Whereas there are a number of standard methods that we use, currently we are contributing to the field in a couple of ways. The main area is to propose new designs for multivariate calibration, which guide experimenters as to how to set up a series of mixtures that are orthogonal in concentrations. Several students have worked on this. Comparison between autoprediction, cross-validation and independent testing can be done. We are extending our range of applications to several new areas.
Pharmaceuticals are especially interesting, including impurity monitoring and on-line reactions.
Pattern recognition in chromatography is interesting for the evaluation of new columns, and some papers published with David McCalley of UWE are leading to a level of industrial interest. We have done some preliminary work in analysis of food using spectroscopy, FIA and HPLC, with Sophie Martin and James Tait which we hope will extend to further projects in the near future. With Katrina Service, currently of the University of Oxford, and a former Bristol student we have a long standing interest in analysis of badger urine by GCMS and pattern recognition to determine the main factors that result from sex, age, season, diet etc.