BP4NTA Meetings

November Meeting: Dr. Zhenyu Tian

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Dr. Zhenyu Tian is an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University. His lab focuses on the identification and quantification of known and unknown contaminants in our environment to assess their risks to human health and the ecosystem.

This meeting will occur on Tuesday, November 19th, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

Title: Environmental non-targeted analysis: unveiling emerging contaminants in rubber, plastic, and surface water.

Abstract: In the Anthropocene, human beings are changing the earth chemically. Hundreds of thousands of synthetic chemicals are manufactured, and production numbers keep increasing. These chemicals don’t magically disappear, and many end up in environmental compartments such as soil, water, and air, becoming “emerging contaminants”. Our group focuses on chemical contaminants in crumb rubber from end-of-life tires, microplastics, and persistent and mobile organic contaminants in water. By developing new sample preparation and non-targeted analysis methods, we investigate the chemical profiles, transformation products, and environmental fate of these emerging contaminants. Our studies reveal complex mixtures of chemicals in artificial turf crumb rubber, develop novel “fingerprinting” methods for microplastic source tracking, and characterize previously unknown polar chemicals in water supplies. By combining laboratory experiments, environmental monitoring, and innovative data analysis approaches, we provide new insights into the occurrence, sources, and potential risks of these contaminants. The results will advance our understanding of emerging contaminants and inform improved water treatment technologies, support green chemistry initiatives, and enhance environmental management strategies.

October Meeting: Business Meeting

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BP4NTA will hold a business meeting for nominated individuals to speak on their interests and vision for BP4NTA. There will also be a general membership discussion.

Time: Tuesday, October 15th at 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

BP4NTA is seeking elected representatives for the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee positions of Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Technical Liaison are open for elections in 2024.

Vice Chair will serve a 3-year term as vice-chair, chair, and then past-chair. They lead BP4NTA and determine the direction of the organization.
Secretary will serve a 2-year term. They maintain BP4NTA records and communications.
Technical Liaison will serve a 2-year term. They lead communications between individual BP4NTA working groups and the steering committee.

If you are interested in holding an elected position or nominating someone for one, please send interest or nominations to the Elections Chair, Elin Ulrich (Ulrich.Elin@epa.gov), by October 8.

August Meeting: Davis Schiessel

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David Schiessel is the Technical Manager for Organics at Babcock Laboratories. He will be discussing their commercial laboratory NTA product development.

This meeting will occur on Tuesday, August 20th, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

Title: Implementing Meaningful NTA Quality Metrics for Commercial Laboratory Testing

Click here to watch the recording: BP4NTA Monthly Meeting-20240816_DaveSchiessel.mp4

July Meeting: Dr. Sarah Choyke

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Dr. Sarah Choyke (pronounced: Choy-key) will be speaking on the development of NTA products in a contract research environment. She is the Technical Director at Eurofins Environment Testing in Arvada, Colorado. She brings over 10 years of experience in analyzing emerging contaminants in the environment with expertise in field sampling, sample preparation, and mass spectrometry. She received her Ph.D from Duke University and her B.S. in Chemistry from Haverford College.

This meeting will occur on Tuesday, July 16th, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

Title: Knowing Known Unknowns: A Vision for Non-Targeted Analysis Product Offerings

Abstract: Current analytical methodologies typically quantify a predefined list of analytes using targeted methods. However, environmental field samples may contain additional analytes beyond this predefined list. Advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) have significantly enhanced the analysis of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) through non-targeted analysis (NTA). For a commercial or contract laboratory, there is a heightened emphasis on meeting client objectives, turn-around-times, ensuring data quality metrics and adhering to specific report formatting requirements. To streamline these processes, we have adopted the Study Reporting Tool (SRT) framework as a template for clients to structure their projects and understand the workflow. The NTA workflow and report is designed to be adaptable to project-specific requirements, understandable to the clients, all while remaining manageable for laboratory staff. Due to the complex nature of NTA datasets, client input can drive the NTA to ensure data packages encompass pertinent data objectives while remaining comprehensible to all parties.         

Click here to watch the recording: BP4NTA Monthly Meeting-20240716_164729-Meeting Recording.mp4

June Meeting: Dr. Erin Baker

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Dr. Erin Baker will present on the integration of ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry to identify emerging PFAS contaminants. This meeting will occur Tuesday, June 18th, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

Title: An overview of fundamentals and applications of ion-mobility mass spectrometry for environmental non-targeted analysis.

Associated paper – Uncovering per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with nontargeted ion mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry analyses

You can find the recording here: BP4NTA Monthly Meeting-20240618_120020-Meeting Transcript.mp4

May Meeting: Dr. Sin Urban

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Dr. Sin Urban, the Chief of Environmental Sciences at the Maryland Public Health Laboratory, will discuss the use (and challenges) of NTA to drive regulatory actions, with a specific application related to a recent “diet nut” poisoning case investigation as a paradigm.

The meeting will occur on Tuesday, May 21st, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

Dr Sin Urban is Chief of Environmental Sciences at the Maryland public health laboratory. With 72 scientists and 15 analytical sections, the Division of Environmental Sciences is the largest and most scientifically diverse of any Maryland laboratory. Dr Urban earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK), and held faculty appointments at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University before being recruited to the state lab in January 2020. Under Dr Urban’s direction, the Lab has implemented PFAS testing, brought on a large-scale food safety testing program, and is modernizing its emergency response capabilities and electronic data reporting.

You can access the recording here: BP4NTA Monthly Meeting-20240521_174241-Meeting Recording.mp4

March Meeting: Dr. Steven Watkins

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BP4NTA is excited to introduce Dr. Steven (Steve) Watkins as our March speaker! He will give his talk on “Periodic Table of Foods Initiative (https://foodperiodictable.org/) – developing standardized analytical approaches and centralized data processing to characterize food supplies.”

This talk will be held on Tuesday, 3/19/2024, from 12 pm – 1 pm EST.

The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI) is building a global ecosystem and providing tools, data, and training to catalog the biomolecular composition of the world’s food supply. We seek to enable data-driven solutions to improve human and planetary health. We have developed standardized analytical approaches and centralized data processing pipelines for untargeted metabolomics, lipidomics, glycomics, and targeted assays for minerals, fatty acids, etc., and we are working to implement these platforms in laboratories around the world.

You can find the recording here: BP4NTA Monthly Meeting-20240319_170626-Meeting Recording.mp4

January Meeting Speaker: Dr. Thomas Metz

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BP4NTA is excited to introduce Dr. Thomas (Tom) Metz as the first speaker of 2024! He will be giving his talk on “The m/q Initiative at PNNL – advancing tools and methods for reference-free compound identification” on Tuesday 1/16/2024 from 12pm – 1pm EST.

Dr. Metz received a PhD in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina in 2003, then joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for post-doctoral work in mass spectrometry with Dr. Richard D. Smith, where he focused on metabolomics. He became Staff Scientist and a Principal Investigator in the Integrative Omics Group in 2005, and from 2015-2023 was the Metabolomics Team Lead for a group of scientists that focuses on development and applications of high-throughput metabolomics and lipidomics methods to various biological questions. From 2021-2023 he was President of the Metabolomics Association of North America. His research has focused primarily on developing and applying mass spectrometry-based omics approaches, including proteomics, in studies of diabetes mellitus and infectious diseases, resulting in over 200 publications to date. Currently, he is a PNNL Laboratory Fellow, the Chief Science Officer for the Biological Sciences Division, and Lead of the PNNL m/q Initiative.