Our long-term goal is to catalyze the progress of biomedical, analytical and forensic
research through the development of mass spectrometric instruments and techniques.
We have several major projects in progress:
Click on the publications tab in the menu bar to
see all our recent publications.
Dr. Jackson
received the 2024
Travis Stimeling Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research
in the area of Physical Sciences and Technology. Dr. Jackson is sincerely
grateful to
Dr. Richards-Babb in Chemistry and
Dr. Venter in Forensic and Investigative Science, who nominated him,
and to all the past and present undergraduate researchers for their contributions.
In addition to their time and commitment in the lab, many former and present
undergraduate researchers were also kind enough to write letters of support.
One part of the application included
a summary of their amazing accomplishments.
Congratulations to Alex for receiving the Forensic Science Foundation's
2024 Student Affiliate Scholarship to defray the cost of attending
the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) meeting in Denver, CO
in February. Alex will be giving an oral presentation of her research on
the expert algorithm for substance identification (EASI), which she is
applying to help resolve and identify structural isomers of drugs like
fentanyl analogs.
DR. JACKSON SERVES AS FACSS/SCIX PHOTOGRAPHER (OCT 2023)
Since 2017, Dr. Jackson has provided photography services to
FACSS
at the annual
SciX conference.
Video montages of the conference are available on the
SciX YouTube Channel.
An example video from the 2023 SciX meeting in Sparks, NV, is provided below. This
video includes pictures from the 70s-themed gala on the closing night.
- Development of an Expert Algorithm for Substance Identification (EASI). The first two publications appeared together in JASMS in 2023: Part 1--Foundations in RRKM theory, and Part 2--Application to the identification of cocaine. A follow-up article that applied EASI to the identification of fentanyl analogs appeared in Forensic Chemistry in 2025. This research has also received the 2021 FACSS Innovation Award and NIJ funding.
- New ways of fragmenting gas-phase bio-ions in tandem mass spectrometers using kiloelectronvolt helium ions. We use the term charge transfer dissociation (CTD-MS) to describe the mechanism of activation. See example publications for peptides, glycosaminoglycans and HPLC-CTD-MS of oligogalacturonans.
- Understanding the mass spectrometric fragmentation behavior of novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) and fentanyl analogs. See example publications for cathinones and fentalogs, including a novel rearrangement for fentalogs.
- Developing experimental and theoretical approaches to understand the evaporation of ignitable liquids at elevated temperatures (e.g., 210 °C). See example publication.
In recent years, we have also developed new forensic applications of isotope ratio
mass spectrometry. Our work focussed on compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA)
to determine the carbon isotope ratios of amino acids in proteinaceous materials
like human hair, human tissues, decomposing animals, blow flies, and oysters.
Latest News
MAILEY JACKSON WINS PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD (JULY 2025)
Congratulations to Mailey Jackson for winning the
People's Choice Award in the Physical Sciences & Engineering category at
the 18th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. Mailey's poster, titled
"Mass Spectral Identification of Cathinone Isomers," showed that the Expert
Algorithm for Substance Identification (EASI) provided greater positive
likelihood ratios than traditional algorithms for the identification
of isobaric cathinones like eutylone and butylone. Mailey tested the algorithms on
a database of ~23,000 spectra of ~32 cathinone analogs that she helped curate.
Mailey completed her research project as part of the Summer Research Undergraduate
Experience (SURE) at WVU.
GROUP MAKES FRONT COVER OF FORENSIC CHEMISTRY (JULY 2025)
Congratulations to Alex Adeoye, who's manuscript is featured on the July 2025
issue of the journal,
Forensic Chemistry.
Alex's manuscript describes the application of the Expert Algorithm for
Substance Identification (EASI) to the EI mass spectra of ~57,000 replicate
spectra of ~76 fentanyl analogs. Alex's manuscript shows that positive likelihood
ratios for fentanyl analog identification between structurally related isobaric
fentanyl analogs can be improved from an average of 336 for a conventional
algorithm to and average of ~4,200 using EASI. Using EASI, the accuracy in
resolving valerylfentanyl from isovalerylfentanyl improved by more than 10%
to an accuracy of ~97%. Her database of 57,522 EI spectra are
freely available on Mendeley.
