From the Editor
Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry Goes Global
There may be no greater compliment for a publication than hearing that more people want to read it. We are now in our fourth year of publishing the "Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry" series, and it is no secret that its popularity has continued to grow, to the point where we had no choice but to make it a quarterly supplement. However, this year we reached a milestone for this series, as "Current Trends" has begun reaching a global audience for the first time.
David Walsh
As science — and particularly high-quality MS content — knows no bounds, the European audience of LCGC Europe has recently begun receiving this supplement. In addition, it is clear that print is no longer the only medium through which to reach spectroscopists and chromatographers throughout the world. In this regard, LCGC and Spectroscopy have taken the lead in digital publishing in recent years, producing award-winning e-zines and newsletters. Now, as the monthly print issues of LCGC and Spectroscopy have become available to a global audience in online digital editions, our "Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry" series will also be joining them. No longer bound by postal regulations and costs, this issue will be reaching thousands of readers not only in Europe, but in the Pacific Rim, the Sub-Asian continent, and beyond. So feel free to spread the word to your overseas colleagues and let them know that these issues are available. A quick trip to www.chromatographyonline.com or www.spectroscopyonline.com to sign up is all that is needed to enjoy cutting edge articles from industry leaders on applications of MS and its various hyphenated techniques. The May issue includes technical research on steroid testing, protein identification, and metabolite identification, to name just a few of the topics covered, and that is just a small fraction of the topics covered throughout the year.
We hope you enjoy this issue, and that you will spread the word about the global reach of the "Current Trends" series to your colleagues and coworkers. And if you are reading this issue, there's a good chance that you will be one of the many attendees at this year's ASMS Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As always, this conference is an important stop for LCGC and Spectroscopy, so we invite you to stop by our booth any time. We look forward to seeing you there.
David Walsh
Editor-in-Chief
A Life Measured in Peaks: Honoring Alan George Marshall (1944–2025)
June 18th 2025A pioneer of FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, Alan G. Marshall (1944–2025), is best known for co-inventing Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), a transformative technique that enabled ultrahigh-resolution analysis of complex mixtures. Over a career spanning more than five decades at institutions like the University of British Columbia, The Ohio State University, and Florida State University, he published over 650 peer-reviewed papers and mentored more than 150 scientists. Marshall’s work profoundly impacted fields ranging from astrobiology to petroleomics and earned him numerous prestigious awards and fellowships. Revered for his intellect, mentorship, and dedication to science, he leaves behind a legacy that continues to shape modern mass spectrometry.
The Role of LIBS in ChemCam and SuperCam: An Interview with Kelsey Williams, Part III
May 2nd 2025In this extended Q&A interview, we sit down with Kelsey Williams, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), who is working on planetary instrumentation using spectroscopic techniques such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry (LAMIS). In Part III, Williams goes into detail about ChemCam and SuperCam and how LIBS is used in both these instruments.
High-Speed Laser MS for Precise, Prep-Free Environmental Particle Tracking
April 21st 2025Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that a fast, laser-based mass spectrometry method—LA-ICP-TOF-MS—can accurately detect and identify airborne environmental particles, including toxic metal particles like ruthenium, without the need for complex sample preparation. The work offers a breakthrough in rapid, high-resolution analysis of environmental pollutants.
