ACAN #21-093 - CH - ACAN - Light scattering Zetasizer Advance Series – Ultra (Red)

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO - NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SINGLE SOURCE CONTRACT - #21-093
Light scattering Zetasizer Advance Series – Ultra (Red)

The University of Waterloo (UW) intends to award a single-source contract to Malvern Panalytical, a division of Spectris Canada Inc., of St-Laurent, Quebec, for the purchase of a Zetasizer Advance Series – Ultra (Red), equipped with the upgraded 10mW HeNe Laser for enhanced size and zeta potential testing. It utilizes patented NIBS backscatter technology as well as MADLS - Multi-Angle Dynamic Light Scattering for size testing. Using all three angles the particle concentration can be determined. It also combines advanced Electrophoretic Light Scattering for the measurement of Zeta Potential.   The instrument is intended for use for the Velocity Incubator. The budget for this entire package is less than $115,000 CAD, not including HST.

This is an Advanced Notice indicating to the supplier community that UW intends to award a contract for this equipment to a pre-identified supplier.  If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date of this notice, a statement of specifications that satisfies the stated requirements set out in this Notice, the competitive requirements of the University are considered to have been met.  Following notification to any suppliers not successful in demonstrating that their statement of specifications meets the requirements set out in this Notice, the contract may then be awarded to the pre-identified supplier.

If other potential suppliers submit statements of specifications during the fifteen-calendar day posting period, and meet the requirements set out in this Notice, UW will proceed to a Request for Proposal process, in order to award the contract.

Process - Suppliers who can provide equivalent equipment with proven functionality required for the research, within budget, may submit a statement of specifications, in writing, to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date of this Notice.  The statement of specifications must unequivocally demonstrate how the supplier meets these advertised requirements within budget.

Description:

Velocity is a multi-disciplinary Incubator, which hosts several deep-tech and health-tech and science start up companies allowing fast product development. Teams at Velocity are diverse and constantly evolving, so a modular and highly customizable and automated system is the priority for any instrument purchased at Velocity.
 
The Malvern Panalytical Zetasizer Ultra combines DLS-Dynamic Light Scattering and ELS – Electrophoretic Light Scattering in one system for the measurement of colloidal size and zeta potential. To help measure colloidal particle size over a broad concentration range (very dilute up to 40% solids concentration) the ULTRA incorporates Non-Invasive Back Scatter (NIBS®) and uniquely, Multi-Angle Dynamic Light Scattering (MADLS) for improved resolution in the measurement of particle and molecular size. NIBS provides the versatility and sensitivity to measure over a wide concentration range, while MADLS permits a high-resolution view of our sample’s size distribution for those critical measurements.
An extension to MADLS, unique to the ULTRA RED, affords the ability to directly analyze particle concentration to know how many particles are in a sample. The measurement of particle concentration is calibration-free, suitable for a wide range of materials, requires no or little dilution, and is quick to use – all of which make it ideal as a screening technique. This is a unique capability of the Zetasizer Ultra which can even be applied to samples such as viruses and VLPs, which were previously very challenging for us to measure.
Specifications:

Zetasizer ULTRA - Size and Zeta Potential Analyzer meets the following requirements:

The instrument must be able to operate in the following mode:

1. Hydrodynamic size and distribution using adaptive correlation for improved DLS measurements
2. High-Resolution Sizer measurements with multiangle DLS MADLS
   • Enabling ~2:1 resolution compared to 3:1 typical of single-angle measurements
3. Particle concentration measurements of absolute particle concentration
4. Zeta potential using ELS – Electrophoretic Light Scattering employing constant current adjustment
5. Selectable narrowband filter to allow signal improvement of fluorescent samples, in backscatter
6. Selectable polarization detection parallel to input laser polarization, in backscatter
7. Selectable polarization detection perpendicular to input laser polarization, in backscatter

1. Size range 0.3nm – 10 microns*
2. Size measurable at both forward, side and back scattering angles (173° + 90° + 13°)
3. Minimum sample volume 12μL
4. Minimum Conc. BACK SCATTER: 0.1mg/mL Lysozyme (14kDa)
5. Maximum Conc. BACK SCATTER: 40%w/v*
6. Minimum Conc. FORWARD SCATTER: 5mg/mL Lysozyme
7. Minimum Conc. SIDE ANGLE: 1 mg/mL Lysozyme

1. The maximum allowable sample concentration must be up to 40% by weight for sizing applications. To accomplish this, the position of the sampling volume within the measurement cell must be variable, with both automatic and manual control, to minimize signal interference and measure the sample with minimal or no dilution required
2. The instrument must incorporate non-invasive backscatter measurement fixed at 173 degrees.  The measurement must be internal to the DLS unit and optimally aligned with onboard cuvette holder assembly, not externally located.

1. Zeta Potential Range ±500mV
2. Minimum sample volume 20 µL (using barrier diffusion method)
3. Maximum sample conductivity 260mS/cm
4. Minimum concentration required:  10 mg/mL Lysozyme (14kDa)
5. Expandable features:

• High Concentration Zeta Potential Cell
• Organic Solvent Compatible Cell

• Allow the use of disposable, folded-capillary cells with integrated electrodes in order to eliminate sample cross-contamination
  • Standard zeta potential cell compatible with barrier diffusion technique (ASTM E2865 – 12)

• Ability to measure the zeta potential of particles over the size range 1.7 nm to 50 microns radius.
• Utilizes Phase Analysis Light Scattering (PALS) to improve the repeatability of measurements of low mobility samples
• Mixed Mode Measurement Phase Analysis Light Scattering (M3-PALS) for the measurement of zeta potential and protein mobility.  No other measurement mode will be acceptable.  The M3-PALS operation offers superior performance resulting in the ability to test even low mobility samples through combining both a fast field and slow field reversal.
• Constant Current Mode for reliable zeta measurements in high conductivity samples.

1. The user can measure the sample with manually defined parameters, or by defining a ‘Method’
2. The software is compatible with Windows 10 64-bit operating systems.
3. The software uses Adaptive correlation to obtain reliable size data, both steady-state and transient.
4. The software provides Data Quality Guidance for size measurement, based on AI and neural learning.
5. Over plots of up to 20 size or zeta potential distributions is possible.
6. The user can export measured data or results to word processing packages or spreadsheets using a template or cut and paste.
7. Access to all measured data including correlation functions, fitted data points, residuals and all experimental parameters is available and stored for subsequent examination.
8. There is the ability to edit sample data parameters to allow recalculation of data.
9. There is a range of algorithms to calculate the size distribution.
10. The calculation of the cumulants mean defined in ISO13321/22412 is also used.
11. A method of linking Methods and other actions such as Pause in order to automate a custom method is also available.