Mengliang Zhang
Education
Ph.D., Chemistry, Ohio University, 2015
Research
- Forensic Chemistry
- Food and Agricultural Chemistry
- Metabolomics
- Environmental Chemistry
- Material Science
Our group's research interests are diverse and engaging, focusing on chemical analysis by mass spectrometric methods and chemometrics. We employ various interdisciplinary techniques, including instrumentation, instrumental analysis, chemometrics, and computer programming, to develop new strategies and tools for monitoring environmental toxicants, plant metabolomics, nanomaterial characterization, and forensic chemistry.
Our research projects cover a wide spectrum, from the analysis of forensic textile fibers collected at crime scenes to the study of less volatile components of ignitable liquid residues from fire debris. We also delve into the exploration of secondary metabolites from food and agricultural materials, organic ligands in semiconductor quantum dots, and toxic compounds in wildfire smoke. These projects have been supported by federal grant funds from various agencies, such as the US Department of Justice, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Homeland Security FEMA program, and the US Department of Energy.
Selected Publications
Liu, Z.; Solano-Aguilar, G.; Lakshman, S.; Urban, J.F.; Zhang, M.; Chen, P.; Yu, L.; Sun, J., Metabolic pathway and network analysis integration for discovering the biomarkers in pig feces after a controlled fruit-vegetable dietary intervention. Food Chemistry, 2024, 461, 140836.
Dong, W.; Yang, X.; Zhang, N.; Chen, P.; Sun, J.; Harnly, J.M.; Zhang, M., Study of UV–Vis molar absorptivity variation and quantitation of anthocyanins using molar relative response factor. Food Chemistry, 2024, 444, 138653.
Perna, S.; Dedicatoria, B.M.; Chong, N.; Zhang, M., GC/MS and DART-MS as complementary methods for investigating the effects of weathering on chemical profiles of ignitable liquids: A case study for paint thinner. Forensic Chemistry, 2023, 33, 100478.
Zhang, M.; Wang, Y.; Moore, R.; Upton, R.; Harrington, P.; Chen, P., Development of a Metabolite Ratio Rule-Based Method for Automated Metabolite Profiling and Species Differentiation of Four Major Cinnamon Species. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2022, 70, 17, 5450-5457.
Frazier, J.; Cavey, K.; Coil, S.; Hamo, H.; Zhang, M.; Van Patten, P.G., Rapid and Sensitive Identification and Discrimination of Bound/Unbound Ligands on Colloidal Nanocrystals via Direct Analysis in Real-Time Mass Spectrometry. Langmuir, 2021, 37, 14703-14712.
Tilluck, R.W.; Mohan, N.; Hetherington, C.V.; Leslie, C.H.; Sil, S.; Frazier, J.; Zhang, M.; Levine, B.G.; Van Patten, P.G.; Beck, W.F., Vibronic Excitons and Conical Intersections in Semiconductor Quantum Dots. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2021, 12, 9677–9683.
Liang, J.; Frazier, J.; Benefield, V.; Chong, N; Zhang, M., Forensic Fiber Analysis by Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis-Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry (TD/Py-DART-MS). Analytical Chemistry, 2020, 92, 2, 1925-1933.
Barnett, I.; Bailey, F; Zhang, M., Detection and Classification of Ignitable Liquid Residues in the Presence of Matrix Interferences by Using Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 2019, 64, 1486-1494.
Barnett, I.; Zhang, M., Discrimination of Brands of Gasoline by Using DART-MS and Chemometrics. Forensic Chemistry. 2018, 10, 58-66.
Zhang, M.; Sun, J.; Chen, P., Development of a Comprehensive Flavonoid Analysis Computational Tool for Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection-High-Resolution Accurate Mass-Mass Spectrometry Data. Analytical Chemistry. 2017, 89(14), 7388–7397.