Concentrating on Chromatography

Chromatography software hasn't fundamentally changed in decades — but the peaks it's trying to measure have gotten a lot harder to solve. In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  I sit down with Ron Brown, creator of PeakFit and PeakLab, and returning guest Dr. M. Farooq Wahab, analytical chemist and research engineering scientist at the University of Texas at Arlington, to dig into the re...

Welcome back to another episode of Concentrating on Chromatography! In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  host David Oliva sits down with Dr. Ansgar Korf, CEO and Co-Founder of mzio GmbH, to explore how their vendor-agnostic platform is fundamentally changing how researchers and industrial users extract value from complex mass spectrometry data. Historically rooted in the open-source academic c...

Can sustainability actually make laboratories more efficient—and more profitable? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography,  @Organomation  General Manager David Oliva sits down with James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab, to discuss how a grassroots movement founded by scientists evolved into the leading global organization for laboratory sustainability. James explains why sustainability i...

Why should analytical chemists, chromatographers, and researchers care about science communication? Is publishing papers enough? How can scientists increase their visibility without spending hours on social media? In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  , David is joined by Lisa Jones and Johnnie Aycock, co-hosts of  @TheNoonShow100.1  and creators of the upcoming BrightPath program on Alabama Pu...

In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  David sits down with Dr. Darshil Patel, Assistant Professor of Forensic Science at the University of North Dakota, to discuss his remarkable journey from dentistry in India to becoming a leading researcher in forensic chemistry across Australia, Canada, and the United States. Dr. Patel shares how his work at human taphonomic facilities—commonly known as &qu...

In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  , David speaks with Joseph Corstvet from the Fernandez Lab at Georgia Tech about the future of mass spectrometry, LC-MS metabolomics, and the development of low-cost ionization technologies. Joe discusses his work using LC-MS lipidomics to monitor mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) senescence and explains how metabolomics could eventually become a real-world qu...

What happens when you replace just one atom in an amino acid? In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  David sits down with JC Poutsma, Professor of Chemistry at William & Mary, to explore the fascinating world of gas-phase ion chemistry, peptide fragmentation, and the hidden molecular behavior revealed by mass spectrometry. Professor Poutsma explains how subtle structural changes in biomolecu...

In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  David speaks with Colette Quinn, Senior Director within the Biologics Business at Waters Corporation, about the rapidly evolving world of pharmaceutical and biopharma QA/QC.As biologics become more complex, QA/QC labs are being pushed beyond traditional pass/fail testing toward deeper molecular characterization, advanced analytics, and data-driven decision...

What makes capillary LC so powerful—and why are more scientists paying attention to it? In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  , David sits down with Samuel Foster of Axcend to discuss how capillary liquid chromatography is changing the conversation around LC-MS sensitivity, solvent consumption, instrument footprint, and chromatographic efficiency. Sam explains how lower flow rates can dramatica...

How are PFAS regulations changing, and what role will ion chromatography play in the future of environmental testing? In this episode of  @ChromatographyTalk  , David interviews Jay Gandhi, PhD, Vertical Markets Manager at Metrohm USA, for an in-depth discussion on PFAS analysis, the rise of AOF (Adsorbable Organic Fluorine) testing, and the development of EPA 1621 and ISO 18127 standards. With mo...

What do students really learn before they ever touch an analytical instrument? And is chemistry education keeping up with the pace of modern chromatography, mass spectrometry, and sample preparation? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, David speaks with instructor Natasha Le about the realities of teaching chemistry and separation science to today’s students—many of whom are pursui...

What if you could dry biofluid samples in the field—without a vacuum system, freeze dryer, or full lab setup? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, I sit down with Rajas Poorna and Charles Anderson to explore their work on a frugal, field-deployable alternative to traditional lyophilization through the Evapinator project. Originally inspired by the principles of frugal science, their...

