Amy, Allix and Mónica presented at the 2021 American Chemical Society Eastern US Younger Chemistry Committee Virtual Research Symposium & Chemistry Career Expo. Their talks were titled, “Forensic Entomotoxicology: Expanding the use of Insect Evidence through Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (DART-HRMS)”, “Woodn’t You Know? Opportunities in Phytochemistry and Wood Research using Laser Ablation Direct Analysis in Real Time – Imaging Mass Spectrometry (LADI-MS)” and “A Method that Enables the Rapid Detection and Identification of Psychoactive Tryptamines by Data Fusion of Mass Spectrometry and IR Spectroscopy Data and Multivariate Statistical Analysis” respectively. Amy received an honorable mention for her presentation. In addition, Megan assisted in organizing the symposium and Meghan attended. A great time was had by all!
Musah Lab Receives IFW Awards
Samira, Allix and Mónica all received awards through the Initiatives for Women Foundation. Samira received the IFW Endowment Award. Allix and Mónica received the Ford Foundation IFW Women in Science Fellowship award. Congratulations to all!
Musah Lab Visits JEOL
Professor Musah, Allix and Amy were excited to travel once again to our collaborators JEOL USA Inc. in Peabody, MA. The week was filled with productive experiments in their new Mass Spec Facility.
Amy, Professor Musah and Allix at JEOL, USA.
Allix Presents at International GC×GC Symposium
Allix presented at the 18th International GC×GC Symposium. Her talk was titled “Play it by Ear: The Utilization of GC×GC-MS Analysis of Earwax as a Means of Diagnosing Disease”.
Paper Accepted by ACS Earth and Space Chemistry
Daman’s paper titled “Atmospheric Oxidation of Propanesulfinic Acid Initiated by OH Radicals: Reaction Mechanism, Energetics, Rate Coefficients, and Atmospheric Implications” has been accepted by ACS Earth and Space Chemistry.
Jessica Receives her M.S. degree
Jessica graduated from the University at Albany with a Master’s Degree in Chemistry. Her thesis was titled “Application of Direct Analysis in Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry to Genus- and Species-Level Differentiation and Identification of Coral”. Congratulations Jessica!
Megan Receives WISH Award
Megan received a 2021 Women in Science and Health (WISH) Excellence at the Interface of Science and Life”Award. This award recognizes students and postdoctoral fellows who are pursuing degrees and careers in STEM fields and are achieving excellence in their field while also being exemplars at life. Her essay was titled, “A Virtual Balancing Act: Service, Science, and Sanity Amid a Global Pandemic”. Congratulations Megan!
Meghan Receives Forensic Science Foundation Award
Meghan received the 22nd Annual Forensic Science Foundation Emerging Forensic Scientist Award for her AAFS 2021 presentation. The award is presented to the author of the best paper on any topic focusing on the reliability and validity of techniques, processes, or methods in a forensic are of the author’s choice. She will receive her award at the 2022 Annual AAFS Scientific Meeting in Seattle, Washington. Congratulations Meghan!
Musah Lab Presents at National ACS Meeting
Samira, Daman and Allix presented at the American Chemical Society Spring 2021 National Meeting. Samira and Allix presented talks titled “A Workflow for the Automated Supervised Learning of Chemical Data - Efficient Data Reduction-Multivariate Curve Resolution (EDR-MCR)” and “Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Earwax: Progress towards Diagnosing Ménière’s Disease” respectively. Daman presented a poster titled “Theoretical Investigations on the Atmospheric Oxidation of Propanesulfinic Acid Initiated by OH Radical: Mechanism, Energetics, Kinetics, and Atmospheric Implications”.
Meghan Receives President's Award
Meghan received a 2021 President’s Award for Leadership – Great Dane Award. The award is given to students who have demonstrated leadership in several co-curricular activities or significant leadership in one such activity during the current year. Congratulations Meghan!
Paper Accepted by Analytical Chemistry
Samira’s paper titled “Workflow for the Supervised Learning of Chemical Data: Efficient Data Reduction-Multivariate Curve Resolution (EDR-MCR)” has been accepted by Analytical Chemistry.
Paper Accepted by Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Daman’s paper titled “Catalytic Effect of Water and Formic Acid on the Reaction of Carbonyl Sulfide with Dimethyl Amine Under Tropospheric Conditions” has been accepted by Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.
