Alternative sources for isotopes
Please note: the Sigma-Aldrich salts are basically the same as the ones you order in the respective kit from DVS Sciences. They are high-purity (99.9+%). It's just that it may be more convenient to order 5-10 grams of the chloride hydrate salt so that your organization will never run out of it.
However: the isotopes listed from Trace Sciences are "USE AT YOUR OWN RISK". The primary reason that DVS does NOT sell them in their kits is that they cannot be sourced at very high purity (98+%). Many of them are typically around 90% pure, with the remaining contaminants being M-1, M+1, and M+2 isotopes of the same metal, as well as other lanthanides (particularly Lanthanum).
I can guarantee that you will minimally have "M+1" spillover questions/issues with the Trace isotopes listed, depending on your signal strength at "M". In some cases, this may be lost in the background or otherwise be negligible to your analysis. In other cases, this could force you to redesign your panel entirely. Therefore, if you *are* going to use them, consider using them for dump channels, and/or strict lineage markers where you use markers for other lineages on the neighboring panel positions.
(This post was originally from Mike Leipold to the HIMC CyTOF Forum in Basecamp, and has been reposted here by Holden Maecker)