Analytical Science Research Group

The BU Analytical Science Research Group (ASRG) offers a range of specialist analytical instrumentation and is a hub of analytical science at BU for both research and commercial projects.

The Analytical Science Research Group (ASRG) at Bournemouth University provides a focus for analytical research in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, and a platform for collaborative work across the university and with industry.

Our research concentrates on the development of new analytical methods to deepen scientific understanding across three key themes:

Bioanalytical Science
Environmental Analytical Science
Forensic Science and Toxicology

Our technical focus and capabilities include a range of extraction approaches, separation methods (solid and liquid phase), detection techniques, chromatographic techniques, spectroscopy (including accurate mass spectrometry, spectrofluorimetry, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy), and chemometric techniques for data handling and optimization.

Our research is highly collaborative in nature and we work with clinicians, materials scientists, biomedical scientists, environmental chemists, geochemists, hydrologists, psychologists, ecologists and others, across a wide variety of disciplines.

Our work supports policy development and implementation, and we have strong links with many institutions, practicing professionals, and policy makers regionally and internationally.

Our expertise

BU ASRG is the hub of analytical science at the university for both research and commercial projects, providing state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and technical expertise for sample extraction, separation, detection and characterisation.

We pride ourselves on our ability to solve problems through analytical science. Our group offer an array of analytical techniques and services to industrial clients including contract research, routine analysis and training courses, and can provide timely answers to difficult analytical problems.

Please see our facilities page to explore the range of specialist analytical instrumentation in our laboratories.

Our Facilities

Our research

Our research focuses on the application of analytical chemistry to address critical issues in a range of disciplines including bioanalytical science, environmental chemistry, forensic sciences, toxicology and pathology. Our work is often problem-driven, which raises the need to invent new methodology. We undertake a wide range of projects which are inherently interdisciplinary and have provided scope for diverse collaborations including government agencies, healthcare providers, and the private sector.

ASRG is a leader in analytical science research, at the forefront of pioneering technologies for confident detection and analysis. Our team have developed novel extraction techniques, precise characterization methods, and innovative nanomaterials and chemoselective sensors. These advancements enable the detection of diverse substances across varied environments, impacting critical fields such as forensics, toxicology, pharmacology, medicine, and environmental sustainability. Our work not only drives scientific progress but also translates into practical applications that address pressing global challenges.

Our current initiatives encompass innovative projects in medical and health research, environmental monitoring and analysis, materials science and spectroscopy, as well as security and policy studies. Each area represents a strategic focus aimed at pushing the boundaries of knowledge and creating impactful solutions for today's most challenging problems.

Medical and Health Research

Environmental Monitoring and Analysis

Detection and removal of contaminants in drinking water.
Determination of New Psychoactive Substances in surface water across South Wales.
Wastewater based epidemiology for monitoring new psychoactive substances.
Advanced materials and spectroscopy for on-site analysis with Fluorescence spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for selective detection of environmental toxins.
On-Site Detection of Mycotoxins in Food Using a Portable SERS Platform.
Developing and utilising novel nanomaterials to detect trace amounts of toxins and medicines in a range of biological and industrial samples.
Developing field-cum-lab based analytical methods for chemical characterization, from toxic pollutants such as heavy metals (e.g., arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium) to emerging pollutants like engineered nanomaterials or nanoplastics in different environmental matrices – their speciation, toxicity, bioavailability and mobilization in the environment.
Developing Safe and Sustainability by Design (SSBD) based, greener, cost-effective methods for exploring toxins and their future environmental challenges in natural resources.
Developing novel advanced materials for studying the effect of emerging pollutants to test their safe and sustainable use.
Developing green seaweed-based ultra-sensitive substrates to detect trace amounts of controlled drugs in aqueous samples with Raman Spectroscopy.
Investigation of micro- and nanoplastics in commercial food products.
Exploring the relationship between environmental contaminants with the local microniche in ecologically vulnerable sites.
Emerging organic contaminants – analytical method development, mobilisation and biomagnification.

Materials Science and Spectroscopy

Portable SERS Platform for On-Site Food Authentication and Adulterant Detection.
Developing and utilizing novel nanomaterials to detect trace amounts of toxins and medicines in a range of biological and industrial samples.
Developing green seaweed-based ultra-sensitive substrates to detect trace amounts of controlled drugs in aqueous samples with Raman Spectroscopy.
Developing fluorescence sensors to detect trace amounts of controlled and illicit drugs in various samples.
Application of MOF and MXene based nanocomposites for investigating their analytical possibilities in two major future environmental challenges – global food security and carbon capture and storage.

Security and Policy Studies

Find out more about current projects

Volatile organic compounds as diagnostic biomarkers of skin cancer

Developing a custom extraction technique to capture volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from skin cancer sites.

Air monitoring for synthetic cannabinoids in a UK prison

The ASRG were commissioned by the Prison Officers Association to investigate staff exposure to psychoactive drug fumes in UK prisons.

Advanced Analytical Sensors for On-Site Detection of Trace Analytes

Developing analytical sensors and techniques to detect trace amounts of drugs and toxins.

