Research

1. Diagnostic Mass Spectrometry

The main motivation for this project is to develop a mass spectrometric method for use by MS non-experts.  We are synthesizing novel chemical probes that will allow the use of ambient ionization techniques [e.g., desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), paper spray ionization, direct analysis in real time (DART), etc.] for the detection of disease biomarkers. The methodology is directly applicable in point-of-care diagnosis, tissue imaging, lipidomics, and other areas in biomedical research

 

2. Accelerated Droplet Reactions

Accelerated reaction rates are observed for certain chemical reactions performed under charged micro-droplets environments. We are developing new MS techniques for containment, and the use of ionic species as ordinary reagents for organic reactions. The main advantage of conducting ionic reactions at atmospheric pressure is the fact that products are completely accessible during experiment, and thus can be collected for subsequent.

 

 3. Therapeutic Aerosol Characterization

 

We are developing ambient ion processing techniques for the characterization of therapeutic aerosols.