“Optimism for pyrolysis GCMS of microplastics in biological matrices”

Pyrolysis GC-MS is widely recognized as an important technique for detecting and quantifying MNP, but it has also been criticized as being prone to interferences, especially in biological samples.

Our group has added another analytical step, called ion mobility, that helps separate plastics from other biological material more accurately. This improved method can distinguish real plastic signals from false ones, reduce measurement errors, and identify plastic-associated chemicals at the same time.

We used this technique to study early-life exposure to microplastics in indoor air and dust, as well as in blood and placental tissue from participants in St. John’s and Toronto. This presentation will discuss our lab’s methods and results, and the implications for refining Py-GC-MS to reduce measurement ambiguity in mnp research across the field.