Choices in Personnel

In microscopy, an analysis is only as good as the analyst performing it.

Fiberquant has always collected the very best and brightest people, from their backgrounds - all analysts have at least a bachelor's degree in a relevant science - to their months-long extensive and rigorous training, to their continuing improvement through attendance at technical conferences.

Our employees take pride in going the extra mile to give our clients the best that can be done.

Aspergillus Niger spores two ways.  Top: at the limit of what an optical microscope can do (1000x, oil apochromat objective).  Bottom: scanning electron micrograph, same magnification.  The SEM has far greater resolution that is easily achievable, but unless you take the time and trouble to push optical technique, you would never known that they have maroon stripes over a green core.

Above: measuring the diameter of a TEM beam (full-width at 10% maximum).  A line-scan of intensity allows the 10% maximum to be known.

Choices in Quality Assurance

    Brilliant analysts, however, are not enough.  The analytical system must include an equally brilliant quality assurance (QA) program.   Therefore, quality assurance is a large part of a Fiberquant analysis. For every analysis type attempted, a comprehensive QA program has been planned and implemented, including analyst background and training, routine analysis of reference samples, routine calibration and equipment checks, routine re-analysis, analysis of blanks and spikes, the exchange of samples with other labs, and precise record keeping.

Choices in Procedures

     We will not compromise the accuracy, precision or dependability of an analysis for the sake of profit.

     We count fungal spores at 1000x oil-immersion.  Even though to count that way is time-consuming, messy, and expensive, we feel the difference is obvious:  at any magnification, the dry objective does not have the resolution or contrast to allow the analyst to count, and especially to identify, fungal spores.

Paecilomyces variotii - same mount photographed two ways. Many laboratories count fungal spores using 400x magnification and an air objective (as in the left-hand photo above).  Fiberquant counts spores using 1000x and an oil-immersion objective (the right-hand photo above).  Details such as a slightly roughened surface and a certain cell wall thickness may be needed to identify a spore type. 

Left: chrysotile, also known as serpentine asbestos, photographed at 200x using phase contrast dispersion staining.  Dispersion staining, despite its name, requires no physical stain or dye.  It is an optical technique that utilizes the difference in dispersion (refractive index vs. wavelength) between a mineral and the liquid in which it is mounted.  This technique allows the refractive indices of a mineral to be calculated.

Every Procedure has Choices

  Unlike almost all other laboratories, Fiberquant specializes in phase contrast dispersion staining (PHDS).  Its advantages over the usual central stop dispersion staining (CSDS) are 1) PHDS can be easily performed at magnifications of 100, 200 or 400x, rather than just the usual 100x for CSDS; 2) with 400x PHDS, smaller fibers may be seen and characterized than possible with CSDS at 100x; 2) the PHDS working range of wavelengths is narrower than for CSDS, so the refractive indices so calculated are more accurate; 3) the background for PHDS is gray rather than CSDS black, allowing the background matrix to be seen (e.g., for a point-count quantification).