Leading European Metrologist Visits Artel; Collaboration Planned

Artel, the leader in liquid handling quality assurance, has announced that Elsa Batista, head of the Volume Laboratory at the Portuguese Institute for Quality (IPQ) and chair of the EURAMET Technical Committee on Volume and Flow (TC-F), recently spent a week of technical exchange at Artel headquarters. Batista also represents Portugal at meetings of ISO Technical Committee 48 for laboratory equipment, which is where she became familiar with Artel. The purpose of the exchange was to explore the application of Artel’s photometric liquid handling calibration technology to the development of new methods and standards in Europe. Artel and Batista will collaborate on an ongoing basis on projects that compare photometric and gravimetric calibration methods.

The IPQ is a government organization that is both a national measurement institute and a national standards body with functions similar to NIST and ANSI in the U.S. Although each country has its own national standards bodies, Batista also contributes her expertise with laboratory equipment to pan-European projects within CEN (European Committee for Standardization) Technical Committee 332 and international projects within ISO TC 48.

“Elsa has visited laboratories in over 20 countries, and brings a unique global perspective,” said George Rodrigues, Ph.D., senior scientific manager at Artel. “We are very pleased to collaborate with Elsa in developing global best practices. This work will improve liquid volume metrology and benefit any laboratory that relies on accurate liquid handling.”

“I was impressed with Artel’s photometric volume measurement method and found the technical exchange very valuable. The Artel method is very easy to use and has several applications in the field of liquid handling especially in the microvolume range, ” commented Batista. “ This visit can lead to cooperation in new research projects in the field of microflow and microvolume, below 100 nl. Our discussions on the two measurement technologies, proper design of interlaboratory comparisons and best practices in pipette standards were very valuable and will contribute to the evolution of improved standards in Europe.”