The third week is the halfway point for the PSD training. The first field retrieval went well, though there were issues with cage positioning and air exposure. Modifications were made and the remaining cages successfully redeployed.
We recognized that the bench sheets should be in French as well as English, not necessarily one or the other, but bilingual would be best. Locustox staff are working on this. Also, we are working on collecting more information in the bench sheets.
After retrieval Locustox extracted the PSD and prepared the field and quality control samples for GC analysis (9 samples total). The lab equipment was well suited to the procedure, though a TurboVap LV is preferable for high sample throughput (greater than 10 - 15 samples at a time).
The GC successfully ran the OC pesticide standards (using OSU's OCPQUANT.M method), though neither a calibration curve nor data analysis was completed. The GC was loaded with the extracts to run over the weekend. We attempted to perform the analysis in a manner consistent with OSU's approach to facilitate future data comparisons.
Next week we will again travel to Saint Louis for the second of three retrievals. This next retrieval is particularly important as two sets of PSDs will be collected with one going back to OSU for analysis and comparison with Locustox's analysis.
We are a couple days behind on lab work, but as this is the first such training attempt we will use it to frame future training schedules.
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