Mass Spectrometry for Fentanyl Analog Screening, Confirmation & Metabolite Discovery in Forensic Casework - Forensics webinar week

Key concepts covered:

• The analytical challenges faced by forensic laboratories in light of the proliferation of novel drugs and constantly evolving drug trends.
• Brief history on the fentanyl analogs and their rise in popularity
• How high resolution mass spectrometry (Waters Xevo G2-XS QTof) integrated with UNIFI Software, and comprehensive parent and metabolite UNIFI Toxicology drug libraries offers an efficient and powerful solution for identifying both unknown and known drug substances in one analysis

Webinar Abstract

The number of new drug substances is increasing at a tremendous pace worldwide. Toxicology labs are challenged like never before to continue identifying commonly encountered drugs of abuse yet must now contend with the rise of novel psychoactive substances.

Fentanyl analogs are also proliferating worldwide and this has implications for customs agencies, law enforcement, toxicologists. The question comes back to this: to understand the problem we must first identify with confidence what drug we are dealing with. To move forward with justice cases you need confidence in your own analyses and the ability to robustly defend your conclusions.

In this exclusive Waters Corporation webinar Dr. Michelle Wood summarises the challenges posed by the rapidly evolving novel psychoactive drug landscape with a particular focus on Fentanyl analogs.

High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is the technology of choice when seeking to analyse traditional, as well as emerging, drug substances. Waters has innovated a powerful single platform combining the Xevo G2-XS Qtof, the rigorously validated and comprehensive UNIFI Toxicology Library and UNIFI software.

Quickly screen for known drugs while enabling interrogation of virtual molecular files, cloud libraries and the use of smart mass spec workflows to enable new drug identification, all from the same sample and the same analysis. Add your newly identified drug compounds to your own library with ease.

Fentanyls past, present and future, as well as other NPS designer drugs, now have nowhere to hide with the UNIFI Forensic Toxicology Screening Solution - a truly powerful, and fully comprehensive approach to today’s rapidly-changing drug trends.

Attendees of this webinar will learn the following:

• Fentanyl analogs history and current trends worldwide in Fentanyl and NPS abuse
• The challenges of analyzing constantly evolving Fentanyl analogs
• Why high resolution mass spectrometry enables the unparalleled ability to identify fentanyl analogs, unknown and known substances in one analysis
• How resolution, mass accuracy and fragment Identification combine to provide a higher degree of confidence in your results

Who should attend:

• Forensic Toxicology Lab Managers, National Crime Investigation Officials, Toxicologists, Police Agencies

Presenter: Michelle Wood (Senior Consulting Scientist Manager, Toxicology and Forensics R&D, Waters Corporation)

Dr. Michelle Wood is a Senior Consulting Scientist and is the manager for the Forensics and Toxicology Research and Development group for Waters Corporation. Michelle is based at the Mass Spectrometry HQ in Manchester, England.

Michelle began her early career working at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in the Department of Carcinogenesis, Christie Hospital where her main focus was DNA damage and repair.

In 1999 Michelle joined Waters Corporation where she developed the Toxicology group. Her main interests are the application of LC-MS technologies for the analysis of toxicologically-relevant analytes. She is the author/co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed articles related to the field of toxicology. Michelle is a member of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT).