SNOLAB maintains a wet chemistry lab underground to take advantage of SNOLAB’s depth and to serve the lab’s analytical chemistry needs and life science experiments. The facility has lab bench space, a fume hood, a glove box, an ultra pure water system, an analytical balance, chemical storage, and ultrasonically cleaned equipment.
Underground chemistry
The underground chemistry lab hosts two life sciences experiments. REPAIR (Researching the Effects of the Presence and Absence of Ionizing Radiation) studies the effects of very low radiation levels — lower even than normal everyday (“background”) doses — on living organisms. It looks for cancer risk and DNA changes in human cells, and whole-organism development and growth in lake whitefish embryos, desiccated yeast, and human skin cells.
As well, FLAME (FLies in A MinE) is an experiment studying the biological effects of spending time working deep underground (specifically at higher atmospheric pressure), using fruit flies. Findings from FLAME could be used to improve health outcomes for people working underground.