Research

Analytical Technologies and Methods for Environmental, Biomedical, Food, and Forensic Analyses 

Our research addresses development of new approaches to understand and control formation and reactions of gas-phase ions. This core focus manifests in multiple facets. Below are the current areas of investigations:

1. New elemental ionization approaches for absolute quantification of small and large molecules: elemental quantification provides label-free absolute quantification of small and large molecules. Current elemental ionization methods (with ICP as the main ion source), however, are not sensitive for analyzing trace organic compounds due to poor ionization of non-metals. To alleviate this limitation, we study ionization mechanisms and have developed a post-plasma ionization approach for efficient ionization of non-metals in organic molecules.  

2. Advanced instrumentation for elemental analysis of nonmetals: the improvements in elemental ionization lead to new instruments developed in Jorabchi group. These include ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry and ion mobility capabilities that push the frontiers of elemental analysis, especially for non-metals.

3. Applications: the technologies developed in Jorabchi group are applied in variety of settings. Currently, we have ongoing investigations in biomedical, food, and environmental analyses  while we have recently completed a forensic application of our post-plasma ionization technology. Specifically, the application areas address non-targeted quantitation of compounds for drug metabolite characterization and detection of fluoridated (e.g. PFAS) and chlorinated species in food and environmental samples.   

See publications page for updates on our studies in these areas.