Mylnefield Lipid Analysis celebrates 25th anniversary

"Mylnefield Lipid Analysis has become a leading international laboratory for the specialist analysis of oils and fats, offering a fully accredited service that has gained an outstanding reputation for high quality and reliability"

Mylnefield Lipid Analysis, the James Hutton Institute’s specialist lipid analysis laboratory, is celebrating its 25^th anniversary in 2020, a major milestone for the Invergowrie-based team.

Mylnefield Lipid Analysis was founded in 1995 by legends of lipid analysis Professor Frank Gunstone and Dr Bill Christie MBE at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, one of the forerunners of the James Hutton Institute.

Frank, a retired emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, teamed up with his former PhD student, Bill, who was SCRI’s Head of Chemistry at the time and an internationally recognised expert in lipid research and analysis. Together they led the lab to secure a worldwide reputation for excellence in lipids, and their legacy continues now with regular customers sending samples to the laboratory from all over the world. 

Mylnefield Lipid Analysis moved into its current laboratories on the James Hutton Institute’s Invergowrie campus in 1999, and Claire Traynor, now Head of Mylnefield Lipid Analysis, was recruited as the laboratory’s first analyst.  

The team has now grown, and Mylnefield Lipid Analysis has become a leading international laboratory for the specialist analysis of oils and fats, offering a fully accredited service that has gained an outstanding reputation for high quality and reliability.

The laboratory is fully accredited to ISO9001:2015 standards and regularly participates in international programmes to ensure the quality of its measuring methods.

Mylnefield Lipid Analysis was awarded first place in the 2016/2017 GOED Nutraceuticals Series of the American Oil Chemist Society Laboratory Proficiency Program, the worlds' most extensive and respected collaborative proficiency testing programme for oil and fat related commodities.

It is also one of the few laboratories in the world that has been approved by both the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Good Manufacturing Practices analysis of oils and fats and has undergone a successful Good Clinical Practice inspection by the MHRA.

Over its 25-year history, the laboratory has traditionally held an annual course in fatty acid and lipid analysis which attracts delegates from all over the world.

Looking to the future, Claire says it is essential to keep evolving, stay up to date with technology and to identify customer needs, developing the appropriate methods to address them: “We need to ensure that Mylnefield Lipid Analysis becomes a one-stop-shop for all our customers.”

To find out more about the history of Mylnefield Lipid Analysis and their perspectives for the future, watch a series of videos specially produced to mark their 25th anniversary, or visit the MLA website.