Monitoring chemical water quality through mass spectrometry based non-target screening


The Seminar will be held by Prof.ssa Andrea Mizzi Brunner (Scientific researcher - Chemical Water Quality and Health | KWR Water Research Institute | Nieuwegein, the Netherlands). The ever increasing production and use of chemicals augment their occurrence in drinking water and its sources to an extent that monitoring using targeted chemical analyses alone is no longer sufficient. Complementary methods, referred to as suspect and non-target screening, are required that are able to detect a multitude of chemicals simultaneously, including mobile and polar compounds in low concentrations. These methods rely on liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry in combination with novel data analysis workflows. The range of challenges in their application and strategies to overcome these will be presented in the seminar, such as the identification of “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” in different water matrices and the confidence thereof, the automation of non-target screening data analysis, and the use of cheminformatics and data mining for the prioritization of suspect chemicals. Thereby, the webinar will provide an overview of methods to support the water sector in realistically assessing the human and environmental health risks of (emerging) contaminants.

08/05/2020



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