The Stable Isotope Facility (SIF) will be closing, effective July 26, 2026.
June 3, 2026
An Update on the Plant Sciences Stable Isotope Facility
Dear Faculty, Staff, Students, and Supporters,
After a lengthy review process and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to sunset the Stable Isotope Facility (SIF) in its current form, effective July 26, 2026.
The Department of Plant Sciences continues to face hard decisions surrounding funding allocation given the campus-wide request to reduce budgets. Over the past several years SIF has been operating with a significant and growing deficit and, despite extensive efforts over the last several months to find a solution that would allow the facility to continue to provide services to the research community, we have not found a model that is financially sustainable.
I want to thank SIF’s staff for their excellent work and dedication these past 25 years, and everyone who has played a role in supporting this facility.
We are committed to doing our best to support the researchers who rely on the facility during this transition, and will be in touch with individual clients about details of specific plans for handling existing orders over the next several weeks.
Sincerely,
Daniel Potter
Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Sciences
University of California, Davis
As of May 20, 2026: the Stable Isotope Facility is not currently accepting new orders
Welcome to the Stable Isotope Facility
Located on the University of California, Davis campus, in the Department of Plant Sciences, the Stable Isotope Facility (SIF) provides analytical services for local, national, and international researchers. The SIF analyzes over 190,000 samples every year on 16 analytical systems.
The SIF offers analysis for stable isotopes of several light elements, including H, C, N, O, and S, in a wide variety of sample forms at natural abundance or tracer levels by continuous-flow Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS). The following analyses are available:
• C, N, and S in solid samples, such as soils, plant materials, and dried extracts (combustion)
• H and O in solid organic samples (pyrolysis)
• Atmospheric gases, including CH4, CO2, N2, N2O, and O2
• Compound-specific isotope analysis using GC-C-IRMS
• H and O in water, including enriched or small samples
• Dissolved inorganic and organic carbon in water or extracts
• N and O of nitrate in natural waters
• C and O of biogenic carbonate or apatite
The SIF strives to provide cutting edge technologies in stable isotope analysis. To achieve this goal, the SIF collaborates with researchers worldwide to develop new analytical methods and applications of stable isotopes in new areas of research.
As of May 20, 2026, the Stable Isotope Facility is not currently accepting new orders. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.