The 63rd Annual American Society of Mass Spectrometry Conference was held in St Louis, Missouri (May 31st – June 4th 2015) and was, as always, a true delight.

Mass spectrometrists gathered from all corners of the globe to share their research and research ideas in the form of oral presentations, posters, workshops and networking. The grandeur of this conference with regard to mass spectrometry is surpassed by no other and it was truly fantastic to be able to watch some of the world leaders in this area speak with such passion about their work.

Sheffield Hallam University arrived to the conference in full force, the group included Professor Malcolm Clench, Dr David Smith, Dr Laura Cole, Dr Amanda Harvey, Miss Ekta Patel, Miss Ieva Palubeckaite, Miss Rebecca Mason, Miss Emma Beasley and Dr Robert Bradshaw. Posters were presented by Dr Smith, Dr Cole, Dr Harvey, Miss Patel, Miss Palubeckaite and Miss Mason on each of their respective subject areas, requiring the presenters to stand with their posters within 4-hour slots and answer any questions that curious attendees had to offer.

In addition, Rob Bradshaw presented his research in the form of an oral presentation entitled ‘CSI Sheffield Hallam University – The forensic analysis of fingermarks by MALDI MS and the integration into currently employed fingermark examination workflows’. This work encompassed a number of results obtained by the Fingermark Research Group (FRG) at SHU throughout the past 7 years, a team headed by Dr Simona Francese (Reader in Mass Spectrometry).

Rob Bradshaw emphasised the extent of their progression from when the work began in 2008 which has now led to the development of a number of applications and important collaborations with the UK Home Office and West Yorkshire Police, enabling the team to now apply their technology to the analysis of fingermarks obtained from crime scenes.

Related documents

Gateweay Arch (JPG, 135.3KB) (JPEG, 135.3 KB)

Rob Bradshaw presentation (JPG, 33.8KB) (JPEG, 33.8 KB)