Professor Musah and Ashton traveled to Hyannis, MA to give talks about their recent work. Ashton spoke about adulteration of psychoactive herbal supplements and Professor Musah presented on work towards the creation of a psychotropic plant database. Ashton was awarded the 2015 Carol DeForest Student Research Grant Award at the conference.
Professor Musah Serves as Chair of the 2015 SUNY STEM Conference
Professor Musah served as the Chair of the 2015 SUNY STEM Conference. The conference highlighted building pathways and partnerships to enhance STEM education and research throughout New York and the world at large. Keynote speaker Dr. Jill Bargonetti spoke about her experience as a minority woman in STEM. The conference was held at the Albany Marriott October 1st-2nd.
Musah Lab Presents at the 2015 Life Sciences Research Symposium
Ashton presented a talk about her work on identifying psychoactive plant materials titled "From Greenhouse to Drughouse: Characterization of Mind-Altering Plant Materials". Justine presented a poster on the research she has done on plant species identification titled "One Mint Gets you High, One Mint Keeps You Low-Identifying Salvia divinorum and other Sage Species". Tianyu presented a poster on his work titled "Flower Power: Carboranyl Cysteine Florets on the Pathway to Novel Brain Tumor Treatment".
Justine at LSRS 2015.
Tianyu at LSRS 2015.
Musah Lab Presents at ASMS
Ashtine enjoying the Hospitality Suites at ASMS 2015.
Justine and Ashton traveled with Professor Musah to St. Louis, MO in May 2015 for the annual American Society of Mass Spectrometry conference. Ashton presented a talk about her continuing work on psychotropic plant analysis. Justine and Professor Musah presented in the Plant-omics poster session on their work with plant volatile compound analysis.
Ashton presents in the Forensic session of ASMS 2015.
Justine presenting her poster at ASMS 2015.
Professor Musah Receives NSF Grant
DART-MS instrument enables analysis of complex samples-like a cookie!
Professor Musah received a National Science Foundation grant (grant number 1429329) for the acquistion of an in-house Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometer. The new instrument was installed in November 2014. The DART will be used by students and faculty in the chemistry department for research and teaching purposes.
Musah Lab conducts experiments at JEOL USA Inc.
Professor Musah with Ashton and Justine analyzing plant samples at JEOL USA, Inc.
Graduate students Justine and Ashton traveled with Professor Musah to work with collaborators JEOL USA, Inc. In the course of a week, they were able to analyze 1000 samples with Drs. Chip Cody and John Dane using a DART AccuTOF mass spectrometer. It was a great opportunity to experience the convergence of industry and academic research.
Forensic Science International Publications
A paper titled "Rapid Detection by Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) of Psychoactive Plant Drugs of Abuse: The Case of Mitragyna speciosa aka 'Kratom.'" was accepted for publication in Forensic Science International. The authors of this paper include Ashton D. Lesiak, Robert B. Cody, A. John Dane, and Rabi A. Musah.
A second article titled "DART-MS In-source Collision Induced Dissociation and High Mass Accuracy for New Psychoactive Substance Determinations" was also accepted for publication in Forensic Science International. The authors on this paper are Rabi A. Musah, Robert B. Cody, Marek A. Domin, Ashton D. Lesiak, A. John Dane, and Jason R.E. Shepard.
Musah Lab Presents at ASMS
Professor Musah presented her work on identification of Datura species at the 2014 American Society of Mass Spectrometry in Baltimore, MD. Her work was well received by the scientific community. Ashton also presented work on the characterization of the "legal" drug alternative Kratom. Ashton volunteered at the conference as a Registration worker and received a travel stipend.
Graduate student, Ashton Lesiak presents her research on Kratom at the 2014 ASMS Annual conference.