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Introduction
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Publications
Publications (711)
Mercury (Hg) is a globally significant pollutant, which is particularly concerning due to its ability to undergo long-range atmospheric transport and its bioaccumulation and biomagnification in marine ecosystems, even in remote regions like Antarctica. This study explores the biogeochemical cycling of Hg in the marine coastal environment of Terra N...
The Chicxulub asteroid impact event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary ~66 Myr ago is widely considered responsible for the mass extinction event leading to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. Short-term cooling due to massive release of climate-active agents is hypothesized to have been crucial, with S-bearing gases originating from th...
Recent findings reported by Van Helden et al. (Anal. Chim. Acta, 2024, 1287, 342089) have revealed that a whole suite of elements (S, Zn, As, Se, Cd, I, Te and...
Introduction Elemental mapping has commonly been used for the screening of geological, biological, and other types of samples, using micro-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (μ-XRF), scanning electron microscopy in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), or electron probe micro analysis (EPMA). Most of these techniques are val...
Although radioactive experiments are necessary in radiopharmaceutical drug discovery and theranostic cancer research, they are expensive, require special facilities, and face certain restrictions. Thus, finding techniques not involving radioactivity is highly beneficial for minimizing these disadvantages in such research. In this regard, methods us...
Rationale
Micrometeorites are extraterrestrial particles smaller than ~2 mm in diameter, most of which melted during atmospheric entry and crystallised or quenched to form ‘cosmic spherules’. Their parentage among meteorite groups can be inferred from triple‐oxygen isotope compositions, for example, by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). This m...
Depuis plusieurs années, les analyses isotopiques du calcium se multiplient, avec diverses applications en paléobiologie. Ainsi, ces isotopes sont déjà utilisés pour reconstruire le niveau trophique ou pour étudier l'apport en produits laitiers dans l'alimentation. Certains auteurs explorent également l'influence de la gestation et de l'allaitement...
Numerous factors can contribute to the incidence or exacerbation of peripheral neuropathy induced by oxaliplatin (OXA). Recently, platinum accumulation in the spinal cord of mice after OXA exposure, despite the efficient defenses of the central nervous system, has been demonstrated by our research group, expanding the knowledge about its toxicity....
The processes of planetary accretion and differentiation, whereby an unsorted mass of primitive solar system material evolves into a body composed of a silicate mantle and metallic core, remain poorly understood. Mass‐dependent variations of the isotope ratios of non‐traditional stable isotope systems in meteorites are known to record events in the...
This study presents the development, validation and use of an approach for precise and accurate cadmium (Cd) isotopic analysis at low concentration levels using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry...
The strontium (Sr) concentration and 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio have been determined in 132 snow pit samples
collected at Dome C, on the East Antarctic Plateau, corresponding to the period 1958–2019, and in 12 surface
snow samples collected at the same site in 2016–2017. The average Sr concentration was 8.1 ± 5.7 pg g-1 (mean
± SD) in snow pit samples...
This paper presents the most comprehensive study of speiss from the Late Bronze Age world published so far, and the first detailed study of speiss from the Nile Valley overall. It combines the results of XRD, optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, trace element (ICP-OES and ICP-MS) and lead isotopic analysis to fully characterise two fragments of speiss from...
The Chicxulub asteroid impact event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary ~66 Myr ago is widely considered responsible for the mass extinction event leading to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. Short-term cooling due to massive release of climate-active agents is hypothesized to have been crucial, with S-bearing gases originating from th...
In this work, an analytical approach was developed for Pb, Sr, and Fe isotopic analysis of archaeological samples recovered from an iron work site by using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). The sample types include slag, coal, clay and hammer scales, all obtained from an archaeological site at Hoeke (Belgiu...
The 16th edition of the European Workshop on Laser Ablation (EWLA2024) was organized in Ghent, Belgium and hosted 190 participants from from universities, research institutes and companies, located in 26 different countries. In total, 7 invited lectures, 2 upcoming talent award presentations, 40 contributed lectures and 65 posters were presented....
