History
AXYS Analytical has its early roots in marine chemistry and oceanography. Its forerunner, Seakem Oceanography, was established in Victoria, British Columbia to provide oceanographic consulting primarily to Government of Canada in 1974. Seakem began chemical analysis in 1978 via its Artic Laboratories division in Inuvik, Northwest Territories supporting oil and gas exploration. All operations were consolidated at Sidney, British Columbia in 1984 to serve the growing Canadian and US environmental markets.
While inorganic and trace metal analysis was still conducted in Sidney (ultimately leading to Seastar Chemicals Inc. establishment in 1987), Arctic Laboratories increasingly focused on trace organic chemical analysis and developed into Seakem Analytical. This specialization soon established leading analyses for pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and a number of commercial ‘firsts’, including the first commercial congener specific analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 1986 and of dioxins (1988). The scope of matrices analyzed was also expanding beyond water and sediment, to include tissues and solid phase resins, such as XAD. The latter offered significant advances in detection limits using advanced high volume water sampling proprietary instrumentation, such as INFILTREX.
By 1990, it was clear that Seakem Oceanography’s various operational divisions had evolved into specific, functional entities. Seakem reorganized itself to become the AXYS Group of Companies, including AXYS Technologies Inc., AXYS Environmental Consulting Ltd., Seastar Chemicals Inc. and the specialty organic analytical lab, Seakem Analytical, became today’s AXYS Analytical Services. By the early 2000’s, all these entities were stand-alone companies, linked together by common shareholders and, most importantly, a proud reputation for leadership in their fields of expertise.
AXYS Analytical has championed that philosophy of leadership over the last two decades:
1988 AXYS Analytical is ranked first amongst labs for analysis of Dioxins and furans by Canadian government inter-laboratory study.
1991 AXYS is the first commercial laboratory to offer analysis and characterization of coplanar PCBs by GC high-resolution mass spectrometry.
1991-96 AXYS data from samples of Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) remediation sites lays the foundation for the occurrence and persistence theories of Arctic PCBs.
1992 AXYS offers commercial analysis of all 209 congener PCBs by GC high-resolution mass spectrometry including human serum and milk samples.
1995 Detection limit for dioxins in air samples first lowered to femtogram per litre (1 x 10-15) concentration range.
1995 AXYS develops and offers commercial analysis of congener-specific Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE) by GC high-resolution mass spectrometry in water.
1996 AXYS develops and offers commercial analysis of OrganoChlorine Pesticides in by GC high-resolution mass spectrometry in sediments and tissues.
1997 World Health Organization European Regional Office recognizes AXYS Analytical as the only laboratory meeting its criteria for both human blood and milk analysis for dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs.
1999 AXYS provides expertise and technological support to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) to develop methodology for HR GC-MS analysis of all 209 PCB congeners in multiple matrices.
2001 AXYS develops and offers commercial analysis of Brominated Dioxins and Furans to characterize samples from the World Trade Center site.
2002 AXYS first offers commercial analysis of perfluorinated chemicals in environmental matrices.
2003 AXYS provides expertise and technological support to the US-EPA to update HR GC-MS analysis of 209 congener-specific PCBs (Method 1668A 2003), applied to multiple matrices.
2003 AXYS provides technological support and data to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) to establish HR GC-MS analysis of congener-specific Polybrominated diphenylethers (Method 1614 Draft), applied to multiple matrices.
2004 AXYS customizes LR GC-MS analyses for low-level, congener-specific contaminant PCBs in human blood and fish tissue
2005 AXYS provides technological support and reference data to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) to standardized comparability of sediment dioxin and PCB “field detection” approaches (SITE Study).
2005 AXYS first offers commercial analysis of Bisphenol-A in human serum and urine by LC-MS/MS.
