Software to monitor the price of electricity

One of our former group members, Dr. Karl Kaupmees, used to apply programming to chemistry. Now he has moved on to GridIO to develop software that could be used to monitor the price of electricity.

As it is said in the article, we are used to turning on home appliances when we need them to work. However, it would be more efficient if we could heat our house and charge our electric car when it is the least expensive. The company GridIO is working on a device that could solve this problem and make the home appliances “smart”. 

We wish you the best of luck in your new challenges!

Archemy: a brand new interdisciplinary research lab launched at the Chair of Analytical Chemistry

Archemy is the first archaeochemistry lab in the Baltics where archaeology meets with chemistry, geology, biology, medicine, genetics, material sciences, etc. Our group works in archaeological sciences, especially biomolecular archaeology, with a major focus on ancient dietary and health reconstructions, migrations, and provenance studies. Archemy has wide expertise in material culture studies, human osteology, zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany. Our lab is located at the Chair of Analytical Chemistry Ravila 14A-4011. You can read more about us and our work on our website and follow us on our Archemy lab FB page, or contact us at archemy@ut.ee.

Cultural heritage workgroup started with new PRG project!

We are happy to announce that Dr. Signe Vahur’s Personal Research Funding Team grant (PRG) project got funded!

Yesterday, on the 5th of January was the first meeting with the team members of her new PRG project. The main aim of this project is the development of a new MS system for the analysis of cultural heritage objects. This project is highly interdisciplinary, as it brings together researchers from natural sciences (analytical chemistry, physics, engineering) and humanities (conservation science, art history, archaeology). The duration of this project is 5 years.

We will keep you posted with new developments of this very demanding and interesting project!

 

LC-MS Method Validation web course: 788 participants from 86 countries!

On Tuesday, November 24, 2020 the web course LC-MS Method Validation created and organised by our group was launched for the fifth time as a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course). There are 788 registered participants (the largest number ever in this course) from 86 countries, ranging from Bangladesh to Belize and from Sweden to Togo. The image on the left shows the countries where the participants come from.

This is a practice-oriented on-line course on validation of analytical methods, specifically using LC-MS as technique. The course introduces the main concepts and mathematical apparatus of validation covers the most important method performance parameters and ways of estimating them. The LC-MS validation course is delivered by a team of 8 teachers, each with their own specific area of competence. This way it is expected to offer the best possible knowledge in all the different subtopics of analytical method validation.

The full set of course materials is accessible from the web page https://sisu.ut.ee/lcms_method_validation/. The course materials include videos, schemes, calculation files, and numerous self-tests (among them also full-fledged calculation exercises). In order to pass the course, the registered participants have to take all tests and get a higher than 50% score from each of them. These tests are available to registered participants via the Moodle e-learning platform. Participants who successfully pass the course will get a certificate from the University of Tartu.

Estonian National Heritage Board award to Ackermann project!

The members of the Estonian Centre for Analytical Chemistry (including members from our group) have been partnering with art researchers for years in various interdisciplinary projects. One of the first projects for Rode altar in Niguliste church won many awards and the latest collaboration continues that tradition when on the 14th of October Estonian National Heritage Board awarded the team of Ackerman as the best research team!

Congratulations to everybody!

NB! The final exhibition will be in the Niguliste church and available for everybody starting on the 6th of November. It is a unique chance to see the sculptures from the same sculptor that have spent their time in various Estonian churches and never seen each other.

Our on-line LC-MS Method Validation Course 2020-2021: Registration is open!

Validation_of_LC-MS_Methods_Online_CourseWe are glad to announce that the fifth edition of the online course LC-MS Method Validation created and organised by our Analytical Chemistry group is open for registration at the address https://sisu.ut.ee/lcms_method_validation/ !

The course will be offered as a Massive Open On-line Course (MOOC) during Nov 24, 2020 to Feb 05, 2021.

This is a practice-oriented on-line course on validation of analytical methods, specifically using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) as technique, mostly (but not limited to) using the electrospray (ESI) ion source. The course will also be of interest to chromatographists using other detector types. The course introduces the main concepts and mathematical apparatus of validation, covers the most important method performance parameters and ways of estimating them. The course is largely based on the two-part tutorial review:

The course materials assembled by the members of our group include video lectures, texts, tables, schemes, practical exercises, and numerous tests for self-testing. In spite of being introductory, the course intends to offer sufficient knowledge and mathematical skills for carrying out validation for most of the common LC-MS analyses in routine laboratory environment. The real-life analysis situations for which there are either examples or self-tests are for example determination of pesticides in fruits and vegetables, perfluoroalkyl acids in water, antibiotics in blood serum, glyphosate, and AMPA in surface water, etc. It is important to stress, that for successfully carrying out validation, practical experience – both in analytical chemistry as such and also specifically in validation – is crucial and this can be acquired only through hands-on laboratory work, not via an on-line course.

