Looking at pollution inside organisms
Sigurd Aarvig
By means of the measuring technique known as magnetic resonance (MR), SINTEF UNIMED scientists can observe how environmental changes affect biological systems.
The food industry will become a more important client for the MR Center, predict section manager Steffen B. Petersen and managing coordinator Tore Skjetne.
Applications include looking at how mussels and fish react to oil in the sea, and finding out whether pine-trees have been exposed to heavy metals.
The potential for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as the technique is internationally known, is enormous. At present, the MR Center's most important clients are the petroleum, biotechnology and chemical industries.
"In the longer term there is also a wide range of potential applications in the food industry," says Tore Skjetne, manager of the MR Center, which is a department of SINTEF UNIMED in Trondheim.
Better fish
Tore Skjetne mentions one example of the useful NMR research which is being done in collaboration with SINTEF Applied Chemistry's Aquaculture Centre.Purchasers of farmed fish thought that the time of slaughter was of decisive importance for product quality. In order to bring fish as fresh as possible to where they were to be prepared for the table, they were transported in containers and delivered live to customers. However, NMR studies showed that the stress of handling and transport can reduce the quality of fish by reducing their energy stores. This can cause fillet splitting and soft flesh. NMR was used in this instance to develop appropriate transport and handling techniques.
Oil in the ocean
NMR has given the offshore industry a great deal of information about how hydrocarbon production affects the environment. Using shellfish as an indicator has shown that oil pollution is not merely a surface problem. Mussels growing on the seabed react immediately to mercury ions in the sea, even in such small concentrations as 0.5 ppm (parts per million), and without coming into direct contact with the metal.This has told oil producers that even waste-water from North Sea oil platforms, which is returned to the sea after the oil has been separated out, has negative effects on life in the ocean. And even if the mussels themselves stay where they are, the fish that feed on them carry the toxins to other waters and into the food chain. This work was done in collaboration with SINTEF Applied Chemistry.
"For us, one of the most important things is to give industry the support and help it needs via interdisciplinary cooperation, and occasionally to make industry aware of needs before they occur says Skjetne. Like others at the MR Center, he is personally highly involved in the activities of the centre.
Another area into which the centre has recently thrown itself is the death of forests. Pollution-induced changes in pine needles, humus and the roots of trees are being monitored. Protein structures and the relationship between food additives and health are other areas in which NMR is becoming more heavily involved.