Leco Awards New GCxGC-TOF Mass Spectrometer to Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Leco has awarded assistant professor of Chemistry, Kate Perrault Uptmor, Ph.D., with a brand-new Leco Pegasus BTX 4D with Paradigm Flow Modulator. The company received hundreds of entries from hopeful labs around the United States for this giveaway.

In 2021, LECO began offering scientists and chemists located in the United States a chance to obtain a GCxGC-enabled Pegasus TOFMS for their laboratory. Winners are selected based on the type of application work being performed, the benefit it would gain from GCxGC instrumentation, and the passion for discovery of the applicant. 

An assistant professor at William and Mary, a research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, Perrault Uptmor's lab is mainly concerned with performing nontargeted analysis on highly complex samples, typically related in some way to life, health, disease, and/or death. Current chemical forensics projects in her research laboratory include organic gunshot residue profiling, fingerprint residue characterization, and microbial forensic analysis of decomposing remains for search and recovery/mass disaster applications. The lab also uses GCxGC-TOFMS to improve understanding of scent-detection canines as biosensors in operational settings.

According to a release, the lab is also working on generating translation studies between helium and hydrogen as a greener analytical approach and developing post-processing machine-learning strategies for batch and longitudinal GCxGC data.

“Leco’s Pegasus BTX 4D with Paradigm Flow Modulator is a great fit for the kind of work Dr. Perrault Uptmor is doing in her lab,” says John Hayes, Separation Science product manager. “Based on the lab’s needs, the importance of the work being done, and the genuine passion for GCxGC, we believe she is the most deserving of this state-of-the-art equipment”.

“The goal of the program is to not only empower labs that are doing truly amazing work with innovative tools but also to partner with them in an effort to push the boundaries of innovation in solving complex chemistry problems using LECO’s instrumentation and software,” says Farai Rukunda, director of Separation Science Customer Success. “These laboratories are gaining much more than an instrument—they are also getting access to LECO’s GCxGC support network which includes leaders in the field of GCxGC technology, software development, method development, and applications.”

Last year’s winner was Petr Vozka, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University. Vozka was chosen for his elaborate work in using GCxGC to study microplastics and his dedication to training the next generation of GCxGC users.