individual solutions for API MS
ABOUT US
iGenTraX was founded 2009 by scientists with international reputation in the fields of physical and analytical chemistry.
Thorsten Benter and Oliver J. Schmitz hold tenured professorship at the University of Wuppertal and Duisburg-Essen (Germany), respectively. Klaus Brockmann is a senior physical chemist at the University of Wuppertal with outstanding knowledge in technical support and with great experience in API, particularly APLI.
Further information on the research strengths of iGenTraX both in physical and analytical chemistry are presented at the respective homepages of the Physical Chemistry at the University of Wuppertal and the Applied Analytical Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Professor
Dr. Thorsten Benter
He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry in 1993 from the University of Kiel, Germany, where he also spent his post-doctoral time with developing laser based desorption and ionization methods for application in Atmospheric Research. In 1997 Benter joined the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Irvine, USA, for a tenure-track Professorship in the School of Physical Sciences, where he further developed laser ionization methods for analytical applications, e.g., breath analysis. It was in Irvine, where the initial in-depth investigations of ionization mechanisms at elevated pressure were performed.
In 2001 Benter was appointed "Ford Environmental Research Professor” at the University of Wuppertal, Germany, as full professor, where he also became chair of the Department of Physical Chemistry. Since 2006 he holds the chair of the Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry (PTC) in Wuppertal.
In 2009 he co-founded iGenTraX, with the aim of attracting high-performance applied mass spectrometry research to the region. In 2011 he co-founded the Institute for Pure and Applied Mass Spectrometry (ipaMS), an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Wuppertal. Since 2013 he is acting director of ipaMS.
Major research activities of the PTC group focus on comprehensive investigations on ionization mechanisms at elevated pressure, i.e. from atmospheric to the 10-3 mbar pressure regions. These studies include fluid- and electro-dynamical modeling coupled with chemical transformation simulation modules, a broad variety of complex validation experiments, quantum chemical calculations of ion-molecule interactions, as well as the computer aided design and construction of advanced ionization sources.
Benter is visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of British Columbia, Canada, and is a long-term member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and editorial board member of the societies’ prestigious journal JASMS.
Professor
Dr. Oliver J. Schmitz
After his doctorate in 1997 in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wuppertal, he spent one year in the Walther-Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Ludwigs-Maximilians University of Munich and two years as a post-doc in the Division of Molecular Toxicology at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.
Between 2001 and 2008 Schmitz was senior staff member in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wuppertal and 2009 he was awarded the full professor rank in Analytical Chemistry at this university. Between 2010 and 2012 he was the chair of this department. Since 2013 Schmitz is full professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen and is the chair of the Institute of Applied Analytical Chemistry.
2009 he cofounded the company iGenTraX UG which develops new ion sources and units to couple separation techniques with mass spectrometers. In 2011 he was one of the founding directors of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Pure and Applied Mass Spectrometry, University of Wuppertal (Institute for Pure and Applied Mass Spectrometry).
Since 2013 Prof. Schmitz is the chairman of the analytica conferences worldwide (China, India and Vietnam).
Prof. Schmitz is recognized as an international expert in analytical chemistry (especially in the development of ion sources, capillary electrophoresis, comprehensive LC and GC and mass spectrometry). He was awarded the scholar-in-training award of the American Association for Cancer Research in 2003, the Gerhard-Hesse Prize for chromatography in 2013 and in the same year the Fresenius Lecturer.
Dr. Klaus Brockmann
( † February 9, 2017)
He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1992 from the University of Wuppertal, where he stayed as post-doctoral fellow engaged in several large-scale research projects related to Atmospheric Chemistry such as EUPHORE, Spain.
In 2001 Brockmann was appointed as Senior Research Scientist with principle investigator credentials in the Physical Chemistry Department of the University of Wuppertal. Since then he has collaborated and worked in numerous research projects related to the developments of ionization methods in mass spectrometry, particularly with respect to methods operating at elevated pressure.
In 2009, Brockmann co-founded iGenTraX as expert in advanced technology solutions and materials science.
The profile of expertise of iGenTraX resides on three columns:
1) fundamental research related to ion generation and transport,
2) design and construction of high-performance ion source and coupling stages, and
3) highly demanding analytical applications.