From the Editor
At a symposium attended almost exclusively by practitioners of chromatography, the one thing they all wanted more of was mass spectrometry information.
At LCGC's recent PharmSep Symposium, held in Philadelphia from September 9–11, I heard one piece of advice repeated over and over from various conference-goers: Cover more mass spectrometry next year. I was certainly aware of the prominence of mass spectrometry, both in hyphenated techniques across the disciplines of chromatography and spectroscopy, and also as an independent tool to be used on its own. However, the popularity of this technique was truly brought home to me over the course of this three-day event.
David Walsh
At a symposium attended almost exclusively by practitioners of chromatography, the one thing they all wanted more of was mass spectrometry information. I think this illustrates just how much a part of the fabric of today's analytical laboratory mass spectrometry has become, possibly even more effectively than any poll or survey could. When you hear firsthand testimonials from the people who do the research in the lab every day, the impact is dramatic, and in this case, those people were some of the best and brightest minds in the industry today.
With this in mind, we're happier than ever to bring you this November installment of the Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry supplement series. Inside you'll find articles on the newest and most cutting-edge applications of mass spectrometry from the leading minds in the field. Articles on pesticide analysis in food, consumer beverage analysis, and biomedical advances using mass spectrometry all demonstrate the kind of life-affecting research this technique is enabling every day, research that saves lives and — to use a cliche that is overused but very appropriate — makes our world a better place.
We hope you find this issue useful in your own research, and just as at the PharmSep Symposium those many weeks ago, we welcome and value your feedback, so feel free to contact any of our staff members at the e-mail addresses listed in the masthead.
Enjoy the issue.
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.
