Musah Lab Presents at NEAFS

Mónica, Meghan, Dr. Musah, Megan and Amy at NEAFS.

Professor Musah, Meghan, Amy, Megan and Mónica traveled to Lancaster, PA to present at the 2019 Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists Annual Meeting. Professor Musah, Meghan, Amy and Megan presented talks titled “Ruffling a Few Feathers: Forensic Identification of Illegally Traded Endangered Macaw Species Using Direct Analysis in Real Time – Mass Spectrometry”, “Pharm to Table: Mass Spectral Analysis of Synthetically-derived Psychoactive Materials”, “Chemometric Processing of DART-HRMS Derived Chemical Signatures of Carrion Insects to Establish Insect Species Identity to Facilitate Postmortem Interval Determination” and “Spice Up Your Life – An Ambient Mass Spectral Technique for the Rapid Detection and Quantification of Psychoactive Compounds in Pepper Plant and Magic Mint-derived Complex Matrices” respectively. Mónica presented a poster titled “Trippin’ on Tryptamines: The Use of Chemometric Processing of DART-HRMS Data for Identification of a Subset of Psychoactive Substances”. Meghan also received the Carol de Forest Student Research Grant.

Musah Lab Featured by Elsevier

Professor Musah and Kristen’s Forensic Chemistry paper was featured in Elsevier. The article, titled “Explosive Evidence Found in Fingerprints”, highlighted the multiple types of substances that can be detected in fingerprints using our developed laser ablation imaging system. The article can be found here.

Jessica Presents at Undergraduate Research Symposium

Jessica was the Student Keynote Speaker at the 5th Annual Chemistry Undergraduate Research Symposium where she discussed her undergraduate research and experience. In addition, she received the Paul Gold ‘75 Chemistry Award. Congratulations Jessica!

Musah Lab Presents at SciX

Professor Musah and Samira traveled to Palm Springs, CA to present at the 2019 SciX Meeting. Dr. Musah presented a talk titled “Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Combating Illegal Trade in Endangered Wood Species with Mass Spectrometry. She also chaired the “Chemometric Opportunities in the Forensic Sciences” session. Samira gave a presentation titled “Multi-label Classification Methods for the Forensic Identification of Fauna or Flora within Mixtures”.

Musah Lab Featured by Forensic Bites

Professor Musah and Kristen were featured in Forensic Bites in an article titled “Detecting Drugs and Explosives in Fingerprints”. This highlighted the some of the forensics work being done with our developed laser ablation imaging system. The article can be found here.

Cameron and Meghan Receive FSF Awards

Cameron and Meghan both received awards from the Forensic Science Foundation to fund their graduate research. Cameron received the Jan S. Bashinski Criminalistics Graduate Thesis Assistance Grant and Meghan received the Lucas Research Grant. Congratulations Cameron and Meghan!

Musah Lab Featured by Innovation Hall

Professor Musah and Amy were featured in Innovation Hall’s most recent episode “Are You Squeamish?”. This highlighted the work being done in the lab on blow fly and carrion beetle identification for the determination of post mortem interval. The article and episode can be found here.

Paper Accepted by ACS Omega

Meghan and Samira’s paper titled “Random Forest Processing of Direct Analysis in Real-Time Mass Spectrometric Data Enables Species Identification of Psychoactive Plants from Their Headspace Chemical Signatures” has been accepted by ACS Omega. This is Meghan’s first first-author paper.

Kristen Receives her Ph.D.

Kristen successfully defended her doctoral work titled “Development of Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time Imaging-Mass Spectrometry (LADI-MS) – Applications to Questions of Relevance in Forensic Science and Plant Biochemistry”. Congratulations Dr. Fowble!

Dr. Hamid Abdollahi Visits the Musah Lab

The Musah Lab is excited to welcome visiting scientist, Dr. Hamid Abdollahi. Dr. Abdollahi is a professor in the Chemistry Department at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Zanjan, Iran. He will be working in he Musah Lab for the next few months on a variety of projects. Welcome Dr. Abdollahi!

Cameron Presents at IAI

Cameron traveled to Reno, NV to present at the 104th International Association for Identification Educational Conference. He presented a poster titled “Stay in Touch: Establishing Connections Between Individuals and Forensically-Relevant Substances Through Evaluation of ‘Touch Chemistry Biometrics’”

Paper Accepted by Forensic Chemistry

Kristen’s paper titled “Simultaneous Imaging of Latent Fingermarks and Detection of Analytes of Forensic Relevance by Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time Imaging-Mass Spectrometry (LADI-MS)” has been accepted by Forensic Chemistry.

