intends to destroy Bradley’scareer. It insinuates the researchers weredishonest. It’s a letter that is impossibleto answer. And that’s exactly whatBarton appears to want. The moretime Bradley has to spend defendinghimself, the less time he has to uncovermore evidence that humans cause glob-al warming.

Bradley’s memoir takes readersbehind the scenes to see how climatolo-gists responded to the censorship cam-paign orchestrated by Republicans.

What Bradley’s book does best is toshow the conceit the Republican brandof conservatism has for public office.They serve moneyed interests. Theyintimidate whistleblowers. They threatenscientists. They use crafted science pub-lished in obscure and illegitimate journalsto advance ideology. Above all, theydesire to influence the way people thinkby suppressing the nature ofreality—in this case, the fact thatcarbon emissions contribute to globalwarming. (Reviewed by Robert Price) LB

NEW AND UPCOMING TITLESPolitical Intimidation: A First-Hand Account



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With lab floor and bench space at pre-mium in laboratories today, ThermoFisher Scientific offers the ThermoScientific MaxQ 8000 stackable shakers.The MaxQ 8000 shakers are available inincubated models for standard culturework requiring temperatures from 10Cabove ambient up to 60C or refrigeratedmodels for work requiring temperaturesdown to 5C. The MaxQ 8000 orbital

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ShakersShakersarenecessaryinanyfunctionallab.Shakersblendandmixliquidsampleswitha

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New Brunswick Scientific’s Innova 42incubator shakers, and Innova 42R fea-ture added refrigeration. They are versa-tile culture systems with capabilities forsimultaneous orbital shaking in flasks upto 6 liters, as well as static culture on astationary shelf.The controller automatesmultiple changes to temperature and

speed, also featured are set points forphotosynthetic and ultraviolet lighting.Up to four programs can be stored forre-use, each containing up to 15 separatesteps. An internal electrical receptaclealso allows for the addition of a rocker,roller and secondary instrument.www.eppendorf.ca

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Torrey Pines Scientific Inc. announces its new EchoTherm Model SC25XTshaking dry bath for use with biological samples. The SC25XT is fullyprogrammable with 5-program memory and a temperature range from -20C to100C. It has a variable speed orbital shaker for mixing samples while controllingsample temperature to 1C. The SC25XT includes a 30-day count down timerwith an alarm and automatic shut off, data logger, and a port for datalogging to control the units from a computer. This molecular biology tool canbe used for running temperature/time profiles, unattended restriction digestionsor ligations, automatic enzyme reactions and deactivations.www.torreypinesscientific.com.

The new MIDSCI Orbi-Shaker CO2 resistantshaker is designed for shaking, mixing, andaeration applications in extreme environments,including CO2 incubators. It can withstandtemperatures from 0-60°C, humidity levels upto 100 per cent and will not corrode in a CO2

environment. The remote control access allows

the user to set and adjust the shaker settingswithout opening the chamber doors. Theinstrument is supplied with a standard non-slipplatform. In addition, the OS-4000 features aconvenient platform that can be used withflasks and racks to complete quick switches.www.midsci.com

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Sorting Particle Libraries Union Biometrica has introduced the NEW COPAS HTS Option for gentle sorting of large libraries of 10-1,500 Particles. COPAS large particle flow cytometers can analyze and sort objects that are too large or fragile for traditional flow cytometers. Lower operating pressures and soft-touch air-jet diverter technology means that delicate samples like adipocytes or stem cell clusters are dispensed intact and viable. The new high throughput screening option package is designed for applications involving the sorting of a large number of objects into micro titer output plates. www.unionbio.com

Optical Bio Detector Stratophase’s PIBBDT system is a portable bio detector that collects biological factors, concentrates them in a liquid sample, and detects pre-defined hazardous materials within the sample using an optical microchip detector. The optical microchip detects changes in the refractive index of a liquid passing over its surface. When used as a bio-detector, the chip is coated with specific antibodies that bind to biological targets. When a toxin, bacteria or virus is present in the sample it binds and triggers a positive detection. www.stratophase.com

Integrated Vacuum SystemBrandTech Scientific introduces the VACUUBRAND PC620 NT, an integrated vacuum system that provides independent electronic control of two vacuum applications simultaneously. Integrated check valves protect each application’s independent vacuum level settings and eliminates the potential for cross-contamination. The vacuum is provided by a diaphragm vacuum pump with a flow path consisting of chemically resistant fluoropolymers. www.brandtech.com

