FORNL talk on mass spectrometry Aug. 9
“Mass Spectrometry at Oak Ridge: Commercial Successes” will be the topic of a lecture to be presented at noon Tuesday at the UT Resource Center, 1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike. The speaker will be Gary J. Van Berkel, a former Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher and group leader who is the owner and chief scientific officer of Van Berkel Ventures LLC, an analytical measurement science, innovation, research, consulting and writing firm in Oak Ridge.
At the in-person “hybrid” meeting hosted by Friends of ORNL, attendees may bring their own food to eat, but are asked to wear a mask when not eating or drinking. To view the virtual noon lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and then click on the Zoom link near the top of the page describing the lecture.
Mass spectrometers enable users to identify unknown compounds via molecular weight determination (based on mass and charge), to quantify known compounds and to determine structure and chemical properties of molecules. Mass spectrometry has been used for drug testing and discovery, food contamination detection, pesticide residue analysis, isotope ratio determination, protein identification and carbon dating.
Van Berkel will provide a brief history of mass spectrometry research and developments at ORNL, followed by a discussion of his approach to innovative research and commercialization that led to major products in the marketplace that he invented or co-invented at ORNL and at Van Berkel Ventures. Some products are involved in introducing samples into mass spectrometers for analysis.
His presentation will focus on the Open Port Sampling Interface intellectual property (IP) portfolio established mostly while he was at ORNL, the licensing of this IP, the major commercial products that have evolved to date from the portfolio, the application areas and the scientific and potential economic impact of one of these products. He will conclude this talk by revealing two new ventures that are relevant to Oak Ridge residents.
Before starting his company early in 2018, Van Berkel was group leader of and distinguished scientist in the Mass Spectrometry and Laser Spectroscopy Group at ORNL. His most notable work in the 1990s led to an elucidation of the electrochemical aspects of electrospray ionization for which he was awarded the 2005 Biemann Medal by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
His fundamental mass spectrometry research focuses on atmospheric pressure ion sources and on the novel configuration and application of these ion sources to solve analytical problems. For the past two decades, he has emphasized inventing and commercializing novel sampling and sample introduction methods for mass spectrometry.
Van Berkel earned his B.A. degree in chemistry from Lawrence University in Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Washington State University. He has published 178 refereed journal papers that have been cited more than 13,400 times, has been awarded 35 patents and received numerous awards, including the Department of Energy Federal Laboratory Consortium Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, three R&D 100 awards, the Beynon Award and several UT-Battelle/ORNL awards.
The awards include the UT-Battelle Distinguished Inventor, ORNL Inventor of the Year and ORNL Director’s Awards (Scientist of the Year), as well as the ORNL Science Communicator Award “For Educating Public Officials about Technology Pertinent to Homeland Security and Advancing ORNL’s Role in Homeland Security.”
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: FORNL talk on mass spectrometry Tuesday
