In the last week of August, the 17^th Nordic Mass Spectrometry conference was held in Espoo, Finland. With around 150 participants from Nordic countries, the conference covered various different topics within the field of mass spectrometry.

From our group, Anneli Kruve presented some of the most recent results in the field of quantitative suspect screening for pesticides and mycotoxins. Riin Rebane presented a poster about analyzing metanephrine (MN) and normetanephrine (NMN) and also about unusual matrix interferences related to the analysis (results have been published here). Artur Gornischeff presented some very exciting results on the ionization studies of derivatized amino acids which have also been published here.

NordicMS is a mass spectrometry conference taking place every three years and hosted in turns by nordic countries. This time it was Finland’s turn. The three-day conference had roughly 150 attendees; as expected, primarily from Finland and other Nordic countries. The conference covered all major areas of application of mass spectrometry: food characterization, metabolomics, drug discovery, proteomics, doping discovery and forensics. Topics covered analysis from the sea bottom (Hanna Niemikoski’s presentation about the identification of novel chemical warfare agents) up to the sky (Kari Hartonen’s presentation about sampling from air with drones).

The conference showed that even in the small circle of Nordic countries the research in the field of mass spectrometry is diverse and every mass spectrometry enthusiast will find his or her spot in the field.