Tomas Drevinskas

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at California Institute of Technology

The capacitance-to-digital single chip detector was upgraded. The paper discusses hardware issues and benefits of the designed/ upgraded detector. The device can be operated from rechargeable lithium-ion battery as stand-alone, portable system and is capable of transmitting real-time data wirelessly. The detector and additional modules (battery, ba...

A capacitance-to-digital converter integrated circuit was implemented in an automated capillary electrophoresis device as a single chip detector. In this paper, design and hardware issues related to the fabrication and application of a miniature detector for contactless measurement of complex impedance are discussed. The capacitance-to-digital conv...

In the present work we demonstrate the novel approach to improve the sensitivity of the “out of lab” portable capillary electrophoretic measurements. Nowadays, many enhancement methods are: (i) underused (non-optimal), (ii) overused (distorts the data), or (iii) inapplicable in field-portable instrumentation due to lack of computational power. Desc...

One of the main problems of the remote complex sample analysis instrumentation is that such systems are susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Temperature regulation is energetically ineffective, and it is not used in most of the field portable analytical systems. Separations performed in a changing temperature environment provide electropherogra...

The methodology described in this paper will significantly reduce the time required for understanding the relations between chromatographic data and bio-activity assays. The methodology is a hybrid of hypothesis based and data-driven scientific approaches. In this work, a novel chromatographic data segmentation method is proposed, which demonstrate...

This paper introduces a novel contactless single-chip detector that utilizes impedance-to-digital conversion technology to measure impedance in the microfluidic channel or capillary format analytical device. The detector is designed to operate similarly to capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detectors for capillary electrophoresis or chro...

Edible fungi are a valuable resource in the search for sustainable solutions to environmental pollution. Their ability to degrade organic pollutants, extract heavy metals, and restore ecological balance has a huge potential for bioremediation. They are also sustainable food resources. Edible fungi (basidiomycetes or fungi from other divisions) repr...

JPL is developing a versatile and highly intelligent Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) robot that would enable access to subsurface oceans and near-surface liquid reservoirs through existing conduits, such as the vents at the south pole of Enceladus or the putative geysers on Europa. A key mobility requirement for future vent exploration missi...

We report here the first fully automated capillary electrophoresis (CE) system that can be operated underwater. The system performs sample acquisition and analysis by coupling CE to contactless conductivity detection. Using 5 M acetic acid as the background electrolyte (BGE), inorganic cations and amino acids at concentrations as low as 5.2 μM can...

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) holds great promise as an in situ analytical technique for a variety of applications. However, typical instrumentation operates with open reservoirs (e.g., vials) to accommodate reagents and samples, which is problematic for automated instruments designed for space or underwater applications that may be operated in va...

Regenerative medicine is a fast expanding scientific topic. One of the main areas of development directions in this field is the usage of additive manufacturing to fabricate functional components that would be later integrated directly into the human body. One such structure could be a microfluidic valve which could replace its biological counterpa...

Expansion of the microfluidics field dictates the necessity to constantly improve technologies used to produce such systems. One of the approaches which are used more and more is femtosecond (fs) direct laser writing (DLW). The subtractive model of DLW allows for directly producing microfluidic channels via ablation in an extremely simple and cost-...

This work involves a comprehensive chemical composition analysis of leaf and cone samples of Lithuanian hop varieties. This study aimed to determine the chemometric properties of the leaves and cones of five Lithuanian hop varieties. Determined properties were the following: (a) xanthohumol content, (b) phenolic compounds, (c) flavonoids, (d) radic...

In capillary electrophoresis (CE), analyte identification is primarily based on migration time, which is a function of the analyte's electrophoretic mobility and the electro-osmotic flow (EOF). The migration time can be impacted by the presence of parasitic flow from changes in temperature or pressure during the run. Presented here is a high-voltag...

The Europan Molecular Indicators of Life Investigation (EMILI) is an instrument concept being developed for the Europa Lander mission currently under study. EMILI will meet and exceed the scientific and technical/resource requirements of the organic composition analyzer identified as a core instrument on the Lander. EMILI tightly couples two comple...

In this paper, a portable instrument for surface tension measurements, characterization and applications is described. The instrumentation is operated wirelessly, and samples can be measured in situ. The instrument has changeable different size probes; therefore, it is possible to measure samples from 1 ml up to 10 ml. The response of the measured...

The femtosecond (fs) laser is a well-established tool in material processing. Due to highly nonlinear light–matter interaction in a time frame shorter than heat dissipation from the laser affected zone, fs pulses enable extremely precise “cold processing”. Both additive and subtractive structuring can be realized. Here we demonstrate how medical de...

Unknown extraction recovery from solid matrix samples leads to meaningless chemical analysis results. It cannot always be determined, and it depends on the complexity of the matrix and properties of the extracted substances. This paper combines a mathematical model with the machine learning method—neural networks that predict liquid extraction reco...

In this work, the design and characterization of a multi-cell capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection are described. The operation and simultaneous acquisition from 3 detector cells were demonstrated, however, the system is capable of supplying 8 detection cells and can be easily upgraded to maintain 64 capacitively coupled contactl...

The development of the instrument which will significantly ease the in situ samplings of volatile compounds is described. The purpose of this work was to design an automated, portable, handheld sample collection device that operates with monolithic adsorbents. The sampler contains two lithium-ion batteries, collects samples into micro-liter range v...

