Tags: Analytical Seminar


Characterizing Surface Active Organics in Sea Spray Aerosol and Their Influence on Cloud Microphysics

Oceans produce one of the largest global natural sources of aerosol in the form of sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles which therefore play a large role in global climate dynamics. SSA particles are enriched in ocean-derived organic compounds, specifically surfactants, which influence the chemical properties of SSA and the potential for SSA particles to become cloud seeds. Hygroscopic growth studies performed on 100 nm laboratory-generated sea…


Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and the Philosophy of Damage in a Museum Setting

With some 150 million objects (including living specimens) in its collection that have been selected for conservation and are available for study, the interests of the Smithsonian Institution fill every niche. Though material analysis is needed to support all manner of research, it may be more important to the museum and other interested parties that rare, precious, or culturally sensitive objects remain un-damaged. Mass spectrometry in its…


Forensic Analysis for Ricin in the 2011 Case of the Georgia Militia


Obtaining Ambient Organic Aerosol Volatility Using the Filter Inlet for Gas and Aerosol Phase (FIGAERO)

Aerosols are a suspension of solid or liquid particles in a gas. They can influence the climate directly through scattering or absorption of solar radiation, or indirectly through their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei. Tropospheric aerosols are comprised from an organic as well as inorganic phase with the organic phase being a major constituent. Organic aerosol composition is affected by both chemical and physical atmospheric…


Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry Application in Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a quantitative test that measures drug dosage to prevent underdose or overdose in clinical practice [1]. Ultrahigh sensitivity and selectivity techniques such as mass spectrometry has superior advantages over traditional immunoassay technique in the diagnosis and quantification of therapeutic drug [2]. While liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry has shown to be a "golden standard" for TDM [1,2…


Identification of Glycosaminoglycans with MS-Based Analytical Techniques

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear anionic polysaccharides that play many important biological functions such as cell-signaling, cell recognition, inflammation, angiogenesis on the cell surface1. However, the structural heterogeneity of GAGs and their low abundance in biological systems have made their analysis difficult2. There has been much interest over the decades to characterize the structures of GAGs to better understand their function…


The Evolution of C=C Position Elucidation in Lipid Fatty Acyl Chains

Determining the unique isomeric structures of lipids is vital to understanding their biochemical functions in organisms. Distinct lipid isomers have been directly linked to a variety of disease states and properties of cellular membranes. Being able to distinguish between C=C positional isomers has proven to be particularly difficult. Traditional methods of C=C position elucidation included complex derivatization of the…


Reverse Metabolomics: An Answer for Characterizing the Functional Relationship of Bile Acids and the Gut

Bile acids (BA) are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol and utilized by the body through primary taurine and glycine (de)conjugation, while secondary BA salts undergo de-hydroxylation, dehydration, and epimerization of the cholesterol backbone. They have been linked to several well understood and unknown disease states in systems biology. Structural characterization of bile acid derivatives continues to be a challenge in metabolomic…


The Analytical Chemistry of Sports Doping Control

Performance enhancing drug (PED) use is a historic issue at the highest levels of professional competition, driving use in young amateurs and compromising the healthfulness of sport. Legal criteria for detecting PED use in athlete’s urine and blood have been in continuous development for 40 years. Illicit use of endogenous substances such as testosterone cannot be established by their presence in fluids. High precision isotope ratio mass…


Evaluating Extraction Techniques for Quantifying Residual Antibiotics Found in Honey using Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

Honey is a widely sought-after natural product produced around the globe. It’s produced by honeybees that take up nectar from flowers and digest it in a separate stomach full of enzymes necessary to break down nectar sugar. The partially digested nectar is passed from honeybee to honeybee until its placed inside a honeycomb and dried via flapping wings. The honey is then sealed off with beeswax. Extracting honey from beehives has had the same…
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