Dr. Daniel Austin's Research Featured on the Cover of C&EN

Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) is an award-winning news outlet that reaches around 156,000 scientists, members of the American Chemical Society, as well as the global chemistry community in industry and academia.

Dr. Daniel Austin’s research was featured on the front cover of Volume 96, Issue 22, for his research on miniature mass spectrometers entitled “Shrinking mass specs”. A second feature article entitled “Mini mass specs are still looking for an audience” was also done in the same issue.

When determining which molecules are in a sample, scientists often turn to Mass Spectrometry. For years, researchers have been working on constructing these powerful instruments into small, portable mass spectrometers that can be taken into the field, thereby allowing security officers faced with possibly dangerous substances to receive immediate answers instead of wasting time sending samples to a lab. “There are a lot of potential applications where it’s best if you can make your analysis out in the field,” Austin says. “You need a fast answer or to make a fast decision; the sample is changing quickly; or you need to make lots of samples quickly in a way that’s cumbersome to send back to a lab.” For instance, they might be detecting toxic gases in transportation systems or making environmental measurements in the field. The feature article includes updates from several research groups and companies developing portable mass spectrometers.

Click here to view the full article.