Introduction: Elemental abundances are fractionated among the constituent minerals in a meteorite, even in the case of rare earth elements (REEs) that share strongly comparable chemical properties. Previous studies demonstrate that lithophile elements, especially refractory lithophile elements were redistributed from a primary phase to a secondary...
The almost-two-centuries history of spectrochemical analysis has generated a body of literature so vast that it has become nearly intractable for experts, much less for those wishing to enter the field. Authoritative, focused reviews help to address this problem but become so granular that the overall directions of the field are lost. This broader...
Upon passage through Earth's atmosphere, micrometeorites undergo variable degrees of melting and evaporation. Among the various textural and chemical groups recognized among cosmic spherules, that is, melted micrometeorites, a subset of particles may indicate anomalously high degrees of vaporization based on their chemical and isotopic properties....
Antimony (Sb), a metalloid, is considered a rare occurence in the archaeological record. Though Sb ores are scarce they were utilised over several millennia for a variety of applications from copper alloys to glass and glaze. In particular, they were used for opacifying or decolouring glass and glazes. Amongst Sb minerals, only stibnite can achieve...
High-precision determination of the isotopic composition of mercury (Hg) is of paramount importance for unraveling its biogeochemical cycle and for identifying the origin of Hg in environmental compartments. Cold vapor...
Time-of-flight ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-ToF-MS) allows acquisition of almost the entire periodic table in only a few tens of microseconds, with several mass spectra combined into a single readout. When hyphenated...
In the field of petrochemistry, the quantitative determination of trace elements in catalysts is crucial for optimizing various types of processes. Catalyst poisoning, resulting from the presence of contaminants, can...
For years already, cancer is the second cause of death worldwide, preceded by cardiovascular diseases only. The number of research groups focusing on the discovery of new drugs to treat...
The ROAM project, initiated recently at Ghent University, is dedicated to unraveling the intricacies of the permanent re-colonization of northern Europe following the Last Glacial Age. To achieve its aims, a diverse range of interdisciplinary approaches are employed, exploiting contextualized data obtained from archaeological, anthropological, and...
Elemental mapping has been commonly used for the screening of geological samples, biological samples, and so on, using micro-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, or electron probe micro analysis (EPMA). Most of these techniques are valuable for major elements, but th...
Diogenites, which are part of the howardite–eucrite–diogenite (HED) group, are considered to represent rocks from the lower crust and mantle of a differentiated planetary body, likely the asteroid 4 Vesta. The Northwest Africa 12973 (NWA 12973) meteorite was classified as an anomalous diogenite due to the occurrence of a vesiculated layer. This wor...
Hypomagnesemia was historically prevalent in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), but contemporary results indicate an incidence comparable to that in the general population, likely due to improved treatment in recent decades, resulting in better glycemic control. However, a recent study found a significant difference between the serum...
The development of high-performance electrocatalysts is critical for enhancing the performance and commercial viability of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), which hold the potential to transform the way we power portable electronics and off-grid systems. In this study, we have employed the gas-diffusion electrocrystallization process (GDEx) at ro...
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combines plasma chemistry, which produces singly charged elemental ions, with mass spectrometric detection. Unlike other mass spectrometry ionization sources, the ICP can efficiently handle liquid, solid and gaseous samples. Nuclides of metals, metalloids and some non-metals — such as sulfur, ph...
The chemical effects of terrestrial alteration, with a particular focus on lithophile trace elements, were studied for a set of H chondrites displaying various degrees of weathering from fresh falls to altered finds collected from hot deserts. According to their trace element distributions, a considerable fraction of rare earth elements (REEs), Th,...
This study describes an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) among nine (9) laboratories to evaluate and validate the standard operation procedure (SOP) for single-particle (sp) ICP-TOFMS developed within the context of the Horizon 2020 project ACEnano. The ILC was based on the characterization of two different Pt nanoparticle (NP) suspensions in terms...