Paper Accepted by Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry

Megan and Amy’s paper titled “Rapid Detection and Validated Quantification of Psychoactive Compounds in Complex Plant Matrices by Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry - Application to “Kava” Psychoactive Pepper Products” has been accepted by Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. This is Megan’s first first-author paper.

Cameron Receives Graduate Scholarship

Cameron received the College of Arts and Sciences Lawrence and Marie Shore Graduate Scholarship for 2019 – 2020. Congratulations Cameron!

Kristen and Meghan Receive IFW Awards

Kristen and Meghan both received the Ford Foundation Initiatives Women in Science Fellowship award through the Initiatives for Women Foundation. Congratulations to both!

Paper Accepted by the Journal of Forensic Sciences

Cameron’s paper titled “An Effective Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometric Approach to Detection and Quantification of the Mescaline Content of Commonly-abused Cacti from the Echinopsis Genus” has been accepted by the Journal of Forensic Sciences. This is Cameron’s first first-author paper.

Musah Lab Presents at NERM

Professor Musah, Samira, Daman, Kristen, Cameron, Meghan, Allix, Megan and Amy traveled to Saratoga Springs, NY to present at the 42nd Northeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Professor Musah, Samira, Daman, Kristen, Cameron, Meghan, Megan and Amy presented talks titled “What’s Eating You? – A DART-HRMS and Statistical Analysis Approach to Species Identification of Maggots Colonizing Decomposing Remains for PMI Determination”, “Utility of a Hierarchical Strategy in Differentiation of Hallucinogenic Plant Species within the Nightshade Family Using Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Data”, “Computational Study Investigating the Reaction Mechanisms, Energetics and Kinetics of the Gas-Phase Reactions of S-methyl Methanesulfinothioate (Dimethyl Thiosulfinate) with OH and Cl Radicals – Atmospheric Chemistry Implications”, “Into the Woods: Mapping the Spatial Distributions of Small Molecules in Endangered Wood Species by Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time Imaging-Mass Spectrometry (LADI-MS)”, “Touch Chemistry Biometrics to Link Compounds of Forensic Relevance to Individuals by Mass Spectrometric Imaging Analysis of Latent Fingermarks”, “Knock on Wood: Detection and Identification of Illegally-traded Endangered Woods by Mass Spectral Techniques”, “Tripping into the World of Hallucinogenic Plants – The Quantification of Salvinorin A in Salvia divinorum by Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry”, and “Advances in Forensic Entomology: The Chemometric Processing of DART-HRMS Chemical Signatures for Species Identification of Beetles that Colonize Human Remains” respectively. Allix presented a poster titled “Condom-derived Trace Evidence Identification: An Approach Using Direct Analysis in Real Time – High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics”. Dr. Musah also organized and chaired a session on Data Fusion and Processing in Forensic Science Analysis: Innovations and Future Directions.

Paper Accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry A

Daman’s first-author paper titled “Theoretical Studies of the Gas-Phase Reactions of S-Methyl Methanesulfinothioate (Dimethyl Thiosulfinate) with OH and Cl Radicals: Reaction Mechanisms, Energetics and Kinetics” was accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry A. This paper was also accepted to be featured on the cover of the journal. Congratulations Daman!

Musah Lab Presents at ASMS

Professor Musah presenting her talk.

Kristen presenting her talk.

Professor Musah, Samira, Kristen, Cameron and Meghan traveled to Atlanta, GA to present at the 67th Annual Meeting for the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. Professor Musah and Kristen presented talks titled “Carrion Insect Species Identification from Multi-species Mixtures of Larvae Using Multi-label Classification of DART-HRMS Data for Postmortem Interval Determination” and “LADI of All Trades: Imaging of Small-Molecule Spatial Distributions in Complex Matrices by a Novel Ambient Ionization Imaging Technique” respectively. Samira, Cameron and Meghan presented posters titled “A Novel Approach to Simultaneous Quantification of Tropane Alkaloids in Plant Tissue (Datura spp.) Using DART-HRMS and PLS Linear Regression”, “A Validated Method for Quantification of Mescaline in Recreationally-abused Echinopsis Cacti by Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry” and “A High Profile: Detection and Identification of Synthetically-derived Psychoactive Material through Sorbent-facilitated Headspace Mass Spectral Analysis and Chemometrics” respectively.

Samira with her poster.

Cameron with his poster.

Meghan with her poster.

Paper Accepted by Talanta

Samira and Nana-Hawwa’s paper titled “Call it a ‘Nightshade’ - A Hierarchical Classification Approach to Identification of Hallucinogenic Solanaceae spp. Using DART-HRMS-derived Chemical Signatures” was accepted by Talanta.