Hazardous remote places exist in the world. Why should health or life be risked sending a scientist to the investigation site, as the remote analytical instrumentation exists? Different scientific fields require instruments that could be used on-site (in situ), therefore the purpose of this work was to design a fully automated chemical analysis sys...

The need for in situ autonomous instrumentation in the search for life on ocean worlds is well established [1]. Such instrumentation could potentially be used in hazardous terrestrial locations or on other planetary bodies during robotic missions of exploration. Dedicated in situ chemical analysis instrumentation provides a higher level of characte...

Chemistry measurements are essential in the search for life. Although precisely where and when to make these measurements is the subject of a number of other white papers and mission studies in this decadal survey, there is a strong community agreement upon why these measurements are critical in the search for life on ocean worlds in the coming dec...

Capillary electrophoresis often causes unrepeatable peak migration times in the electropherogram due to changes of electroosmosis, yet in some cases this separation technique does not have a replacement alternative. Some attempts to overcome this issue have been performed introducing internal standards into the sample and compensating peak shifting...

Wooden sleepers used in railways are impregnated with preservatives with fungicidic and bactericidic properties, which contain a large amount of harmful polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The aim of this research was to reveal the type of fungi in the rhizosphere of plants, which tolerate pollutants and can be involved in bioremediation process of c...

Herpesviruses (HV) are pathogens causing infections in humans and animals worldwide. Since it shares many common features with other HV, bovine HV type 1 (BoHV-1) was selected as a model to test the anti-herpesviral activity of medicinal plants.Fifteen plants were chosen in this study for their medical, antibacterial and antiviral proper-ties. The...

Background Avian infectious bronchitis (IB) is a disease that can result in huge economic losses in the poultry industry. The high level of mutations of the IB virus (IBV) leads to the emergence of new serotypes and genotypes, and limits the efficacy of routine prevention. Medicinal plants, or substances derived from them, are being tested as optio...

Portable and autonomous analytical instrumentation is becoming more important. Portable instrumentation can be designed via the miniaturization approach and this is a challenging task due to: (i) the limited battery power supply, (ii) a low number of mechanical and moving parts allowed in the design and (iii) susceptibility to changing environment...

The application of natural products for treatment and prevention of various diseases is becoming more important. Not only antibacterial natural preparations are being developed, but also antiviral natural products are investigated. There are two main problems in such investigations: (i) special chemical analysis and data analysis methods have to be...

Determination of natural preservatives using electrophoretic, or chromatographic techniques in fermented milk products is a complex task due to the following reasons: (i) the concentrations of the analytes can be below the detection limits, (ii) complex matrix and comigrating / coeluting compounds in the sample can interfere with the analytes of th...

Medicinal plants are reported to possess antiviral activity, but finding the substances that are responsible for antiviral activity in the complex mixture of the plant extract is an extremely difficult task. In this paper the methodology related to determination of antiviral properties of medicinal plant extracts and based on phytochemical analysis...

The kiwi fruit, Actinidia kolomikta, has valuable properties such as high antioxidant activity, high vitamin C, polyphenols, chlorophylls and organic acids content, but the species are hardly commercialized due to their short shelf life (less than two days). In this study three different cultivars of A. kolomikta (Anykšta, Sentiabrskaya and VIR2) w...

The studies were carried out in the period of 2013–2014 in experiment developed during plant vegetation, cultivating five plant species in the vegetative pots with the substrate contaminated with used sleepers (US) and uncontaminated substrate fertilised with nitrogenous fertilisers. The objective of the research is to analyse the morphological fea...

Purpose: To evaluate the antiproliferative effect of the aerial part of Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub. (Onagraceae) extract and its fractions in vitro. This is the first study on the anti-proliferative effect of C. angustifolium on 3 distinct breast cancer cell lines. Material/methods: Breast cancer cell lines MCF7, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-23...

The miniaturization and optimization of a white rot fungal bioremediation experiment is described in this paper. The optimized procedure allows determination of the degradation kinetics of anthracene. The miniaturized procedure requires only 2.5 ml of culture medium. The experiment is more precise, robust, and better controlled comparing it to clas...

A group of 36 fungal strains, belonging to the Lithuanian mycobiota, was collected and isolated from different locations, habitats, and matrices, including creosote-treated wood in storage yards for crosstie wastes. The eight most perspective strains selected according to preliminary assessment of tolerance to coal tar were subsequently identified...

The science of today focuses on miniaturized techniques. Contactless conductivity detectors offer following advantages: cost effectiveness, high performance, simple integration, low energy consumption and possibility to miniaturize. Many of applications for capillary electrophoresis and ion chromatography coupled to first generation contactless con...

Construction of a contactless conductivity detector with a separate small dimension detection cell and integration into an automated capillary electrophoresis device is described. An optimized separation procedure of the pressurized hot water extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. and implementation of L-ascorbic acid as a novel background electrolyte i...

Five fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, myristic, lauric and capric) were incorporated in 10% (w/w) into ointment formulation and their influence on lipophilic model drug tolnaftate release in vitro and enhancing effect on tolnaftate penetration into epidermis and dermis of human skin ex vivo were investigated. The prepared ointments were tested for hom...