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Analytical Methods Research Group (AMR)

The mission of the Analytical Methods Research Group (AMR) is to improve the breadth and quality of composition data by developing, validating, and disseminating new analytical technologies that can be used in identifying and quantifying food components as well as verifying the identity of food materials.

  • Current Projects
  • Publications
  • Scientist Bios
  • Craig Byrdwell is an expert in analytical chemistry of lipids. His current projects include:
    • Applying new methods for analysis of complex food lipids, especially milk lipids, infant formula, and nutritional drinks, as well as lipids from agricultural products such as beans and others,
    • Applying lipidomic and metabolomics software tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex lipid matrices in foods and agricultural products,
    • Quantitative analysis of Vitamin D and other fat-soluble vitamins in foods and agricultural products,
    • Developing liquid chromatography methods for lipid analysis using multiple mass spectrometers with different ionization techniques simultaneously in parallel,
    • Developing new two-dimensional chromatography techniques with multiple parallel mass spectrometry,
    • Developing groundbreaking three-dimensional chromatography techniques with parallel second dimensions for complex lipid analysis.
  • Pei Chen is an expert in the field of analytical chemistry and food and botanical chemistry. His current research projects include:
    • Development of a metabolomics platform for analysis of foods and botanicals,
    • Development of methodologies for validation of food and botanical identification methods based on chemometric methods,
    • Development of methodologies for non-targeted methods for food fraud adulteration,
    • Development of computer assisted “expert systems” for identification of secondary metabolites and generation of high-quality data for food components/nutrients databases.
  • James Harnly is an expert in the field of analytical chemistry and food and botanical chemistry. His current research projects include:
    • Administration of FoodData Central (FDC), the new USDA integrated, research focused data system,
    • Development of sampling methods for the Foundation Foods Data type,
    • Development of guidelines for validation of food and botanical identification methods based on chemometric methods,
    • Development of an integrated sample material and component analytical protocol based on fingerprinting, metabolomics, and DNA barcoding,
    • Development of non-targeted methods for food fraud adulteration.
  • Dave Luthria is an expert in the field of sample preparation and chromatography. His current research projects include:
    • Develop simplified spectroscopic fingerprints and multivariate analysis for the classification of foods based on cultivars, growing conditions, and nutrient quality traits.
    • Develop methods for separation and analysis of simple sugars and oligosaccharides from different food matrices by ion chromatographic coupled with pulse amperometry detection and liquid chromatographic methods coupled with mass spectrometry detector.
    • Develop methods for isolation and characterization of phytochemicals from different cultivars of foods (dry beans, soybeans, tomatoes, vegetables greens, grains, sweet potatoes) in different cultivars grown under different environmental conditions such as urban framing, different salinity, and growing locations.
    • Develop and validate analytical methods for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of targeted phytochemicals and dietary supplements.