Title of PhD: Exploring the Potential of High Mass Resolution and Mass Accuracy Mass Spectrometric Techniques to Track the Environmental Metabolism and Fate of BFRs: Application to the Ambient Environment
Supervisor: Professor Stuart Harrad
Aristide Ganci is conducting doctoral research on the environmental fate and presence of degradation/metabolic products of a number of legacy and novel BFRs (NBFRs) in a range of matrices from a variety of ambient environmental compartments.
The research includes the analysis of environmental samples such as dust, soil and sediments, followed by extraction and clean-up using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE). Subsequent analysis via Thermo Scientific (industrial project partner) will use state-of-the-art high resolution accurate mass orbitrap mass spectrometry interfaced with liquid chromatography (LC) and later on gas chromatography (GC) as appropriate.
He will also challenge trout liver microsomes with NBFR standards and analyse them. These in vitro studies have the aim of providing a preliminary insight into the likely piscine metabolism, their metabolic products of target (N)BFRs and their formation pathways. The high accuracy in orbitrap mass spectrometry will be applied together with the so called "mass defect filtering" approach to elucidate and characterise degradation/metabolic products of both legacy and novel BFRs. Data interpretation will help understand the environmental fate and behaviour of BFRs that are pertinent to the ambient environment.