Aston Labs
We think of mass spectrometry as the science and technology of ions. Our interests therefore involve the construction and modification of mass spectrometers, fundamental studies of microdroplet chemistry as well as ion reactions and collision processes, and mass spectrometry applications to medicine, biochemistry, organic chemistry, and drug discovery.
News
11/2024 Welcome to the group, Shiva and Ryan, our new graduate students!
10/2024 We have three new PhD candidates! Congratulations to Tom, Myles, and Mousumi on their successful OP exams!
10/2024 Welcome to the group, Dr. Manish Jana! Manish is our new postdoctoral associate joining us from Texas A&M.
08/2024 Welcome to the group, Keerthana Unni! Keerthana is our new visiting scholar from IIT Madras.
08/2024 Congratulations to Dr. Kai-Hung Huang on his successful defense!
08/2024 Congratulations to Dr. Yanyang Hu on her successful defense!
06/2024 Congratulations to Harmeet Chohan on her successful M.Sc. defense!
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Research
A central current interest is in ambient ionization and its application in imaging tumor margins, monitoring therapeutic drugs in biofluids, following embryological development, and identifying microorganisms. Each of these experiments involves minimal sample workup. Another strong interest is in preparative mass spectrometry, both by soft landing ions onto surfaces in vacuum to generate new materials and also by collecting the products of solution-phase reactions occurring in electrospray droplets. In situ analysis using miniature mass spectrometers coupled to ambient ion sources for environmental, public safety and other applications is of interest. So, too, is on-line reaction monitoring. Ion chemistry is astonishingly rich as exemplified by nitrogen atom insertion into n-alkanes, chirally selective amino acid clustering and C-C bond formation, all being studied at atmospheric pressure.
Check out the Cooks Group Research Poster for the latest research!
Publications
Rapid Exploration of Chemical Space by High-throughput Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2004) DOI:10.1021/jacs.4c11037
Detection of IDH mutation in glioma by desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) tandem mass spectrometry. Sci Rep. (2024) DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-77044-y
High-Throughput Assessment of Bile Salt Export Pump Inhibition Using RapidFire-MS and DESI-MS. ACS Med Chem Lett. (2024) DOI:10.1021/acsmedchemlett.4c00302
High-Throughput Label-Free Opioid Receptor Binding Assays using an Automated Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Platform. Chem. Comm. (2024) DOI:10.1039/D4CC02346C
Reaction Acceleration at a Levitated Droplet Surface by Vapor Dosing from a Partner Droplet. Chem. Sci. (2024) DOI:10.1039/D4SC03528C