Meeting the Fundamental Workflows of the Forensic Drug Chemist to Screen, Identify, and Quantitate Unknown Substances for Today’s and the Future’s Emerging Demands

GCMS is one of the most common analytical tools used by the forensic drug chemist. Just as there are different types of tools utilized by a skilled carpenter, there are specific GCMS tools and techniques employed to meet the needs of the forensic chemist. This presentation will illustrate the various GCMS tools and instrumentation to quickly screen unknown samples in under a minute, deconvolute coeluting peaks for spectral fidelity, identify unknowns based on low energy ionization spectra, and confidently quantitate target compounds in unknow matrices.

Key Learning Objectives/What attendees will learn:

• How to screen unknown residues, powders, and liquids with minimal to no sample prep in ~1 min.
• Learn how low energy ionization can be used to identify unknown compounds with similar mass spectra.
• Understand the power of deconvolution and how it helps mass spectral fidelity when applied to mass spectral library matching.
• Develop and comprehend the automated process of defining selective MRMs for quantitating targeted drugs.

Who Should Attend:

Forensic chemists with backlogs and want to learn how to be more efficient with the screening and data analysis time spent on their samples.

Forensic chemists that require the additional confidence and identifying power that comes with low energy ionization spectra.

Presenter: Kirk Lokits, PhD (GC/MS Applications Scientist, Agilent)

Kirk received his B.S. in Forensic Science and Chemistry from EKU and began his forensic tenure at the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio and FDLE in the Orlando and Pensacola laboratories. Kirk left the forensic realm and began his career with HP/Agilent, working as a service engineer supporting the LC, GC, LCMS, GCMS, and ICPMS products. While working for HP Kirk earned his M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from MTSU. In 2005 Kirk left Agilent to attend the University of Cincinnati and earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry. Afterwards, he worked for the Midwest Research Institute (MRIGlobal) in Kansas City, as a Principal Chemist and Sr. Program Manager on DoD projects, staffing, designing, and building remote laboratories for placement throughout the world. In 2014, Kirk re-joined Agilent as a GCMS Applications Scientist focusing on forensic applications within the GCMS product line.