GROUP ATTENDS ASMS CONFERENCE (JUNE 2025)
Five members of the group travelled to Baltimore, MD for the 73rd ASMS Conference.
Emily Ruiz and Courtney LaPointe presented posters on the application of
CTD to polymers and lipids, respectively. Dr. Jackson and Alex Adeoye presented
a poster on the application of the EASI algorithm to the identification of
fentanyl analogs. Dr. Jackson also received an award for being one of the
best reviewers for
JASMS in 2024.
COURTNEY LAPOINTE RECEIVES TA AWARD (MAY 2025)
Congratulations to Courtney for her receipt of the outstanding teaching assistant
in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry. Courtney, Madeline Schuch,
and Emily Ruiz also received C. Eugene Bennett Fellowship in Chemistry awards
for continuing academic excellence towards their PhD degrees.
CHANEY GANNINGER GRADUATES (MAY 2025)
Congratulations to Chaney, who successfully completed her MS degree this spring.
Chaney's thesis is titled "Refinement of a thermodynamic model to explain
the weathering patterns of ignitable liquids on household substrates at elevated
temperatures." Her project built on the previous work by Caitlyn Wensel and
Max Denn to provide a model that accurately reflects the headspace concentration
GC-MS profiles observed when gasoline evaporates at elevated temperatures
on substrates like laminate flooring, polyeurethane foam, and carpet.
DR. JACKSON GIVES KEYNOTE LECTURE IN CANADA (MAY 2025)
Dr. Jackson gave the opening talk at the
10th Symposium on Mass Spectrometry at the University of Sherbrooke.
The conference, in its 20th year of operation, is spearheaded by
Prof. Christiane Auray-Plais in the Department of Pediatrics, Division
of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université
de Sherbrooke. Dr. Jackson's presentation covered "Case Studies in Forensic
Mass Spectrometry."
CONTROLLED BURNS AT WV STATE FIRE ACADEMY (MAR 2025)
Thanks to all the folks at the WV State Fire Academy, especially Mark Lambert
and Matt Reed, for conducting these controlled burns. The burns were used
to train students in 1) my Arson and Explosives Analysis class (FIS 451),
2) Tiffany Edwards' CSI 2 class (FIS 402), and 3) an instructor's course
at the WV State Fire Academy. Our students learn so much from these burns
and the firefighters. Bedroom burn montage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7E24plOxn4. Living room burn montage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gy-TBEhaeo
GROUP ATTENDS AAFS CONFERENCE (FEB 2025).
Alex and McKenna presented posters of their work, and Chaney, Hannah, and Dr. Jackson gave oral presentations. WVU was well represented, with additional presentations from the groups of Profs. Arroyo, Morris and Trejos.DR. JACKSON APPEARS ON ACCIDENT, SUICIDE, OR MURDER (Jan 2025)
Dr. Jackson was interviewed for the true crime drama series, Accident, Suicide, or Murder, which appeared on the Oxygen True Crime Network (s5, e20) on January 18, 2025. The episode, titled Small Town Justice, mentions the contributions of Dr. Craig Beyler, The WV Innocence Project, and Dr. Jackson toward the exoneration of Jason Lively in 2020. Mr. Lively was convicted of murder and arson in 2006 and served 14 years in prison. The story is described in other venues, including Sundance TV, the Washington Post , the WVU Innocence Project, the National Registry of Exonerations, and Forensic Files II. The story was also described in WVU Magazine in Oct 2022.DR. JACKSON INTERVIEWED FOR FUTURE OF FORENSICS (NOV 2024)
Dr. Jackson was recently
interviewed by Will Wetzel of
Spectroscopy Online as part of the series on the Future of Forensic
Analysis. Dr. Jackson was asked about the historical development of mass
spectrometry in forensic analysis, which is closely related to the
review article published last year titled
Forensic Mass Spectrometry: Scientific and Legal Precedents.