In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, host Dave Oliva sits down with Chris Reid to explore how chemical biology and LC-MS are being used to tackle one of the most urgent global challenges: antimicrobial resistance. As antibiotic resistance continues to rise—and new drug development struggles to keep pace—researchers are looking beyond traditional approaches. Instead of targeting how...

What if most PFAS contamination isn’t even being measured? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, we sit down with Dr. Leigh Terry from the University of Alabama to explore one of the biggest challenges in environmental analysis today: understanding—and accurately measuring—PFAS in water systems. While most regulatory methods focus on a small number of compounds like PFOA and PFOS, th...

In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, David Oliva sits down with Amanda Guiraldelli Mahr to break down one of the most important (and often misunderstood) concepts in analytical chemistry: Analytical Quality by Design (AQbD).If you’ve ever relied on trial-and-error for method development—or wondered how top labs are using Design of Experiments (DOE), modeling, and AI to work smarter—...

In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, we sit down with Kelly Broster McMahon to explore the analytical science behind one of the most important pharmaceutical trends today: GLP-1 therapeutics. Drugs like Semaglutide have transformed the treatment of diabetes and obesity—but ensuring their safety, efficacy, and quality requires cutting-edge analytical workflows. In this conversation,...

Can mass spectrometry work without chromatography? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, host David Oliva speaks with Jeff Zonderman of Bruker about how Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) mass spectrometry is enabling rapid sample analysis with little or no chromatography. Traditional LC-MS workflows rely on chromatography, solvent-intensive sample preparation, and complex instrumen...

What if Mars already had biosignatures… and destroyed them? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, host David Oliva sits down with Megan Farrah from Tufts University to explore how GC-MS is being used to reconstruct potential biosignatures under simulated Martian conditions. Inside a Mars Simulation Chamber, Megan irradiates sterols and hopanes — two of NASA’s priority targets for lif...

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been the backbone of modern analytical workflows for decades — but what if one of its most trusted components is also its biggest bottleneck? In Episode 50 of Concentrating on Chromatography, host Dave Oliva sits down with Daniel DeBord, Chief Technology Officer at MOBILion Systems, to explore how high-resolution ion mobility may be changing the...

Light can heal. Light can power devices. But light can also destroy molecules. In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, we sit down with Kshmeya Chopra to explore how phthalocyanines — highly conjugated macrocycles used in photodynamic therapy, sensing, and organic electronics — respond to prolonged light exposure. Using UV–Vis spectroscopy, Kshmeya and her research team systematically...

In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, we sit down with Lindsay Repka to discuss how LC-MS and GC-MS transformed her lab’s approach to photoredox chemistry. What began as a project to develop a visible-light photocrosslinking handle unexpectedly led to a major discovery: the solvent (DMF) was reacting with the photocatalyst itself. Using high-resolution LC-MS, Lindsay’s team observed...

In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, David speaks with Francis Femi Oloy about using chromatography to uncover hidden pollutants in real-world water systems. Femi’s team analyzed polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in six major rivers in southwestern Nigeria — compounds that were banned decades ago but still persist in the environment. Using a workflow that many analytical labs will re...

How do you see proteins, metals, and disease processes inside real tissue — and still trust the numbers? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, David sits down with Monique Mello, analytical chemist, educator, and LA-ICP-MS imaging specialist, to explore how laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) and immuno-mass spectrometry imaging (iMSI) are transforming pathology, environmental science,...

How do chemists design molecules that safely carry radioactive metals through the body to target cancer cells? In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, David sits down with Simona Mastroianni and Marianna Tosato to explore the chemistry behind radiopharmaceuticals — drugs that combine radioactive isotopes with specially designed chelators to diagnose and treat cancer. Their latest resea...

Neglected and opportunistic infectious diseases affect some of the world’s most vulnerable populations—but often receive the least attention from traditional drug discovery pipelines. In this episode of Concentrating on Chromatography, host David Oliva sits down with Brad Haubrich to explore how early-stage drug discovery is being applied to fungal and parasitic pathogens, including those responsi...