Theresa Evans-Nguyen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Chemistry Department
University of South Florida

Mass Spectrometry (MS) has become a critical tool in modern chemical measurement. Biomedical applications targeting the plethora of bio-organic species are largely responsible for the enhanced performance of commercial mass spectrometers in the past thirty years. In fact, MS instrumentation research can be viewed as another means to analytical method development.  We strive to take this approach for a variety of niche applications in space, medicine, and security & defense.  Projects in the lab involve differential mobility spectrometry (DMS), digital ion trap (DIT) mass spectrometry systems, atmospheric pressure sampling from surfaces, and microscope mode time-of-flight imaging.  For instance, for illicit drug screening, we have explored DMS filtration toward field portable forensics. Toward planetary dating applications, we have developed DIT to improve isotope ratio analysis. We also recently repurposed a “tinyTOF” to serve as a simple portable MS imaging instrument that may be used for clinical screening.  These and other fun works-in-progress will be discussed.