Safeguarding Food and Water: On-Site Detection and Elimination of Contaminants

Developing affordable, on-site technologies that detect and eliminate contaminants and toxins in food and water.

ASRG commissioned by the Home Office to evaluate ultra potent synthetic opioids

Research by the Analytical Science Research Group (ASRG) at BU has provided a comprehensive chemical assessment of these dangerous drug compounds.

Recent publications

We are pleased to share some of our recently published peer-reviewed papers, each representing a significant step forward in our collective pursuit of knowledge and innovation. Explore our latest contributions to the field and discover how our work is making an impact:

Mahanty, S., Majumder, S., Paul, R., Boroujerdi, R., Valsami-Jones, E. and Laforsch, C., 2024. A review on nanomaterial-based SERS substrates for sustainable agriculture. Science of the Total Environment, 950.
Saini, N., Saini, S., Majumder, S., Campbell, K.S. and Jain, S.L., 2024. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction to methanol integrated with the oxidative coupling of thiols for S-X (X = S, C) bond formation over an Fe3O4/BiVO4 composite. Sustainable Energy and Fuels, 8 (8), 1750-1760.
Boroujerdi, R., Butt, A., Paul, R. and Majumder, S., 2024. Unveiling Morphine: A Rapid and Selective Fluorescence Sensor for Forensic and Medical Analysis. Sensors.
Davies, B., Paul, R., Osselton, D., Evers, R. and Wooley, T., 2024. Absence of New Psychoactive Substances in Wastewater from South Wales, U.K revealed by optimised LC-QTOF analysis. Drug Testing and Analysis.
Kumar, S., Banerjee, S., Ghosh, S., Majumder, S., Mandal, J., Roy, P.K. and Bhattacharyya, P., 2024. Appraisal of pollution and health risks associated with coal mine contaminated soil using multimodal statistical and Fuzzy-TOPSIS approaches. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 18 (5), 1-15.
Davies, B., Paul, R. and Osselton, D., 2023. Wastewater analysis for new psychoactive substances and cocaine and cannabis in a Northern Ireland Prison. Scientific Reports, 13 (1).
Ghazal, A., Clarke, D., Abdel-Rahman, M., Ribeiro, A., Collie-Duguid, E., Samir, R., Taj, M. and Houssen, W., 2023. Venomous gland transcriptome and venom proteomic analysis of the scorpion Androctonus amoreuxi reveal new peptides with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Peptides, 173.
Colombano, A., Dalponte, L., Dall'Angelo, S., Clemente, C., Idress, M., Ghazal, A. and Houssen, W.E., 2023. Chemoenzymatic Late-Stage Modifications Enable Downstream Click-Mediated Fluorescent Tagging of Peptides. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, 62 (16), e202215979.
Boroujerdi, R., Paul, R. and Abdelkader, A., 2022. Rapid Detection of Amitriptyline in Dried Blood and Dried Saliva Samples with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. Sensors, 22 (21).
Boroujerdi, R., Abdelkader, A. and Paul, R., 2022. Highly Sensitive and Selective Detection of the Antidepressant Amitriptyline Using a Functionalised Graphene-Based Sensor. ChemNanoMat, 8 (10).
Boroujerdi, R. and Paul, R., 2022. Graphene-Based Electrochemical Sensors for Psychoactive Drugs. Nanomaterials, 12 (13).
Boroujerdi, R., Abdelkader, A. and Paul, R., 2022. Highly selective detection of ethanol in biological fluids and alcoholic drinks using indium ethylenediamine functionalized graphene. Sensors & Diagnostics.
Boroujerdi, R. and Paul, R., 2022. Introducing Graphene–Indium Oxide Electrochemical Sensor for Detecting Ethanol in Aqueous Samples with CCD-RSM Optimization. Chemosensors, 10 (2).
Nath B., Das A., Majumder S., Roychowdhury T., Ni-Meister W., Rahman M.M., 2022. Geospatial Machine Learning Prediction of Arsenic Distribution in the Groundwater of Murshidabad District, West Bengal, India: Analyzing Spatiotemporal Patterns to Understand Human Health Risk. ACS EST Water, 2, 12, 2409–2421.
Dasgupta D., Majumder, S., Adhikari, J., Ghosh, P., Purchase, D., Garelick, H., Debsarkar, A., Chatterjee, D., 2022. Environmental impact of e-waste management in Indian microscale informal sectors. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30 (11), 29581-29597.
Mandal, D., Aghababaei, M., Das, S.K., *Majumder, S., Chatterjee, D., Basu, A., 2022. Isolation and Identification of Arsenic Hyper-Tolerant Bacterium with Potential Plant Growth Promoting Properties from Soil. Minerals, 12, 1452.
Paul, R., Smith, S., Gent, L. and Sutherill, R., 2021. Air monitoring for synthetic cannabinoids in a UK prison: Application of personal air sampling and fixed sequential sampling with thermal desorption two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Drug Testing and Analysis, 13 (9), 1678-1685.