The Future of Forensic Analysis eBook covers a variety of cutting edge
topics and interviews with leading researchers in the field.
PDF of the interview
DR. JACKSON SERVES AS FACSS/SCIX PHOTOGRAPHER (OCT 2024)
Since 2017, Dr. Jackson has provided photography services to
FACSS at the annual
SciX conference. Video montages of the conference are available on
the
SciX YouTube Channel. An example video from the 2024 SciX meeting in
Raleigh, NC, is provided below. This video includes pictures from the gala
on the closing night with the theme of Team Spirit! Dr. Jackson also chaired
a session on "Novel Instrumentation, Analysis Tools, and Chemistry in Mass
Spectrometry" and gave an oral presentation talk on unintended ion-molecule
reactions in the tandem mass spectrometry of NPSs.
DR. JACKSON SERVES AS FACSS/SCIX PHOTOGRAPHER (OCT 2024)
Since 2017, Dr. Jackson has provided photography services to
FACSS at the annual
SciX conference. Video montages of the conference are available on
the
SciX YouTube Channel. An example video from the 2024 SciX meeting in
Raleigh, NC, is provided below. This video includes pictures from the gala
on the closing night with the theme of Team Spirit! Dr. Jackson also chaired
a session on "Novel Instrumentation, Analysis Tools, and Chemistry in Mass
Spectrometry" and gave an oral presentation talk on unintended ion-molecule
reactions in the tandem mass spectrometry of NPSs.
GROUP RECEIVES NEW NIJ GRANT (OCT 2024)
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
recently announced that our proposal titled
Expert Algorithm to Identify Seized Drugs from Tandem Mass Spectra will
be funded in the amount of $400K starting January 1, 2025. WVU Today has
also
reported on the new grant. The proposal is a collaboration with the
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Wiley's mass spectrometry database
group. We plan to develop the Expert Algorithm for Substance Identification
(
EASI) to help resolve the spectra of drug isomers from DART-MS/MS and
ESI-MS/MS data. Unlike machine-learning algorithms—where the rules behind
the decision-making processes are difficult to explicate—the modeling within
EASI is based on
the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory of unimolecular dissociation,
so EASI has a strong and transparent scientific foundation. The figure
below demonstrates that relative ion abundances in tandem mass spectra
are expected to follow approximately linear relationships with one another,
even when the internal energy of the decomposing ion varies, such as between
instruments and laboratories.
INTERVIEW WITH DR. JACKSON APPEARS ON FORENSICS COLLEGES WEBSITE (SEPT 2024)
WVU's
forensic chemistry program is identified as one of the best in the country
by forensicscolleges.com. As part of their mission to help inform prospective students
about degree programs and careers in the forensic sciences, they interviewed
Dr. Jackson about careers in forensic chemistry. His interview is featured
in a section
titled
Meet the expert.
DR. JACKSON APPEARS IN NEW PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR WVU (AUG 2024)
WVU released
this video at the
2024 WV Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the Greenbrier Resort
in White Sulphur Springs, WV on August 28, 2024. The meeting, hosted
by the WV Chamber of Commerce, provided WVU with an opportunity to showcase
how the University contributes to the State's economy and prosperity.
Our forensic science program was among several of WVU's select programs
to be highlighted in the video. Coverage of
the forensic program starts at 3:12 mins on this Vimeo link.
DR. JACKSON PROMOTED TO MEMBER OF CSFS (JUL 2024)
Dr. Jackson was recently promoted to
Member of the
Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS). The CSFS is a non-profit
organization based in the UK that
evolved from the Forensic Science Society, which was established in
1959. The CSFS received its Royal Charter in 2014. The CSFS: promotes develops
regulation; provides opportunities for education, training development;
and supports and encourages research development in the forensic sciences.
