The André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (AEL-AMS), which is celebrating a decade of operation this year, is one of 26 core facilities at the University of Ottawa. Financed through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)’s Major Science Initiatives Fund, this national research facility received its first grant in 2017 and its funding was proudly renewed in 2024.
This laboratory aims to achieve excellence in research, train highly qualified personnel, foster national and international scientific collaboration, and participate in cross-comparisons with other labs around the world to ensure the quality and accuracy of its sample analyses.
As the lab’s former interim director Marie D’Iorio said, ten years is a long time for a lab! “We are proud of how our infrastructure, expertise and capacity have grown. And, with the renewal of our mandate, we have much to celebrate,” she said. “We offer a host of services that generate outstanding research studies, long-term partnerships and method development that push the frontier of envrionmental radioisotope detection.”
A broad range of research opportunities leads to far-reaching partnerships and discoveries
Senior research associates Barbara Francisco and Albert Zondervan described how exciting it is to work at a facility that offers such a wide variety of impactful research possibilities.
Francisco recalls one of her favourite projects, in which she worked with the Radiation Protection Bureau at Health Canada to assess the efficiency of charcoal filters in monitoring radioactive contamination from a nuclear facility. “The capabilities of the AEL-AMS facility were crucial for this analysis, ultimately confirming that the filters were effective for monitoring long-term radioactive emissions.”
For Zondervan, one favourite project involved measuring the concentration of a naturally radioactive lead found in copper. “If the copper has low radioactivity, meaning minimal lead content, it can be used in particle detectors to unlock some of the mysteries of the physical world, like what dark matter consists of.”
For laboratory managers Sarah Murseli and Anthony Lapp, it’s the unique collaborations and the combination of science and technology that make their work so rewarding.
So far, Murseli’s career high has been collaborating with Government of Yukon palaeontologists to date a mummified wolf pup found in the Klondike goldfields. “Our analysis of the wolf’s skin at the AEL-AMS lab found that it was older than the limit of radiocarbon dating, meaning more than 50,000 years old.”
For Lapp, who manages the Noble Gas Lab, it’s building an automated process for analyzing environmental samples for noble gases that replaces an antiquated manual process and improves data quality and uncertainty. “At AEL-AMS, I contribute to science and work with innovative technology, all while focusing on noble gases, an area that excites me. There are few places that offer this unique blend.”
Leonard Wassenaar, the laboratory’s new director who took office on October 1, 2024, proudly describes how members of this laboratory recently participated in a new SSHRC project proposal entitled Onkwehón:we, which aims to “incorporate radiocarbon analyses of artefacts into a far-reaching partnership with the Mohawk Nation in order to study the history of First Nations from their point of view.”
Innovation and excellence are key to the lab’s future
Leonard Wassenaar served as director of Environment Canada’s hydrology and ecology stable isotope lab for 23 years, where he oversaw the water resources lab and served as the head of the isotope hydrology laboratory at the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Thanks to his experience, Wassenaar is well equipped to lead the AMS lab into the future.
As its new director, Wassenaar envisions three foundational pillars for the AEL lab: (1) empowering scientists to achieve their goals and meaningfully contribute to science and society; (2) being a trusted ethical partner and collaborator while supporting research, training and development in Canada and internationally; and (3) ultimately advancing scientific knowledge through precise, reliable and innovative environmental radioisotope services.
He also signals two new areas of expertise for 2025. “We’re using advanced radiocarbon technologies to test biofuels, to validate their source claims and to detect petroleum adulteration.”
Wassenaar notes that given the shift from fossil fuels, there is a significant gap in biofuel authenticity testing tools, which presents a new opportunity for the lab.
In addition, the lab is expanding into testing for environmental tritium for nuclear monitoring and to understand critical zone hydrology. “There is a huge demand for water sample testing that cannot currently be met in Canada,” he highlights. “As one of only two labs in Canada able to offer this service, we are prioritizing capacity building in this area to meet the scientific and regulatory needs of the country.”
