Indiana is blessed with three of the leading academicresearch centers for analytical chemistry at
Indiana University,
Notre Dame University and
Purdue University. These three centers supply a significant percentage of the analyticalscientists in the country. Purdue has done so for over a century. In fact, ourvery first chemistry professor, Harvey Wiley, worked with Teddy Roosevelt toestablish the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is charged withkeeping our food, drugs, medical devices and diagnostics trustworthy—no smalltask.
Our Indiana research universities excel at developing novelinstrumentation in chromatography, laser spectroscopies, electrochemicalsensors, immunoassays, electrophoresis, microfluidics, ultrasound imaging andnuclear magnetic resonance. These instruments enable the data that leads to anunderstanding of how things work. Medicine, astronomy, agriculture and food,biology, energy and the forensic and environmental sciences all advance asinstrumentation becomes better, faster and more economic. During my engagementwith this field, we have reduced both the size of what we can examine and theconcentrations of substances therein, each by a millionfold.
The Dreyfus Foundation provided an excuse to celebrate oneof the most important tools of physics, chemistry and biology. Massspectrometry is little more than a century old. It has accelerated as a tool tostudy complex mixtures over the last 20 years, advancing thanks in no small measure tothe contributions of Cooks, his students and his academic colleagues here inIndiana. Purdue University, Notre Dame University and Indiana University havemultiple research groups further advancing mass spectrometry fundamentals, instrumentationand accessories.
While we celebrated September as Mass Spectrometry Month inIndiana, our state has long contributed very broadly to the analyticalchemistry tools that virtually every reader of DDNews depends on for evidence based translational science. I'lldrink to that. Red—no bubbles, please. Cheers!
Peter T. Kissinger is professor of chemistry at PurdueUniversity, chairman emeritus of BASi and a director of Chembio Diagnostics,Phlebotics and Prosolia. 
