My research interests focus on analytical method development and environmental analysis. I am investigating the fate and reaction potential of metals in environmental and biological media. One major topic of my work is the analysis of Gadolinium-based contrast agents for magnetic resoncance imaging. This work includes the speciation and quantification of Gadolinium chelates and their reaction products in blood plasma and in wastewater of municipal sewage plants as well as in plants and animals. Speciation of the respective analytes requires hyphenation of separation techniques such as HPLC and CE to mass spectrometric detection (ESI and/or ICP). Another topic focuses on the fate of silver nanoparticles after entering the wastewater and surface waters. Silver nanoparticles are integrated into a wide range of products, including socks, food containers and washing machines, because of their antibacterial effect. The impact of this increased employment on the environment is unknown. The development and optimization of analytical methods for the examination of dissolved and nanoparticulate silver in wastewater and lake water are the focus of this work. The employment of e.g. single particle ICP-MS will show if the nanoparticles are removed or transformed during wastewater treatment and in what form they are present in surface waters.
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