Beta Analytic Now Provides UltraFiltration Pretreatment for Bones

In addition to conventional collagen extraction, ISO/IEC 17025:2005-accredited Beta Analytic now offers ultrafiltration of bone collagen in response to clients’ need for additional pretreatments specific to their research opinions and objectives. Recent publications have increased interest in the ultrafiltration methodology, and some researchers have been questioned by reviewers why it was not performed on their bone samples. Beta Analytic’s internal studies have verified that ultrafiltration is a valid, repeatable, and potentially valuable asset in radiocarbon dating ancient bones.

The Miami-based lab has studied this methodology since it was first introduced years ago. The lab receives bones from different parts of the world – samples that have been subjected to a wide variety of environmental, preservation, and contamination conditions. “Combining this quality with an internal capacity for rapid generation of results gave the lab the opportunity to study the ultrafiltration method with many analyses on a wide variety of bones,” Beta Analytic President Darden Hood said.

According to Mr. Hood, the laboratory’s internal research has not revealed that ultrafiltration improves the accuracy of the radiocarbon date on the bone proteins as compared to its conventional collagen extraction techniques. In most studies, both conventional collagen extraction and ultrafiltration methods yielded the same radiocarbon age for all age ranges (from 0 BP to infinite) that the lab tested. In some cases, Mr. Hood said, differences were observed wherein the ultrafiltration result was considered anomalous.

“We have now resolved the inconsistencies and concerns through the use of new filter designs which do not include glues, enhanced filter cleaning techniques confidently removing filter preservative (glycerin), and most importantly, by using the same large robust collagen extracts derived from the proven conventional collagen extraction methods with the addition of subsequent ultrafiltration steps,” Mr. Hood stated.

Beta Analytic AMS Dating Bones

Beta Analytic guarantees accurate and precise radiocarbon dates. The lab’s standard AMS dating service for bones has a turnaround time of 14 business days or less, although a few additional days might be necessary in cases where proteins are weakly preserved or samples require extended communication with the lab. Beta Analytic welcomes discussions and communications regarding the analyses in an effort to always provide attentive customer service.

The lab is located in Miami, Florida. All analyses/measurements are done in-house. Clients may send their samples directly to Florida or to forwarding offices in various cities including North Sydney, Australia; São Paulo, Brazil; Beijing and Xiamen, China; New Delhi, India; Nagoya, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; and London, UK. For any inquiries, please call (1) 305-667-5167 or email lab@radiocarbon.com.