PRG project: Development of Laser-pen probe-MS system (2021-2025)

 


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From January 2021 to December 2025, the cultural heritage investigation workgroup, led by Dr. Signe Vahur, is working on a novel and exciting PRG project called “Development of laser-based pen-type probe-MS system for the analysis of cultural heritage objects” funded by the Estonian Research Council. This highly interdisciplinary PRG1198 project combines researchers from chemistry, physics, material science, archaeology, conservation, and heritage science.

If you’re a BSc, MSc, PhD student, or a postdoc in life sciences interested in working on this project, don’t hesitate to contact (signe.vahur@ut.ee)!

On this webpage, we will regularly post pictures, short texts and news about the project! Your comments and good advice is more than welcome!

 

The Cultural Heritage research group published an article about their novel developed laser ablation-based analytical system (LA-APCI-MS) capabilities!

Within the framework of the PRG1198 research project Dr Signe Vahur with her team (Dr Anu Teearu, Dr Rünno Lõhmus, Martin Leissoo, Dr Alexey Treshchalov, Dr Janis Lungevics, Dr Georg Arju, Dr Hilkka Hiiop) has published a new article titled “Characterisation of laser-ablated craters of different painting materials and evaluation with modified LA-APCI-MS system” in the Journal of Talanta. The article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2025.127856

The article presents preliminary results obtained by investigating the pulsed 355 nm Nd:YAG laser’s impact on specific painting materials (oil and acrylic paints and varnish) surfaces by characterising the area and volume of laser-ablated craters (measured with an optical microscope and 3D profilometer) obtained with different laser energies and the number of pulses at 90°, 70°, and 45° incidence angles and evaluating intensity of corresponding MS signals obtained with APCI-MS.

Professor Hilkka Hiiop was elected as the rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts

Professor Hilkka Hiiop

On January 31, 2025, Professor Hilkka Hiiop was elected as the next rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). Hilkka has been the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Culture since 2021 and the leading force in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation for more than 10 years. Since 2021, she has also been a member of the PRG 1198 project working on the development of the laser-pen probe-MS system.

Hilkka has led numerous award-winning projects, the most recent one being the recovery and restoration of the Plafond painting in the Estonian Knighthood House. In this project, assoc. prof. Signe Vahur from our chair was also involved in performing the analysis of numerous samples to help identify the materials used in this rare work of art.

For more on Hilkka, our collaboration, and the magnificent plafond, see here (in Estonian): https://jupiter.err.ee/1609565348/eesti-lood

Congratulations, Hilkka! We wish you strength and success in your new position!

PRG workgroup members visit the Mitutoyo metrology lab at Riga Technical University!

On the 5th of September 2024, PRG workgroup members Dr Signe Vahur, Dr Anu Teearu-Ojakäär, Dr Rünno Lõhmus, Dr Aleksei Treštšalov and specialist MSc student Martin Leissoo visited the Mitutoyo metrology lab at Riga Technical University (RTU) where the director of the lab Ass. Prof. Janis Lungevics kindly hosted them and introduced different new equipment in the lab.

From left: Rünno, Aleksei, Janis, Signe, Martin, and Anu

The one-day trip was undertaken for the purpose of research work. As part of the collaboration, various materials related to the PRG project have been measured with an optical 3D profilometer in Mitutoyo’s laboratory. Janis introduced the 3D profilometer and showed also very interesting research results that will be published in the joint scientific article.

All the members of the PRG group were very excited about the visit, which gave new interesting ideas for further research.

Thank you, Janis, for a very interesting day and all the support and help!

Janis demonstrating the power of the 3D profilometer

ASMS 2024 – Conference on mass spectrometry and allied topics

From June 2 to June 6, 2024, Signe Vahur and Anu Teearu-Ojakäär attended the 72nd ASMS conference on mass spectrometry and allied topics at Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, USA).

