Research presented by AOM Lab at IHSS-IWA 2026 shows how normalisation and quality-control sample selection can support more reliable mass spectrometry results.
Dr Helen Rutlidge presented research on natural organic matter (NOM) analysis at the 23rd Meeting of the International Humic Substances Society and the 9th IWA Specialist Conference on Natural Organic Matter (IHSS-IWA 2026), held in Brno, Czech Republic.
The work, by Master’s student Amirali Sadeghloo, examined ways to mitigate batch effects in high-resolution mass spectrometry. Batch effects are differences in measurements between groups of samples that can make it harder to distinguish genuine sample variation from variation linked to the analysis process. Addressing these effects is important when researchers compare complex samples and look for patterns in their chemical composition.
In the study, the normalisation techniques tested improved the clustering of samples. This suggests it can help researchers identify relationships among samples more clearly. The results also show that the choice of quality-control sample needs careful consideration. A quality-control sample provides a reference during analysis, but its suitability can affect how confidently researchers interpret and compare results. Depending on the samples and study design, a pooled quality-control sample may be needed to support reliable comparisons.
This work was conducted in collaboration with Fitri Widhiastuti, Rita Henderson and Russ Pickford. Presenting it at IHSS & IWA 2026 provided the opportunity to discuss the findings with researchers working on natural organic matter and to hear about approaches used across the international research community. The conference also provided an opportunity to exchange ideas about the use of high-resolution mass spectrometry to characterise NOM.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the BMSF in UNSW’s Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, which supported this work.