When planning the costs for a DLW experiment, you need to take the following into consideration, as well as the costs of field equipment and consumables.
DLW:
Calculate the dose required per animal using the calculation sheet. Remember to allow for some dead space in the needle of the syringe. Depending on the type of syringe you use, the dead space can be up to 0.08ml, which is significant if you are injecting lots of mice with 0.2ml. If you do not get your DLW from us, you will need to send us a sample (approx 1ml) so that we can characterise it and determine the enrichment of the isotopes. If you get your DLW from us, we keep 1ml of the DLW for this purpose.
In addition to the actual cost of the DLW, you need to account for the cost of the courier and insurance when we send it to you (we use parcel-force within the UK and DHL for international shipments). There is also a charge for the characterisation of the DLW – this cost applies to each different injectate that you use.
You may also need to pay an import tax in relation to the cost of the DLW.
Clients in Canada require an import licence for deuterium oxide from the Canadian Nuclear safety commission.
Analysis costs (DLW):
There are different rates according to the type of contract you have with us – please contact John Speakman to discuss these rates. Samples covered by a commercial contract get priority treatment; other samples are run in the order that they arrive here. If you require a quick turn-around for your analysis (generally within 3 months of receipt, depending on the number of samples), you will need a commercial agreement.We run lab standards each day to correct for daily differences in the mass spec readings - the charge for lab standards will depend on how long it takes to run your samples.
All collaborative and commercial deals are agreed by John Speakman. A letter of agreement will be sent to you detailing the costs and conditions. If you have signed for a collaborative deal and break this agreement you will receive further billing to bring costs up to a commercial rate.