earch Laboratory
upon these Ramsey patents are extensively used in the life sci- nately been largely relegated to the laboratory making remote
ences and biotechnology sector. measurements difficult. There has been a desire to shrink
mass spectrometry tools for many decades, with little success
After the move to Carolina Chemistry Mike’s research group breaking the 30-pound size level. Members of the Ramsey
focused on micro- and nano-fabrication of devices to gather group invented a new form of MS high pressure mass spec-
chemical and biochemical information, with a strong emphasis trometry, HPMS, that operates at vacuum pressures that are a
on bioanalysis; leaving the laser-based efforts with colleagues thousand to a million times higher than conventional MS. High
who stayed behind at ORNL. His group has been divided into pressure operation is possible due the microscale mass ana-
four subgroups with each focused on a different problem; lyzer components. Operation at high pressures allows signifi-
microfluidic separations technology, microfluidic-based di- cant reduction in the vacuum pumping system to enable the
agnostic devices, nanofluidics for characterizing DNA, and world’s first handheld MS tools. This technology has been spun
microscale mass spectrometry, MS. “After the move to UNC I out into another company, 908 Devices Inc., to solve important
decided that I should focus my efforts on challenging problems, field measurement problems for the military, law enforcement,
solutions to which in the form of new technologies can address first responder, et cetera, as reported elsewhere in this news-
societal needs, matching my interests in translating laboratory letter.
successes to commercial products,” says Mike.
Another portion of the Ramsey group has continued efforts
For example, MS is arguably the most powerful chemical anal- on improving the microchip CE devices first demonstrated by
ysis tool available. It has high sensitivity for detecting trace his group in the early 1990s. Electrospray ionization, a meth-
levels of materials and is chemical information rich, allowing od for moving solution phase molecules into the gas phase for
the identification of the materials of interest. MS has unfortu- MS analysis, has been efficiently incorporated into their CE
Continued on page 25
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