Advanced (Bio)analytical Chemistry

Analytical chemistry plays a key role in numerous areas of life sciences, including the assessment of food safety, studies of food metabolism or agricultural production, but also in areas such as food waste reduction, clinical chemistry and biomedical technology. Current trends are the use of analytical techniques that provide improved chemical, spatial and temporal resolution, next to methods that allow the analysis of intact systems in a non-invasive manner. Finally, recent developments in the area of miniaturization and automation have significantly enhanced the ability to perform on-site analysis.

In this course, the most recent developments in the area of separation methods and mass spectrometry will be discussed, with examples from areas as diverse as food quality assurance, biomedical and food packaging materials, and the analysis of body fluid samples from human intervention trials. Microfluidic methods and novel mass spectrometry inlet systems and ionization modes will be discussed as key tools for portable analytical chemistry. Compositional imaging methods such as mass spectrometry imaging will be discussed as methods to visualize molecular aggregation and microstructures. Workflows for -omics methods for target compound analysis and untargeted marker discovery will be discussed. Univariate and multivariate methods for the processing of very large data sets will be explained. Students will practice the use of such methods in a computer data-workshop in which they will learn to extract the relevant information from very large data sets. In addition, students will apply the concepts learned in this course in a case study, which they will present at the end of the course. Finally, the student will visit the Unilever Foods Innovation Center to see how modern analytical chemistry is applied in real-life setting, to experience the industry environment and to interact with people working in such an environment.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• understand the principles and applications of advanced analytical techniques;
• apply their knowledge to select appropriate methods for specific cases of chemical analysis in the laboratory or the field;
• analyze very large data sets and extract targeted and untargeted information from these;
• experience the role of analytical chemistry in an industrial food quality and safety setting.

Assumed Knowledge:
ORC11806 Analytical Methods in Organic Chemistry (or equivalent course on the basics of modern analytical chemistry)

https://wur.osiris-student.nl/onderwijscatalogus/extern/cursus?cursusid=819060&taal=en