We are very pleased to announce that our Senior Chemist David Schiessel has had three presentations accepted to the National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC)! Mr. Schiessel will contribute two oral presentations and one poster presentation on his innovative research and method development concerning the analysis of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs—also known as PFAS).

For the past few years Babcock Laboratories has focused on the evaluation of PFCs, including perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), perfluorosulfonates (PFSAs), perfluorosulfonamidoacetic acids (FOSAAs), and fluorotelomersulfonates (FTSs). These analytes have been of interest as of late because PFCs are commonly used as surfactants in industrial, consumer, military, and firefighting applications, such as Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) firefighting products. PFCs exhibit distinctive chemical characteristics that make them stable in the environment and resistant to degradation, allowing them to bioaccumulate in soil, sediment, groundwater, and animal tissue over time. Given the health risks PFCs pose to the public and environment, it is important that laboratories have the capability to detect these types of analytes even when they are not specifically looking for them. For this reason, Babcock Laboratories’ Senior Chemist David Schiessel has focused his research and development efforts on non-targeted suspect screening strategies using low resolution LC-MS-MS, and will present his data and findings at NEMC.

Mr. Schiessel also co-authored a poster with Scott Krepich and Allen Misa of Phenomenex that will be presented at the conference. The poster is on their collaborative work concerning the evaluation of online SPE sorbents for the analysis of perfluorinated compounds in aqueous matrices. Additionally, Mr. Schiessel has been asked to present on a similar topic at the Thermo Scientific POPs (persistent organic pollutants) Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts next month.

Mr. Schiessel certainly represents the dedication and expertise that our clients have come to expect from the Babcock Labs team and we are very proud of his achievements. Our research and method development efforts allow us to pursue our vision of advancing a legacy of scientific contribution through innovation and laboratory excellence. We cannot wait to listen to his presentations at NEMC in Washington, DC in August!

NEMC is held annually as a part of the Environmental Measurement Symposium—a combined meeting of the NEMC and The NELAC Institute (TNI)’s Forum on Environmental Accreditation. The Symposium is co-sponsored by TNI under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Each year hundreds of QA/QC managers, regulatory affairs managers, field sampling management organizations, researchers, and laboratory scientists, analysts, and managers attend this symposium, making it the largest conference in North America focused on environmental measurements. The staff who attend such conferences gain greater knowledge of the various aspects within each of the industries we serve and bring this knowledge back to Babcock Labs so that we can continue to better serve our clients.