Julia Pearson, PhD, DABFT - Chief Forensic Toxicologist, Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office
Yorba Linda, CA (PRWEB) November 19, 2015
The sheer number and variety of designer drugs—compounds that are claimed to imitate the “high” of specific illegal, controlled substances—has grown in the past few years. Designer drugs’ chemical signature differs enough from illegal drugs that until the government tags them as Schedule 1 drugs, they fly below the radar of legal system. Among these drugs are stimulants such as cathinones (commonly called “bath salts”), synthetic cannabinoids (often called “spice”), and synthetic hallucinogens. The compounds as a whole are called Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS).
Thermo Fisher Scientific is sponsoring a new, free educational webinar, “Novel Psychoactive Substances: challenges and choices in forensic toxicology,” which will discuss a number of new designer drugs, analytical approaches, and a range of mass spectral techniques that can be used to definitively identify these substances in a forensic toxicology laboratory. The speaker will emphasize effective and efficient workflow for forensic toxicology analysis; screening, quantitation, and confirmation of drugs-of-abuse compounds; targeted and unknown screening tools and methods; unknown structure identification using mass spectrometry techniques; identification of isobaric compounds; and full scan confirmation and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) for quantitative results.
This webinar will be of particular interest to researchers, directors, and forensic toxicologists in the life sciences/forensic institutes/health care/doping labs, and core facility personnel who are interested in learning the power of different mass spectrometry techniques in forensic labs. For forensic use only.
The speaker is Julia Pearson, PhD, DABFT, chief forensic toxicologist, Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office, Tampa, Fla. Formerly, she was the chief forensic toxicologist for the Virginia Department of Forensic Science for nine years, and a forensic toxicologist with the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory for three years. Dr. Pearson earned her PhD in pharmacology, toxicology, and environmental toxicology from Michigan State University. She has authored more than two dozen abstracts and publications, testified as an expert witness in more than 500 cases, and given more than 100 presentations to law enforcement, medical, and legal professionals in the areas of chemistry, toxicology, driving under the influence, and drug-facilitated sexual assault. Dr. Pearson is board-certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and holds adjunct faculty appointments with the Departments of Pathology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of South Florida. Please view her complete bio on the LabRoots website.
The complementary webinar, hosted by LabRoots, will be presented on December 2, 2015, at 8 am Pacific Time/11 am Eastern Time.
For full details about the event and free registration, click here.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific:
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. enables its customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer, by helping them to accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics, and increase laboratory productivity.
About LabRoots:
LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website and producer of educational virtual events and webinars. Contributing to the advancement of science through content sharing capabilities, LabRoots is a powerful advocate in amplifying global networks and communities. Founded in 2008, LabRoots emphasizes digital innovation in scientific collaboration and learning, and is a primary source for current scientific news, webinars, virtual conferences, and more. LabRoots is the owner and producer of BioConference Live – which has grown into the world’s largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.