Musah Lab Presents at Pittcon
Professor Musah, Meghan, Allix, Amy, Megan, Mónica and Jessica presented at the virtual 2021 Pittcon Conference & Expo. Professor Musah, Meghan, Allix, Amy and Megan presented talks. They were titled “Yes, We Can(nabis) Use Direct Analysis in Real Time – High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Cannabinoids in Plant Material and Edible Complex Matrices”, “Rapid Species-level Identification of Endangered Species of Macaws Using Mass Spectral and Chemometric Techniques”, Science to Your Ears: Analysis of Earwax Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry for Disease Diagnosis”, “Investigation of Chemical Markers Indicative of Insect Pest Infestation in Milled Flour by Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry”, “Rapid Detection and Quantification of Psychoactive Molecules in Complex Plant Matrices and Mixtures Derived from ‘Plants of Concern’ by DART-HRMS”. Mónica and Jessica presented posters titled “Classification and Identification of New Psychoactive Tryptamines through Multivariate Statistical Analysis Processing of ‘Fused’ DART-HRMS Data Collected by Collision-induced Dissociation” and “Coral ‘Reefsearch’ – Genus Level Identification of Coral Based on Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry-derived Chemical Signatures” respectively.
Meghan Competes in 3MT
Meghan participated in the University at Albany, SUNY 3-Minute Thesis competition. She presented her graduate work “Birds of a Feather – Forensic Identification of Endangered Parrots” and won 3rd place. Congratulations Meghan!
Musah Lab Presents at AAFS
Professor Musah, Meghan, Amy and Megan presented virtual talks at the 2021 American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Scientific Meeting. Their talks were titled “A Rapid Forensic Identification of Psychoactive Plant Types by Multivariate Data Analysis of a Direct Analysis in Real-Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) Plant Database, Featuring a User-Friendly Interface”, “Species-Level Forensic Identification of Illegally Traded Endangered Woods Using a Combination of Mass Spectral and Chemometric Techniques”, “A Tisket, A Tasket, A Tribolium in Your Basket: The Development of a New Approach for the Forensic Detection of Stored-Product Insect Pests Using Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (DART-HRMS) and Chemometrics”, “Candies and Cannabinoids – The Rapid Identification of Cannabinoids in Plant Material and Edible Complex Matrices by Ambient Mass Spectrometry” respectively. Meghan, Amy and Megan all also received the Forensic Science Foundation Student Scholarship Award to attend the AAFS meeting.
Professor Musah and Allix Complete I-Corps
Professor Musah and Allix completed the New York City Regional Innovation Node (NYCRIN) I-Corps Program. This intense 8-week program follows the National Science Foundation I-Corps curriculum to leverage commercialization of a research effort. As the team, ChemDetect, they completed over 80 interviews with potential clients. In addition, Allix received the Entrepreneurial Leader Spirit Award to recognize the Entrepreneurial Lead of a team who embodied the I-Corps process from start to finish and conducted thorough customer discovery for each box the business model canvas.
Allix Invited to Present at MetrohmUSA Symposium
Allix recently received the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) Student Poster Award at SciX2020. As a result, she was able to present her research at the Groundbreaking Research Virtual Symposium hosted by MetrohmUSA and SAS. Her talk was titled “Towards the Utilization of the Human Cerumen (Earwax) Matrix for Disease Diagnostics: Chemical Profiling Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry”. Congratulations Allix!
Paper Accepted by ACS Omega
Megan, Meghan and Cameron’s paper titled “Detection and Quantification of Psychoactive N,N-Dimethyltryptamine in Ayahuasca Brews by Ambient Ionization High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry” has been accepted by ACS Omega.
Musah Lab Presents at SciX
Professor Musah, Samira and Allix’s posters.
Professor Musah, Samira and Allix presented at the virtual SciX 2020. Each presented a virtual poster accompanied by an oral presentation. Dr. Musah presented “A Workflow for the Identification of Psychoactive Plant Types Featuring a Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass-Spectral Database”, Samira presented “A New Supervised Learning-based Workflow for the Processing of Chemical Data – Efficient Data Reduction-Multivariate Curve Resolution (EDR-MCR)” and Allix presented “Towards the Utilization of Human Cerumen (Earwax) Matrix for Disease Diagnostics: Chemical Profiling Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry”. Allix also received the Society of Applied Spectroscopy Poster Award.
Musah Lab Presents at NEAFS
Monica, Amy, Meghan and Megan’s presentations.
Meghan, Amy, Megan and Monica presented virtual talks at the 2020 North Eastern Association of Forensic Scientists Virtual Annual Meeting. Their talks were titled “Mass Spec of the Woods: Species-level Identification of Endangered Woods Using Mass Spectral and Chemometric Techniques”, “Flour Power: A Fresh Approach to Insect Detection in Stored-Product Forensic Entomology Assays Using Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics”, “Who’s Ready for Halloweed? – Detecting Cannabinoids in Candies, Chocolates and Other Edible Products by DART-HRMS”, and “Trip or Treat: Data Fusion and Multivariate Statistical Analysis Treatment of DART-HRMS Collision-induced Dissociation Data to Enable the Rapid Detection and Identification of Tryptamines” respectively. Megan also received the Carol de Forest Student Research Grant.