HANNAH RECEIVES STEM GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP (MAY 2024)
Congratulations, Hannah, for receiving a
STEM graduate fellowship award from the Provost's office to pursue
her PhD in Forensic Science here at WVU. The award provides a tuition waiver
and a generous stipend for up to 3 years.
ALEX, SARAH AND HANNAH GRADUATE (MAY 2024)
Congratulations to Alex Pfeffer and Sarah Mosinski for completing undergraduate
degrees in biochemistry and FIS, respectively. Congratulations to Hannah
McMillen, also, for successfully defending her thesis on "The Application
of the Expert Algorithm for Substance Identification (EASI) to Predict
ASTM E1618-19 Ignitable Liquid Classes from Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Data of Ignitable Liquid Residues." Sarah will be staying at WVU to complete
her MS in FIS with
Dr. Speir in FIS, and Hannah will be staying at WVU to complete her
PhD in FS with Dr. Jackson.
DR. JACKSON RECEIVES UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING AWARD FROM WVU (APRIL 2024)
Dr. Jackson
received the 2024
Travis Stimeling Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research
in the area of Physical Sciences and Technology. Dr. Jackson is sincerely
grateful to
Dr. Richards-Babb in Chemistry and
Dr. Venter in Forensic and Investigative Science, who nominated him,
and to all the past and present undergraduate researchers for their contributions.
In addition to their time and commitment in the lab, many former and present
undergraduate researchers were also kind enough to write letters of support.
One part of the application included
a summary of their amazing accomplishments.
ALEX ADEOYE RECEIVES 2024 FSF STUDENT AFFILIATE SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND AFFS CONFERENCE (DEC 2023)
DR. JACKSON GIVES PLENARY LECTURE FOR TOXICOLOGY WORKSHOP (DEC, 2023)
In December 2023, The American College of Medical toxicology (ACMT) and the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) presented a one-day on-line forensic toxicology workshop titled Cannabis and the Expanding World of Cannabinoids. Dr. Jackson was invited to give the introductory presentation with the title How Did We Get Here? Cannabis Legalization, the Farm Bill, Cannabinoid Analogues, Chemistry. The live workshop was attended by more than 220 attendees from around the world, and the recording is available for continuing education (CE) credit through ACMT's website.DR. JACKSON SERVES AS FACSS/SCIX PHOTOGRAPHER (OCT 2023)
Since 2017, Dr. Jackson has provided photography services to
FACSS
at the annual
SciX conference.
Video montages of the conference are available on the
SciX YouTube Channel.
An example video from the 2023 SciX meeting in Sparks, NV, is provided below. This
video includes pictures from the 70s-themed gala on the closing night.
DR. JACKSON QUOTED IN NYT ARTICLE (SEPT 2023)
A writer form the New York Times reached out to Dr. Jackson to ask his scientific
opinion on how hard it would be for toxicology labs in the US to develop
LC-MS methods to detect abortion drugs and their metabolites in human body
fluids. A link to the article is
here.
IZZY, CHRIS, AND MAX COMPLETE MS DEGREES (AUG 2023)
Congratulations to Isabel Galvez, Chris Poulos and Max Denn for successfully
completing their MS degrees. All three will graduate in August 2023. Chris
has already started a fellowship at the FDA Forensic Chemistry Center in
Cincinnati, OH, and Max is employed at the Center for Forensic Science
Research and Education (CFSRE) in Willow Grove, PA.
CHANEY GRADUATES (MAY 2023)
Congratulations to Chaney for graduating with a BS in Forensic Chemistry
and a minor in Criminology. Chaney will be staying in the Jackson Group
to pursue her M.S. Degree in Forensic and Investigative Science.
GROUP ATTENDS/PRESENTS AT AAFS CONFERENCE (FEB 2023)
The Jackson group gave two oral presentations and four poster presentations
at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)
in Orlando, FL.
ALEX ADEOYE WINS FORENSIC SCIENCE FOUNDATION TRAVEL AWARD (JAN 2023)
Alex Adeoye was one of eight recipients of the Forensic Science Foundation's
(FSF) Student Travel Grant. The grant supported the presentation of her
research on the Expert Algorithm for Substance Identification (EASI) at
the 2023 meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) in
Orlando, Fl. The AAFS
announced the award winners in the Foundation News in January. Congratulations,
Alex!
