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Patrick Tomco, PhD – ASET Director; Professor of Chemistry

Patrick Tomco’s research program involves multiple ‘One Health’ thematic applications of modern Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance approaches to describe the toxicity and environmental fate of contaminants at high latitudes. He also is focused on fundamental research on environmental dissolution processes, both biotic and abiotic. Some topics he is currently working on include: Quantifying completion in oil spill science, Metabolomics of toxicant exposure, Pesticide persistence, and Photolytic degradation of environmental contaminants

Patrick places an emphasis on supporting undergraduate student research, as É«ÇéÍøÕ¾ is a primarily undergraduate-serving institution (PUI).

Zachary Redman, PhD – ASET Instrumentation Lead; Professor of Chemistry

Zachary Redman’s primary research interests involve the application of modern analytical chemistry techniques and instrumentation to advance our understanding of environmental processes and ecotoxicology. Research projects include the study of (1) parent, alkylated, and oxidized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon photochemical formation and dissolution in simulated oil spills by coupled targeted quantitative and non-targeted screening methods; (2) photochemical mechanisms and product formation of current and emerging sub-Arctic aquatic contaminants under high-latitude conditions; (3) molecular level impacts of watershed deglaciation on dissolved organic matter character and nutrient transport; and (4) toxicokinetic and metabolomic impacts of micro- and nanoplastics in marine organisms. He has a decade of experience in analytical chemistry and welcomes questions about how instrumentation in the ASET Lab can support your research.

Lauren Kohntopp – Laboratory Manager; Research Professional

Lauren is a research professional and laboratory manager for ASET! Her research focuses on targeting candidate biomarkers and sex differences in Wilson Disease utilizing instrumentation such as LC-MS, ICP-MS, and NMR. She trained in the ASET lab as an undergraduate/graduate student, before eventually joining the team!

Monica Brandhuber, PhD – Postdoctoral fellow; Research Professional

Moniaca is a Research Professional specilalizaing in metabolomics research. She is involved in a wide variety of projects using metabolomics methods to better understand human and animal health, physiology, and marine toxicology. She is particularly interested in studying the metabolomics of arctic and subarctic species.

Brian DiMento, PhD – Postdoctoral fellow; Research Professional

Brian is currently a Research Professional in the Chemistry department. His research primarily focuses on the fate of contaminants in the environment, with current projects investigating the photochemical degradation of emerging pollutants, the impact of microplastics and saxitoxins on mussels, and the presence of tire wear particles and their additives in aquatic ecosystems.

Gino Graziano – PhD Student

Gino is currently a PhD student working on managing pesticide residues in the environment from the management of invasive species. The work includes setting up experiments to determining pesticide fate after applications examining biological and physical reasons for degradation and movement within the environment, and ways to remediate sites after use of persistent pesticides. Work is often done with a combination of analytical detection and bioassays to identify contaminants in soils. 

Brant Woodruff - PhD Student

Brant is a PhD student pursuing a degree in chemistry. His research interests lie at the intersection of surface chemistry, environmental science and thermodynamics. He has worked extensively studying herbicide degradation in the environment. Current work examines the use of biochar as a remediation material for soil contamination. If not in the lab he is probably in the Chugach mountains.

Amber Richardson – Undergraduate Researcher

Amber is an undergraduate chemistry/biological sciences major. She works in ASET researching the toxicological impacts of a tire-derived chemical, 6PPDQ, on Alaskan salmon via LC-MS metabolomic analysis. She has focused on determining the prevalence of 6PPDQ in South-Central Alaska using the LC-MS/MS instrumentation for quantification. She additionally works on validating methods for detecting and quantifying tire and road wear particles using the Pyrolysis-GC/MS.