Signe and Anu at ASMS

This year, the conference hosted almost 6800 attendees and 183 companies. During the four days there were 384 oral presentations that ran in 8 parallel sessions and 3288 poster presentations (more than 800 posters per day) on wide variety of topics related to mass spectrometry – developments in instrumentation, analysis of complex and problematic samples, using AI and software solutions to improve measurements, data handling, etc. In addition, there were 50 evening workshops and 49 breakfast seminars. From Monday to Wednesday evening, 15 daily corporate hospitality suits were hosted by some of the companies (e.g., Bruker, Agilent Technologies, Shimadzu, Thermo Scientific, etc.).

Anu and Signe in front of their poster

At the conference, Signe and Anu presented their poster “APCI-MS for the analysis of cultural heritage materials” during the Thursday (June 6) poster session. On Monday evening (June 3), Anu gave a 3-minute Flash talk at the evening workshop “Art, Museums, and Archaeology” for an audience of approximately 160 attendees.

Anu giving a Flash presentation

The 72nd ASMS conference was a great experience by meeting old colleagues and fellow MS enthusiasts, making new connections, having great and fruitful discussions and networking opportunities. Thank you to the organisers of the conference for delivering yet another high-level event!

The cultural heritage investigation workgroup published the first Tutorial Review article about lasers!

The analytical chemistry scientists (Dr Signe Vahur, Dr Anu Teearu-Ojakäär, Prof Ivo Leito) together with physicists (Dr Rünno Lõhmus, Dr Aleksei Treshchalov, Prof Jaak Kikas) from the Institute of Physics at the University of Tartu and conservation scientists at the Estonian Academy of Arts (Prof Hilkka Hiiop, MSc Käthi Niman), have published a new tutorial review article, “Laser-based analytical techniques in cultural heritage science – Tutorial review“ in the journal of Analytica Chimica Acta. The article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2023.342107.

Graphical abstract in the journal of Analytica Chimica Acta (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2023.342107)

This comprehensive collaboration article is significant for the cultural heritage investigation workgroup and the PRG1198 project team, which is currently developing a new laser-based MS system.

The main focus of this tutorial review is to give a simple and accessible overview of the physical background of different lasers, their parameters, and examples of applications in analytical techniques useful for the identification of components of various complex materials from a cultural heritage point of view. Besides conservators and cultural heritage scientists, this review may also interest researchers and students of other fields (e.g., material science, physics, chemistry, forensics, etc.) who wish to know more about lasers.

Dr. Signe Vahur’s visit to the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute labs!

Dr. Signe Vahur, during her vacation to Washington DC, USA, had the possibility to visit the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) labs.

The MCI is the center for specialized technical collection research and conservation for all Smithsonian museums and collections. MCI combines knowledge of materials and the history of technology with state-of-the-art instrumentation and scientific techniques to provide technical research studies and interpretation of artistic, anthropological, biological, and historical objects (webpage: https://mci.si.edu/).

Dr. Asher Newsome, a physical scientist at MCI, kindly showed her the research labs equipped with different analytical instruments (e.g., chromatographs (GC, LC), mass spectrometers, spectrometers (FT-IR, Raman, SEM-EDS)) and labs for conserving paintings, textiles, and paper items. He introduced some of his research work, and they had a good discussion of various analysis options for cultural heritage materials.

This visit was very beneficial and raised new collaboration possibilities in the future. 

ASMS 2023 – Conference on mass spectrometry and allied topics

During June 4-8, 2023, Signe Vahur and Anu Teearu-Ojakäär attended the 71st ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, held in Houston, USA.

Signe and Anu presenting their poster

At the ASMS conference, Signe and Anu presented their poster “MALDI-MS for the analysis of cultural heritage materials” during the Monday (June 5) poster session.

