Prof. Facundo Fernandez, Georgia Tech

Enabling Mass Spectrometry Technologies for High-Throughput Direct Analysis, Molecular Imaging, and Metabolomics

The better understanding of complex networks heavily relies on the identification, localization and quantitation of organic, biological and bioinorganic molecules. Mass Spectrometry is a key analytical tool for broadband detection of almost any type of analytes. However, in order to be amenable to mass spectrometric analysis, neutral molecules have to be first converted into electrically-charged gas-phase ions. Soft ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization have enabled tremendous progress in terms of probing larger and more complex molecules, and molecular assemblies but they cannot yet be considered the "silver bullets" with which we could tackle every analytical problem. Thus, a fundamental thrust in mass spectrometry refers to the discovery of better ways of making ions and understanding the mechanisms responsible for their generation. Along these lines, the ultimate goal of our research is to find new ways of carrying out the ionization process with higher yields, without fragmentation, and without vacuum. In this talk I will discuss the novel direct and imaging ionization methods that we are currently studying, and introduce a variety of applications for which they have shown enormous potential. In addition, I will show how these new ionization tools can be coupled to a new generation of atmospheric pressure ion mobility-based multiplexed fieldable detectors which have the ability of distinguishing isomers, conformers, and other ionic species based on their shape, not simply their mass.