People in the Department
 

Professor Barry L Sharp

Professor of Analytical Chemistry
BSc, DIC, PhD London, CSci, FRSC
Telephone: ++44 (0)1509 222572
FAX: ++44 (0)1509 223925
Email: B.L.Sharp@lboro.ac.uk

 

Barry Sharp leads the atomic spectrometry research group which is part of the Centre for Analytical Science. The group interest is focused on inductively-coupled plasma and laser source mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and encompasses a wide range of activities from studies on the fundamentals of instrument design to the development of new techniques for the detection and quantification of bio-molecules and metallomics.

Research Interests

Bio-Analysis
Work is on-going on the use of ICP-MS, both high resolution MS (Thermo Element II XR) and collision-reaction cell MS (Agilent 7700), to improve the sensitivity and quantitation of some important bio-assays. For example, we have used site specific labelling of oligonucleotides to tag them with nano-gold particles thereby enhancing the sensitivity of detection by in excess of 700 compared with analysis using 31P.1 Collaborating with colleagues from the Department of  Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine at Leicester University assays have been developed to determine the degree of adduct formation when cells are exposed to Pt-based drugs such as cis and oxaliplatin. The interactions of these drugs with nucleobases have been studied using ES-MSn techniques. Recently cell partitioning assays have been developed that show the distribution of metallo-drugs in different cell compartments. A clinical trial is in progress and in 2009 the group won a Da Vinci Health Innovation Award for this work. Work is on-going in relation to the detection and quantification of low abundance phospho-peptides and proteins, and Zn speciation in collaboration with the Institute of Ophthalmology (UCL).  

A current project with Dr Tamer Shoeib (Visiting Research Fellow from the British University in Egypt) involves determining the structure and energetics of non-covalent metal-peptide interactions using the Gaussian molecular modelling package on the EPSRC-NSCCS facility. The modelling is used to elucidate experimental MSn data obtained using our linear ion trap electrospray MS (Thermo LTQ). This study provides underpinning information about the interactions of metals with bio-molecules which is a central theme of the research of the group.

Laser Ablation LA-ICP-MS
Laser ablation (LA) is a powerful tool for direct solid sampling, but accurate quantification is hindered by the difficulty of preparing calibration standards. Calibration strategies have been developed using the so called ‘on-line additions technique’ to enable the use of aqueous standards.3 For powdered samples, a technique named “Matrix Assisted Laser Ablation” MALA has been developed that uses a chromophore as the sample binder to enable the use of non-matrix matched powdered samples as standards.4 Current work is based on two projects: the first is concerned with the development of cells for laser ablation and recently the first open, non-contact cell for LA was described; the second is aimed at developing techniques for nuclear materials as part of the EPSRC sponsored DIAMOND project.

Optical detection of ions by ICP-MS-CLS
A recent paper2 described a feasibility study of the use of laser coincidence spectroscopy (CLS) for the detection of ions in ICP-MS. This concept employs highly specific laser excited ionic fluorescence in time correlation with non-specific ion detection to remove background interferences, isobars and to improve the abundance sensitivity of the ICP-MS. The technique, named ICP-MS-CLS, is well suited to rare isotopes and is a potential competitor for high performance MS techniques such as AMS and RIMS. As part of this work a modeling study has been carried out on the use of a 3D ion trap for cooling ions prior to downstream optical spectroscopy.


I am a Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS - impact factor 4.03) published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, www.rsc.org/jaas. If you would like to publish an article in JAAS, please e-mail or call me and I will be happy to discuss this with you.

 

Selected references:

  1. Structural analysis of the anti-arthritic drug Auranofin, its complexes with cysteine and selenocysteine as well as their fragmentation products, T Shoeib, D W Atkinson and B L Sharp, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 2010, 363, 184–192.
  2. An open, non-contact cell for laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, D Asogan, B L Sharp, C J P O’Connor, D A Green and R W Hutchinson, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 917-923.
  3. A study of oxaliplatin-nucleobase interactions using ion trap, electrospray mass spectrometry, S L Kerr, T Shoeib and B L Sharp, Anal. and Bioanal. Chem., 2008, 391, 2339-2348.
  4. Nano-particle labelling of nucleic acids for enhanced detection by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), S. L. Kerr and B. L. Sharp,  Chem. Comm., 2007, 43, 4537-4539.
  5. Coincidence laser spectroscopy for the detection of ions in ICP-MS (ICP-MS-CLS). A feasibility study, B. L. Sharp,  P. S. Goodall, L. M. Ignjatovic and H. Teng, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2007, 22, 1447-1470.
  6. On-line additions of aqueous standards for calibration of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: theory and comparison of wet and dry plasma conditions, C. O’ Connor, B. L. Sharp and P. Evans, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2006, 21, 556-565.
  7. Absorption coefficient modified pressed powders for calibration of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, C. O’Connor, M.R. Landon  and B.L. Sharp, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2007, 22, 273 – 282.
  8. An application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to the characterisation and optimisation of a cyclonic spray chamber for ICP-AES and ICP-MS, G Schaldach, H Berndt and B L Sharp, J. Anal. At. Spectrom, 2003, 18, 742-750.
  9. The use of background ions and a multivariate approach to characterise and optimise the dominant H2-based chemistries in a hexapole collision cell used in ICP-MS, C P Ingle, P K Appelblad, M A Dexter, H J Reid and B L Sharp, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2001, 16, 1076-1084.
  10. The effects of ion energy on reactivity and species selectivity in hexapole collision/reaction cell ICP-MS, M A Dexter, H J Reid and B L Sharp, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2002, 17, 676-681.

 

Extended list of publications
 
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