DR. JACKSON QUOTED IN NEWS STORY ON ALLEGATIONS OF EXPLOSIVES DURING "FREEDOM
CONVOY" IN OTTAWA IN FEB 2022 (JAN 2023)
Dr. Jackson was interviewed by Amanda Lamb, a reporter for WRAL, for her
new podcast series titled
What Remains. The series covers cold cases and the science of
human remains. Dr. Jackson described his
group's research that uses stable isotope ratio measurements of amino
acids in human hair to reveal lifestyle habits and biometric traits about
the human donors. Episode 16 of the podcast aired on October 26, 2022 and
is available at all major Podcast distributers.
WRAL's coverage of the episode is here.
DR. JACKSON QUOTED IN NEWS STORY ON ALLEGATIONS OF EXPLOSIVES DURING "FREEDOM
CONVOY" IN OTTAWA IN FEB 2022 (JAN 2023)
Dr. Jackson provided some context for a news story in
PressProgress
about the possibility that some grainy photographs of containers in the
lobby of a hotel in Ottawa contained images of hazardous chemicals.
PDF
DR. JACKSON APPEARS IN PODCAST SERIES WHAT REMAINS (OCT 2022)
DR. JACKSON'S WORK APPEARS IN DOCUMENTARY FOR SUNDANCE TV (SEPT 2022)
The series is titled
True crime story: It couldn't happen here. Although Dr. Jackson's
recorded interview was not featured in the final cut, the documentary
(s2, e4 on Iaeger, WV)) mentions the important contributions that
Dr. Jackson made to the exoneration of Jason Lively in 2020. Jason was
convicted of murder and arson in 2006 and served 14 years in prison.
The story is described in other venues, including the
Washington Post
, the
WVU Innocence Project,
the
National Registry of Exonerations,
Forensic Files II, and
WVU Magazine in Oct 2022.
GROUP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS (AUG 2022)
We welcome the introduction of several new group members this year. Alex Adeoye has transitioned from the MS program in FIS to the PhD program in forensic science. Courtney LaPointe has joined the group as a PhD student in Chemistry. Hannah McMillan has transitioned from the BS to the MS program in FIS. Finally, Chaney Ganninger, Sara Mosinski, and McKenna Oaks have joined the group as undergraduate researchers in FIS. Welcome All, and best wishes!
DR. JACKSON GIVES LIGHTNING TALK FOR ASCLD (JUNE 2022)
Along with Dr. Bob Wright of PNNL and Dr. David Morello of the DEA, Dr.
Jackson gave a virtual
lightning talk on forensic applications of isotope ratio mass
spectrometry to the attendees of the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors (ASCLD). The series is organized by Dr. Ed Sisco of NIST,
who leads the
Forensic Research Committee for ASCLD. Previous Lightning talks
are
archived on Youtube. Dr. Jackson's talk can be
viewed on Youtube starting at 8:17.
DR. JACKSON INSTALLS CTD AT UNIVERSITY OF EVRY, FRANCE (JUNE 2022)
Dr. Jackson traveled to Université d'Évry Val-d'Essonne, part of the
Paris-Saclay University system on the south side of Paris, France,
to install CTD-MS capabilities on a Bruker amaZon Speed mass spectrometer
in the laboratory of Dr. Jean-Yves Salpin. Dr. Salpin is the director
of research for the CNRS Institute of Chemistry and a faculty member
of the University of Évry. The new installation will now serve several
different research groups affiliated with the CNRS platform and the
University of
É
vry. Dr. Jackson previously completed a
CTD installation
in the the laboratory of Dr. David Ropartz and Dr. Hélène Rogniaux
at INRAE in Nantes in
2018
, so Dr. Salpin's laboratory is now the third group in the world to
have CTD-MS capabilities.