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
01/2025 Prof. Cooks has been awarded the Science History Institute’s 2025 Othmer Gold Medal, which honors outstanding individuals who have made multifaceted contributions to chemical and scientific heritage. Check the Purdue Chemistry announcement here. Congratulations Prof. Cooks!
11/2024 Nick is now a Research Assistant Professor at the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research!
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!
Follow us on 
Twitter for more group updates!
Research
A central current interest is in ambient ionization mass spectrometry and its application in drug discovery, tumor resection guidance, therapeutic monitoring in biofluids, and microorganism biotyping. 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 accelerated reactions occurring in microdroplets. This accelerated chemistry also provides unique insights into the prebiotic origin of biomolecules and chirality. In situ analysis using miniature mass spectrometers coupled to ambient ion sources for environmental, clinical, and public safety applications is of interest. So, too, is online reaction monitoring and high-throughput experimentation.
Check out the Cooks Group Research Poster for the latest research!
Publications
High-Throughput Microdroplet-Based Synthesis using Automated Array-to-Array Transfer. ChemRxiv (2025) DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-19k8q
Serine Octamer Clusters Direct the Chirality of Peptides Formed in Water Microdroplets. ChemRxiv (2025). DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-1s8h1
Rapid Exploration of Chemical Space by High-throughput Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2024) DOI:10.1021/jacs.4c11037