Gent, L. and Paul, R., 2021. The detection of new psychoactive substances in wastewater. A comprehensive review of analytical approaches and global trends. Science of the Total Environment, 776.
Gent, L. and Paul, R., 2021. Air monitoring for illegal drugs including new psychoactive substances: A review of trends, techniques and thermal degradation products. Drug Testing and Analysis, 13 (6), 1078-1094.
Nath B., Majumder S., Sen J., Rahman M. M., 2021. A risk analysis of COVID-19 infections in Kolkata metropolitan city: A GIS-based study. GeoHealth, 5, e2020GH000368.
Das A., Majumder S., Barman S., Chatterjee D., Mukhopadhyay S., Ghosh P., Pal C.N., Saha G., 2021. Influence of basin-wide geomorphology on arsenic distribution in Nadia district. Environmental Research, 192, 110314.
Paul, R. and Gent, L., 2020. Analysis of indoor prison air for the presence of psychoactive substances using active sampling and Thermal Desorption GCxGC-TOF MS.. POA & HMPPS.
Lanfear, J.H., Voegel, C.D., Binz, T.M. and Paul, R.A., 2020. Hair cortisol measurement in older adults: Influence of demographic and physiological factors and correlation with perceived stress. Steroids, 163.
Boroujerdi, R., Abdelkader, A. and Paul, R., 2020. State of the Art in Alcohol Sensing with 2D Materials. Nano-Micro Letters, 12 (1).
Knappett P.S.K., Li Y., Loza I., Hernandez H., Aviles M., Haaf D., Majumder S., Huang Y., Lynch B., Pina V., Wang J., Winkel L., Mahlknecht J., Datta S., Thurston W., Terrell D., Nordstrom D.K., 2020. Rising arsenic concentrations from dewatering a geothermally influenced aquifer in Central Mexico. Water Research, 185, 116257.
Majumder S., Margui E., Roman-Ross G., Chatterjee D., Hidalgo M. Hollow Fiber Liquid Phase Microextraction (HF-LPME) combined with Total Reflection X-ray Spectrometry (TXRF) for the determination of trace level inorganic arsenic species in waters. Talanta, 217, 121005.
Paul, R., Williams, R., Hodson, V. and Peake, C., 2019. Detection of cannabinoids in hair after cosmetic application of hemp oil. Scientific Reports, 9 (1).
Paul, R., Tsanaclis, L., Murray, C., Boroujerdi, R., Facer, L. and Corbin, A., 2019. Ethyl Glucuronide as a Long-term Alcohol Biomarker in Fingernail and Hair. Matrix Comparison and Evaluation of Gender Bias. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 54 (4), 402-407.
Paul, R., 2019. Alcohol markers in hair: an issue of interpretation. Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology, 15 (2), 281-283.
Biswas J.K., Banerjee A., Majumder S., Bolan N., Seshadri B., Dash M.C., 2019. New Extracellular Polymeric Substance Producing Enteric Bacterium from Earthworm, Metaphire posthuma: Modulation through Culture Conditions. Proceedings of Zoological Society, 72, 160-170.
Paul, R. and Tsanaclis, L., 2018. Data on ethyl glucuronide and cocaethylene concentrations in the hair of cocaine users. Data in Brief, 20, 2036-2039.
Dumitrascu, C., Paul, R., Kingston, R. and Williams, R., 2018. Influence of alcohol containing and alcohol free cosmetics on FAEE concentrations in hair. A performance evaluation of ethyl palmitate as sole marker, versus the sum of four FAEEs. Forensic Science International, 283, 29-34.
Neidhardt H., Schöckle D., Schleinitz A., Eiche E., Berner Z., Tram P.T.K., Lan V.M., Viet P.H., Page 3 of 9 Biswas A., Majumder S., Chatterjee D., Oelmann Y., Berg M., 2018. Biogeochemical Phosphorus cycling in Aquifer Ecosystems – Insights from South East Asian Floodplain and Delta Aquifers. Science of the Total Environment, 644, 1357-1370.
Kundu A.K., Majumder S., Biswas A., Bhowmick S., Pal C., Mukherjee A., Majumder M., Chatterjee D., 2018. Optimization of laboratory arsenic analysis for groundwaters of West Bengal, India and possible water testing strategy. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 98, 440-452.

Group members

Professor Richard Paul - Professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry
Dr Santanu Majumder - Lecturer in Environmental Analytical Chemistry
Dr Ramin Boroujerdi - Lecturer in Toxicology
Dr Sarah Upson - Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology
Victoria Claydon - Lecturer in Forensic Genetics - PhD researcher (Evaluation of post-mortem changes of skeletal remains and their correlation to DNA viability of Forensic Casework)
Andrew Butt - Analytical Science Demonstrator - PhD researcher (Exploring cortisol's dual role: stress and aging biomarker analysis using LC-Q-TOF/MS)

Alumni:

Dr Ahmad Ghazal - Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (Quantifying chronic physiological stress responses in a variety of animals)
Dr Bethan Davies - PhD Researcher (Determination of NPS in surface water across South Wales)