Simple Summary
Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent form of dementia and is associated with multiple alterations in biological processes. The most profound changes consist of the formation of two types of protein aggregations, called β-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of tau proteins. Different biologically relevant metals are belie...
The ability to improve nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors is an actively studied domain, where various mechanisms are looked into. In previous work, the authors have looked into nanoparticle size, tumor vessel normalization, and disintegration, and here it is aimed to continue this work by performing an in‐depth mechanistic study on the use of c...
Nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors is known to be an inefficient process and various studies have tried to increase efficacy, but mechanistic and comparative studies remain scarce. Here, we use pharmacological agents to study the effect of vessel normalization or vessel disintegration on nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors. Using a multiparame...
This paper presents the results of elemental and lead isotopic analysis of copper alloys, copper-based pigments and an extremely rare tin-based alloy from the town of Amara West (Sudan), the centre for pharaonic control of occupied Upper Nubia between 1300 and 1070 BCE. It is the first assemblage of its kind to be analysed for Upper Nubia during th...
Objectives:
So far, no 87 Sr/86 Sr mobility studies have been done for Neolithic remains from Belgium and information on the Sr isotopic variability in the region is scarce. This study aims to explore mobility in a Final Neolithic population from the funerary cave 'Grotte de La Faucille', contribute to the understanding of the isotopic composition...
In the last 20 years, the application of high-precision isotopic analysis of essential mineral elements (Mg, K, Ca, Fe, Cu and Zn) to biomedicine (sometimes referred to as isotope metallomics), has revealed that their stable isotopic compositions are altered by the metal dysregulation that is fundamental to the pathogenesis of many cancers and othe...
Fast elemental mapping using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-time of flight-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-TOF-MS) was applied to a set of chondritic meteorite samples, more specifically H chondrites. LA-ICP-TOF-MS enables element distribution maps for both major and trace elements to be obtained at mm order
spatial resolution (5 × 5 mm square...
High-precision Cu isotopic analysis has been suggested as a complementary tool to Pb isotopic analysis in archaeometry. Pronounced Cu isotope ratio variations can be found in Cu-dominated minerals, stemming from...
Nanoparticle (NP) delivery to solid tumors remains an actively studied field, where several recent studies have shed new insights into the underlying mechanisms and the still overall poor efficacy. In the present study, Au NPs of different sizes were used as model systems to address this topic, where delivery of the systemically administered NPs to...
Sulfur isotope ratios are often used as biogeochemical tracers to gain understanding of abiotic and biological processes involved in the sulfur cycle in both modern and ancient environments. There is however a lack of matrix-matched well-characterized isotopic reference materials that are essential for controlling the accuracy and precision. This s...
The present work aimed at investigating Zn alterations as a response to an inflammatory process in an in vitro human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell model mimicking aging process. Cells were subjected to acute inflammatory stress with and without Zn supplementation and the effects of such exposure were evaluated by studying alterations at the...
In many fields, the sample volume available is the limiting factor for ultra-trace elemental analysis, and thus, the development of novel methods that can extract more information from lower sample amounts is a topic that deserves attention. In this work, the performance of a micro-flow injection system coupled to either (1) a traditional or (2) a...
The production of biogenic palladium nanoparticles (bio‐Pd NPs) is widely studied due to their high catalytic activity, which depends on the size of nanoparticles (NPs). Smaller NPs (here defined as <100 nm) are more efficient due to their higher surface/volume ratio. In this work, inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS), flow cytomet...
This work describes the development of a novel method for quantitative mapping of Hg and Se in mushroom fruit body tissues with laser ablation coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Different parameters of the protocol for preparation of the standards used for quantification via external calibration were assessed, e.g....
The Sea Scheldt estuary has been suggested to be a significant pathway for transfer of plastic debris to the North Sea. We have studied 12,801 plastic items that were collected in the Sea Scheldt estuary (Belgium) during 3 sampling campaigns (in spring, summer, and autumn) using a technique called anchor netting. The investigation results indicated...
