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
03/2025 Congratulations to Brison on being awarded the 2026 ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Graduate Fellowship sponsored by Agilent Technologies!
11/2025 Welcome to Elaine (Ling) Yi, our new senior administrative assistant!
11/2025 Welcome to Jia Chen and Karim Mohamed, our new group members!
11/2025 Brison, Lexie, Kit, and Joe have passed their preliminary exams! Congrats to our four new PhD Candidates!
08/2025 Our work in collaboration with the Forensic Science Center at LLNL has been highlighted both by LLNL and Purdue News!
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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
Fluorination Using PFAS Reagents Generated by Mass Spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c07928
High-Throughput Chiral Analysis using Automated Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. Chemical Communications. DOI: 10.1039/D5CC06641G
Accelerated and Green Synthetic Approach of N,S- and N,O-Heterocyclics in Microdroplets. Journal of the American Chemical Society. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c12522
Catalyst-free C-N Coupling under Ambient Conditions via High-Throughput Microdroplet Reactions. The Journal of Organic Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.5c02022