On Wednesday evening (June 7), Signe was an invited panelist (along with Dr G. Asher Newsome from Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, USA; Prof Paul Haynes from Macquarie University, Australia; Dr Aleksandra Popowich from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA; Assoc Prof Enrico Cappellini from University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and Assoc Prof Troy Wood from University of Buffalo, USA) in the workshop “Art, Museums, and Archaeology” and had a very interesting discussion with approximately 70 attendees.

Altogether, the ASMS 2023 conference had more than 6300 attendees from all over the World. During four days there were 384 oral presentations (that ran in 8 parallel panels) and 4 presentations by invited speakers; 2939 poster presentations (more than 700 posters per day) and 178 corporate members presenting their products – instruments, labware, sample preparation, software solutions, etc. In addition, there were 50 evening workshops, 49 breakfast seminars, and 16 daily corporate hospitality suits.

All in all, the 71st ASMS Conference was a great experience with a lot of new connections, great discussions, and networking opportunities. Thank you to the organisers of the 71st ASMS Conference for delivering such a high-level event!

Signe talking during the panel session
Signe in the main conference hall

We have a new laser!

At the end of January, our new laser from Quantum Light Instruments (Lithuania) arrived! By now, the laser has been set up in the lab, and the team members have been trained to work with it. Work on the laser-MS project can continue at full speed now. The first laser-MS experiments with the new laser are promising and we hope to get many more good results in the near future.

 

 

The laureate of the Katritzky scholarship is Silvia Hiie Aabloo

Every year the Katritzky scholarship is rewarded to a first-year chemistry MSc student at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu. The scholarship was established in memory of Professor Alan Roy Katritzky, the Honorary Doctor of the University of Tartu. We are glad to announce that this year the scholarship was awarded to a member of our Analytical Chemistry Chair – Silvia Hiie Aabloo!

Silvia Hiie Aabloo

Silvia is doing her MSc project in the Cultural Heritage workgroup, supervised by Dr. Anu Teearu-Ojakäär and Dr. Signe Vahur. Her research revolves around the study of matrix materials used in the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) analysis. MALDI is a suitable ionization technique for the analysis of large and poorly soluble molecules, which has been used somewhat for the analysis of cultural heritage objects. However, research is still needed to find suitable matrix materials for different cultural heritage materials. An interview with Silvia after receiving the scholarship can be found here (in Estonian). 

Congratulations from all of us, Silvia!

 

 

Conference on functional materials and nanotechnologies

On the 3.-6. of July, a Joint International Conference of the “Functional Materials and Nanotechnologies and Nanotechnology and Innovation in the Baltic Sea Region” FM&NT – NIBS 2022 was held in Riga, Latvia at the House of Science, Academic Centre of the University of Latvia. Our project was represented by Dr. Rünno Lõhmus and PhD student Käthi Niman.

The focus of the conference was dedicated to four main topics: Nanomaterials and technologies, Functional Materials, Green Energy and Environment, and Bioengineering materials and biotechnologies. Several lectures were held in both a larger auditorium and in parallel sessions in smaller groups. On the 4th of July, a poster session on the mentioned topics took place. Altogether there were 79 oral and 120 poster presentations. On July 5th, a panel discussion was held on the topic “From lab to fab. What it takes to make a business out of university research.”, which gave an interesting insight into what it takes to create a start-up in the scientific field.

Over the course of four days, several interesting developments in the field of nanotechnologies, functional materials, and biosensors were introduced, which might prove of use in the field of cultural heritage conservation. From thin film and colored glass solar panels to graphene-based sensors, several topics discussed in the numerous presentations sparked ideas of potential use in art and architecture conservation and restauration. As an example, in one oral presentation, given by Dr. Kestutis Staliunas, laser application widening possibilities were discussed. More in detail, in the talk “Nanostructures for intracavity spatial filtering in microlasers,” the authors proposed an interesting idea to exploit photonic microstructures (such as photonic crystals and micro-modulated thin films) to enhance the quality of spatial quality of emitted radiation in microlasers.

The conference was very useful and created many personal contacts for future potential collaboration.