Biogenic palladium nanoparticles (bio-Pd NPs) are used for the reductive transformation and/or dehalogenation of persistent micropollutants. In this work, H2 (electron donor) was produced in situ by an electrochemical cell, permitting steered production of differently sized bio-Pd NPs. The catalytic activity was first assessed by the degradation of...
In recent years, interest in using unsupported catalysts, especially Pt-based nanomaterials, has resurged in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC). Unsupported catalysts eliminate the problems related to the corrosion of carbon catalyst supports, thus improving the long-term stability of DMFC. In addition, the design of catalyst synthesis protocols to...
We investigated the lithophile element budgets of both unequilibrated and equilibrated H chondrites using various in-situ techniques such as μXRF, EPMA, LA-ICP-TOF-MS, etc., addressing the effects of thermal metamorphism on their distributions.
The concentration and the isotopic composition of the redox-active essential elements Cu and Fe were investigated in blood plasma and specific brain regions (hippocampus, cortex, brain stem and cerebellum) of mice to assess potential alterations associated with sepsis-associated encephalopathy induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration. Sam...
This paper describes the first comprehensive study of metal artefacts found at ancient Kerma, Sudan. Covering a period of several millennia, it investigates the development of copper alloy recipes as well as metal provenance through the trace element and lead isotope ratio analysis of forty-eight sampled objects. These include grave goods as well a...
As a component of many minerals and an essential trace element in most aerobic organisms, the transition metal element Cu is important for studying reduction-oxidation (redox) interactions and metal cycling in the total environment (lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and anthroposphere). The “fractionation” or relative partitioning of...
This work presents isotopic data for the non-traditional isotope systems Fe, Cu, and Zn on a set of Chicxulub impactites and target lithologies with the aim of better documenting the dynamic processes taking place during hypervelocity impact events, as well as those affecting impact structures during the post-impact phase. The focus lies on materia...
Biolistic intracellular delivery of functional macromolecules makes use of dense microparticles which are ballistically fired onto cells with a pressurized gun. While it has been used to transfect plant cells, its application to mammalian cells has met with limited success mainly due to high toxicity. Here we present a more refined nanotechnologica...
This paper presents the results of laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of the clay fraction in 70 Late Mesolithic and Early/Middle Neolithic pottery sherds from the Scheldt basin and 10 sampled sediments. The elemental concentration results were visualized using multivariate chemometric techniques an...
After 40 years of development, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) can hardly be considered as a novel technique anymore. ICP-MS has become the reference when it comes to multi-element bulk analysis at (ultra)trace levels, as well as to isotope ratio determination for metal(loid)s. However, over the last decade, this technique has...
Achondritic micrometeorites represent one of the rarest (ca. 0.5–2.1%) particle types among Antarctic micrometeorite collections. Here, we present major, trace element and oxygen isotope compositions on five vitreous, achondritic cosmic spherules (341–526 µm in size) recovered from the Widerøefjellet sedimentary trap in the Sør Rondane Mountains (S...
Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was applied for the determination of Br and I in hair strands of human individuals under treatment with synthetic thyroid hormones. Quantification relied on the use of Br- and I-spiked human hair strands prepared in-house as matrix-matched external calibration standards. The re...
Micrometeorites experience varying degrees of evaporation and mixing with atmospheric oxygen during atmospheric entry. Evaporation due to gas drag heating alters the physicochemical properties of fully melted cosmic spherules (CSs), including the size, chemical and isotopic compositions and is thus expressed in its chemical and isotopic signatures....
While elemental mapping via LA-ICP-MS – i.e. mapping the distribution of elements across the surface of a solid material – has shown a substantial evolution towards higher speed, sensitivity and...
A method for direct (without chromatographic Rb/Sr separation) Sr isotopic analysis using tandem ICP-MS has been optimized for small-size environmental samples and applied to Antarctic PM 10 and soil samples from South America and Australia as proof-of-concept.
