About the Organic Analytical Methods Group |
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How much pesticide is in the fish at your favorite lake? How
much saturated fat is in that hot dog at the ball game? How
high is the cholesterol level in your blood? These are examples
of the many important questions concerning the quantities
of potentially harmful or beneficial substances in our environment,
in the foods we eat, and even in our own bodies. Analytical
chemistry is involved with identifying and measuring the quantities
of such substances. The Organic Analytical Methods Group at
NIST is focussed on developing tools to help laboratories
make these types of measurements more accurate.
Our group conducts research into new techniques in organic
analytical chemistry, such as new approaches to chemical separations
and new techniques in mass spectrometry. We develop new methods
that permit us to make accurate measurements of substances,
such as pesticides and PCBs, at trace levels in environmental
samples such as fish tissure or marine sediments. Other method
development focuses on better measurement methods for beneficial
substances such as vitamins and less beneficial ones such
as fat components in foods. We also develop new methods to
accurately measure important health markers in human blood,
such as cholesterol and cardiac troponin. We use the methods
that we develop to certify the concentrations of important
substances in Standard Reference Materials (SRMs). These SRMs
are available to laboratories worldwide to test the accuracy
of the methods that they use or are developing for the measurements
that they make to monitor the quality and safety of our environment
and the foods that we eat or to assess our health status. |
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