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                            Funding & Awards
 Development of an Open Source Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) Search Software and Library Building Tool for the Analysis of Complex Drug Mixtures
Award Information
Awardee
              National Institute of Standards and Technology
Award #
              DJO-NIJ-20-RO-0012
Funding Category
              Competitive

Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2020
Total funding (to date)
              $198,290
Original Solicitation
              Research and Evaluation for the Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence in Publicly Funded Forensic Laboratories, Fiscal Year 2020
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2020, $198,290)
Facing increasing caseloads and an everchanging drug landscape, forensic laboratories have been implementing new analytical tools.  Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometer (DART-MS) is often one of these tools because it provides a wealth of information from a rapid, simple analysis. The data produced by these systems, while extremely useful, can be difficult to interpret, especially in the case of complex mixtures.  Unlike traditional gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems, software to aid in spectral analysis and interpretation is limited and primitive. The purpose of this proposal is to create DART-MS spectral interpretation, library building, and report generation software with input from the community that is vendor agnostic, freely available, and open-source.  Implementing search algorithms currently under development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the software will allow laboratories to gain more insight into their DART-MS data by identifying potential components in a mixture while also leveraging multiple in-source fragmentation spectra to provide quantitative indices of the likelihood of each identification. This produces results similar to what forensic chemists are accustomed to when they use GC-MS search software.  Importantly, the creation of the software, the user experience, and the included features will be completed through collaboration with four forensic laboratories that represent local, state, and federal levels with different instrumentation and different CONOPs. Development and deployment of this software package will occur on one-year timeline through the accomplishment of three objectives: (1) development of an intuitive user experience and training material, (2) software testing and feedback with forensic laboratories, and (3) deployment of the software to the community. Input from collaborating laboratories will allow for refinement and development of multiple iterations of the software to ensure it will be a viable tool for the community.  Development of these tools, along with parallel, internally funded efforts for algorithm refinement, algorithm optimization, and creation of updated spectral databases will allow for the forensic community to more efficiently and confidently harness the powerful data produced by DART-MS systems.



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Qualitative Analysis of Real Drug Evidence Using DART-MS and the Inverted Library Search Algorithm
                  Complex Drug Mixtures Analysis, Using Open-Source Search Software and Library Building Tool
                  Updates to the Inverted Library Search Algorithm for Mixture Analysis
                  Development of an Open-Source Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART-MS) Search Software and Library Building Tool for the Analysis of Complex Drug Mixtures
                  A New Library-Search Algorithm for Mixture Analysis Using DART-MS
                  Creation and Release of an Updated NIST DART-MS Forensics Database

  
Date Created: December 10, 2020
    
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