Abstract:
Despite the millions of natural and lab-synthesized compounds, our current knowledge of chemicals in biological and environmental systems is far from complete. A comprehensive grasp of the extensive chemical landscape is vital for advancing our insights into human health and disease. Mass spectrometry is a prominent analytical platform that can achieve unbiased and high-throughput detection and quantification of thousands of chemicals in a given sample. This talk is going to encapsulate the research efforts in the Huan lab at UBC Chemistry to push the boundary of mass spectrometry-based untargeted chemical analysis, including (1) the development of analytical methodologies to improve detection sensitivity and chemical coverage and (2) the creation of bioinformatic programs to better understand metabolomics data structure so that we can efficiently extract chemical information. Finally, using the existing results and progress from the Huan lab as a stepping stone, this talk will envision a possible direction for the future of analytical chemistry - the convergence of untargeted chemical analysis and artificial intelligence, charting a course towards unprecedented analytical capabilities and revelations.