Kristin Johnson                                                                                             

Office:  ES&T L2-110

Office Phone:  404-385-4427

E-mail: kjo@gatech.edu

Education

2007 Georgia Institute of Technology, B.S. Chemistry

Research Interests

Consecutive Reaction Monitoring DESI MS as a Rapid and Sensitive Authentication Tool for Potentially Counterfeit Tamiflu

The counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals is a well-recognized public health problem. There have been many alarming reports of counterfeit antimalarials, antibiotics, steroids, analgesics, anti-asthma and anti-allergy drugs. Due to the recent outbreaks of avian influenza, which could lead to an influenza pandemic, the demand for antivirals has increased tremendously with stockpiling leading to shortage of supply. With Tamiflu® as the leading antiviral in the market, its high cost ($6.50 per pill) and demand, have made it a preferred target for counterfeiters. Reports of counterfeit Tamiflu samples which do not contain the active ingredient (oseltamivir) have already appeared¹. This thus leads to an urgent need for a rapid and sensitive authentication and screening tool for Tamiflu capsules.

In this study, Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (DESI-MS) with consecutive reaction monitoring (CRM) was used to rapidly screen Tamiflu capsules with minimal sample preparation prior to HPLC analysis. The presence of oseltamivir in a given capsule was determined in less than 30 seconds using a highly selective method which relies on the formation of a complex between a crown ether and oseltamivir. Screening of Tamiflu® samples collected over the internet showed that all samples analyzed in this preliminary study contained oseltamivir.

1. Customs Agents Seize Fake Tamiflu. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/18/health/main1134820.shtml

Development of a Comprehensive LC-MS method for the Analysis of Antimalarials

There are several antimalarial drugs commercially available throughout the world. However, the detection and quantitation of these drugs in complicated sample matrices such as blood or plasma has never been demonstrated. I have been working on developing a LC-MS method to analyze mixtures of these antimalarials in an effort to generate a technique which provides broadband sensitivity for several different drugs.