Improved PulseTor’s SiPM-based ProductsAvo Photonics has advanced the performance, packaging, and production of its next generation silicon photomultiplier based detectors. PulseTor’s line of SPRITE SiPM-based detector assemblies is used in electron imaging applications. Avo Photonics developed a high efficiency solution that supports optional low temperature operation without the use of active cooling, while simultaneously providing vacuum compatibility and minimal package size.www.avophotonics.com



Protective Chemical GearThe KLEENGUARD A71 Chemical Permeation and Liquid Jet Protection Coverall protects workers against the haz-ards of cleaning and maintenance involv-ing chemicals. The film laminate provides a strong barrier to chemical sprays. The seams are made with a tear-resistant fab-ric and offer a liquid-tight barrier. The cov-erall is made of anti-static fabric and approved for radioactive dust and infective agent protection. www.contaminomics.com

High Viscosity MeasurementRheoSense Inc. has released the newest viscometer, the µVISC, a portable instrument that tests and evaluates materials such as inks, biologics, chemicals and oils. The viscometer uses an HC chip, the newest chip that supports high viscosity tests ranging up to 20,000 mPas or higher. The HC chip provides rapid viscosity measurements and supports a wide range of applications. Tests are completed within a minute using the 1-2-3-step operation. The menu-driven application program allows the user to view graphs of the results and generate reports. www.rheosense.com

Cooled Injection SystemIdeal for stem cell research, Harvard Apparatus has released the NanoCool Cell Delivery System. This system increases cell viability and maintains cells at 18C, reducing O2 consumption by an average of 76%. The NanoCool Injector delivers high accuracy injections from 367.4 pl/min to 1.906 ml/min and provides up to 11 lbs of adjustable force. The microprocessor system allows for power, temperature, injection volumes and flow ramping to be controlled by NanoCool’s program. www.harvardapparatus.com

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scientist profile

A recent poll suggests 39 per cent of Canadians do not believe in evolution. How is this possible in a country where education is treated as a requirement of citizenship? Have researchers failed to com-

municate their work to the public, or is this widespread irrational doubt a failing of the education system? Dr. Jane Aubin, the new Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research at the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), says two issues—disengagement and fear—cause a disconnect between science and society.

Science vs. societyOne of the possible causes of social disengagement is that researchers are not always adept in explain-

ing their work. “When I was trained, there wasn’t the emphasis on the importance of letting people know in clear

language what it is you do and what’s important, says Aubin. The second reason is that citizens can be hesitant to accept scientific findings. “People sometimes feel

that science is challenging their belief systems or that science is incompatible with their belief systems, so I think that people need to step back from that,” says Aubin.

Aubin has always been interested in the idea of bringing a different or novel way of thinking about a topic. After completing her undergraduate degree in chemistry and mathematics at Queen’s University, she switched to biology as the opportunity to learn about a new subject intrigued her. Aubin completed her PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and completed her postdoctoral training in

Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany.As level of education can determine the position a person takes on an issue, the solution she proposes

is public education. “If we help educate people to what that information means, I think both sides could engage in a good exchange.”

Partners in scienceOne challenge Aubin will face at CIHR will be to leverage citizen engagement. “We’re a health

research funding agency,” she says of the CIHR, “and I think we need to keep at the top of our minds that we do our research for people. We want to improve the health of Canadians and the healthcare system. Thinking about the ways we do outreach and exchange ideas about research with citizens is really important.”

Aubin believes viewing citizens as partners will help the CIHR in its goal to engage citizens. “I think just being sure people have a clear understanding of the research that the CIHR funds to their lives is really important, and you can only do that by engaging people in a discussion with research.”

Aubin has held several senior academic administrative positions throughout her career. She was Chair of the Graduate Department of Dentistry and Director of Postgraduate Dental Education and Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto. She currently teaches at the University of Toronto and is a Professor of Molecular Genetics. Aubin is also the Director of the Bone Program in the Centre for Modeling Human Disease. LB

Dr. Jane AubinBy Julia Teeluck

“People sometimes feel that science is challenging their belief systems or that science is incompatible with their belief systems, so I think

that people need to step back from that.”

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The Social Lab · LAB BUSINESS September/October 2011 3 Sept./Oct. 2011 The definitive source for lab products, news and developments standards 5 EDITOR’S NOTE 6 NEWS 18 TECH WATCH