Participation in the course is free of charge. Receiving a digital certificate (in the case of successful completion) is also free of charge. Printed certificate (to be sent by post) is available for a fee of 60 EUR. Registration is possible until the start of the course. The course material is available from the above address all the time and can be used via the web by anyone who wishes to improve the knowledge and skills in analytical method validation (especially when using LC-ESI-MS).

We are happy to introduce – Dr. Ruta Hecht and Dr. Max Hecht

Today, on August 28, 2020, Ruta Hecht and Max Hecht defended successfully their PhD theses!

The dissertation by Ruta was titled “Novel eluent additives for LC-MS based bioanalytical methods”. In this thesis, novel fluoroalcoholic eluent additives that showed to have a positive influence on analyte ionisation in the MS source were studied. Additionally, two practical applications employing novel eluent additives were developed and validated for several pharmaceuticals. The two bioanalytical methods were used to obtain data for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in paediatric patients. Both methods reached exceptionally low limits of quantification, with minimal sample amount used due to the positive influence of novel eluent additives on analyte ionisation.

The PhD thesis by Max titled “Advances in the development of a point-of-care mass spectrometer test“. In this work, an on-site testing method was developed and evaluated for medical examination. For example, this method enabled to determine the concentration of an antibiotic and an opioid directly in blood, plasma, or urine in as little as 5 minutes.  Furthermore, traditional laboratory-based methods were developed. These included the diagnose of the rare MNGIE-disease and a 36-second test for the analysis of ecstasy tablets. To investigate potentially harmful drugs added to ecstasy tablets, a large panel of over 100 drugs was measured within a single analysis run on a miniaturised mass spectrometer. 

Congratulations to you both! We wish you all the best for the future!

Dr. Artur Gornischeff – PhD thesis on the study of ionization efficiencies and standard free quantification

On the 18th of August, 2020, Artur Gornischeff defended his PhD thesis titled Study of ionization efficiencies for derivatized compounds in LC/ESI/MS and their application for targeted analysis. 

In the thesis by Artur, a method that allowed to measure and evaluate the ionization efficiencies of important constituents (amino acids, biogenic amines) in different foodstuffs and beverages was developed. The developed useful method was used to estimate analyte concentrations without standard substances in different matrices (beer, wine, and tea). In addition, the effect of derivatization on ionization efficiencies and the problem of how to choose the suitable ion source and eluent components were addressed. One benefit of the overall results is the possibility to help with distinguishing counterfeit drinks from the original ones. 

Congratulations, Artur! We wish you all the best for your future.  

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Pilleriin Peets – PhD thesis on the analysis of textile fibres and dyes

Today, on August 25, 2020, Pilleriin Peets successfully defended her PhD thesis titled Development of instrumental methods for the analysis of textile fibres and dyes.

In the thesis by Pilleriin Peets, analytical methods using FT-IR spectroscopy in ATR and reflectance modes were developed for the determination of 16 different fibre types. Additionally, classification methods (discriminant analysis and random forest) were used for the classification of unknown fibres. For the dye analysis, analytical methods using various instrumental sets (HPLC with different mass analysers, MALDI- and ESI-FT-ICR-MS) were developed based on the analysis of seven natural red dyes. 

Based on these results, a large collection of standard spectra and chromatograms was collected and made available for scientists. The advantageous developed methods were used to analyse several cultural heritage samples from the University of Tartu Art Museum, Estonian National Museum, Conservation and Digitization Centre Kanut (Estonia) and private collections. 

Well done, Pilleriin! We wish you all the best for the future!

Design, synthesis and application of carbazole macrocycles in anion sensors

Our supramolecular analytical chemistry team has published an article (Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1901-1914) about developing carboxylate sensor prototypes that use macrocyclic carbazole receptors as ionophores.

Usually, reported research concludes with the demonstration of binding abilities of receptors and only suggests possible applications at a theoretical level. This work stands out from most publications by incorporating the entire workflow from receptor design to the characterisation of working sensor prototypes.

By involving this additional step, the team demonstrated the shortcoming of evaluating binding with just the receptor and analyte in solution. The predictions of selectivity can change considerably when measuring binding in an actual sensor membrane. This does not mean that such binding measurements would be obsolete, as the issue of binding anions selectively remains relevant in supramolecular chemistry.

The work was published in collaboration with the group of prof. Johan Bobacka at Åbo Akademi. The open access article was published in the Beilstein Journal of Chemistry thematic issue “Molecular Recognition” (in memory of Prof. Carsten Schmuck).