NCERC

NCERC hosts American Chemistry Society Regional Meeting

EDWARDSVILLE – The STL American Chemistry Society (ACS) Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group and Chromatography Discussion Group hosted a joint regional meeting last Thursday evening at the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC).

Alexander Giachetti, a Forensic Toxicologist with the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office, explained how his team utilizes Shimadzu products in their laboratory. Shimadzu is a global, leading manufacturer of analytical instrumentation. Shimadzu offers a unique program for academic institutions known as the Shimadzu Partnership for Academic Research and Quality of Life (SPARQ).

“We are thrilled by the opportunity to bring together regional mass spectrometry and chromatography experts for an evening at the Shimadzu Innovation Laboratory at SIUE,” Shimadzu Field Sales Engineer Matt Chaidez said. “I think the participants really enjoyed both Alex’s talk, which was like an episode of CSI: Miami brought to life, and the opportunity to visit with SIUE faculty and students.

NCERC Scientific Analyst Rachel Carpio and Visiting Research Fellow Whitney Friedrich attended the presentation. “Alex Giachetti really gave us a unique insight into the life of a forensic toxicologist. His work is truly inspiring and it is interesting to see how the Shimadzu LCMS-8060 can be used in method validation and quantification of drugs of abuse,” said Friederich.

Preceding the presentation, guests were invited to tour SIUE’s SPARQ analytical lab. The lab is a showcase of analytical innovation in SIUE’s University Park that focuses on big-picture, high visibility research impacting the biofuels and biomaterials industries, with interdisciplinary themes such as food, energy and water leading to joint grant proposals, publications, research presentation and intellectual property. The SPARQ Lab at SIUE is available for students to gain hands-on experience with sophisticated analytical instruments, enabling them to be more marketable to potential employers.

The ACS works to promote and engage professionals in the scientific community. A congressionally chartered nonprofit, the ACS membership consists of over 160,000 chemists and chemical engineers in the United States and worldwide.

(From left to right): Dr. Walter Gavlik (Chromatography Group Chair), Matthew Chaidez (Field Sales Engineer, Shimadzu), Alex Giachetti (Forensic Toxicologist, Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office), Dr. Henry Rohrs, Dan Folk, Dr. Kevin Tucker (Department of Chemistry, SIUE) and Dr. Yan Zhang (Director of Research, NCERC).