Organomation evaporators save time and money for Clemson University

Customer: Clemson College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences 
Dr. Sruthi Narayanan, Assistant Professor at Clemson University has found Organomation products to be instrumental in her plant lipidomics research. She and a team of student researchers are studying tolerance mechanisms of crop plants to abiotic stresses, such as drought and heat. This research applies to finding solutions to today’s agriculture practices, human health, and sustainability needs.

Application: Plant lipidomics research 
Narayanan and her graduate assistant Zolian S. Zoong Lwe are using an Organomation N-EVAP as part of their lipid extraction process within their study of drought and heat stress effects on pollen performance in peanuts. Heat stress causes changes in the lipid composition of wheat leaves and pollen. Narayanan and Zoong Lwe are researching six peanut cultivars that are known to have different tolerance levels to drought or heat. They collect the peanut anthers to extract the lipids from the anther tissue. This lipid extraction process requires inert gas to evaporate the extraction solvent within a reasonable time. “We knew that the N-EVAP produces the results we desire, so we made it a point to purchase one for our lab,” said Zoong Lwe.

Equipment benefits: Organomation N-EVAPs adaptable to samples 
Narayanan and her team tried vacuum evaporation, but found it wasn’t suitable for all their samples. “We had to evaporate a lot of organic solvents and couldn’t reduce the size,” said Narayanan. “It was hard to find equipment that could handle all of our different tube sizes and still evaporate effectively.” As an added benefit, Narayanan found the temperature control of the water bath to be consistent. “We were able to efficiently keep the temperature of the water bath at exactly how we needed it for all samples,” she said.

Conclusion 
“Buying a refurbished instrument saved us money and a lot of paperwork,” said Narayanan. “It’s an easy-to-use instrument. Normally you spend a week or two learning how to use an instrument; however, this instrument you can easily plug in and go. The N-EVAP saved us a lot of time and money – without it we would have to send our samples to an independent contractor to perform analysis, which in the long-run can be expensive,” she said.

Check out our current available inventory of refurbished laboratory evaporators.