Laura Melton CChem

Senior Analyst

Telephone Number
+44(0)131 244 8982

 

Research interests/Areas of expertise

  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Pesticide Residue Analysis
  • Chemistry Laboratory Manager

Biography

  • 2013 - present date – Senior Analyst at SASA; responsible for analysis of pesticide residues in food (PRiF) by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS), method development, participation in analytical proficiency tests, laboratory instrumentation and supplies.
  • 2002-2013 – Lead Analyst at SASA; working in both the Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) team and the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) Scotland team.  Duties included carrying-out analysis of pesticide residues in food and investigations into incidents of suspected poisoning of wildlife, pets, livestock and beneficial insects.
  • 2002 – BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry, Napier University, Edinburgh (part-time).
  • 1994 – 2002 – Trainee Analyst then Analyst in SASA’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) Scotland team.

Representational Duties

SASA representative at the Analytical Sub-group (ASG) to the Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF).

Publications

One of the authors of the Pesticide Poisoning of Animals Report series - view list of Pesticide Poisoning of Animals Reports - as well as the following publications:

Melton LM, Taylor MJ, Flynn EE.  2019.  The Utilisation of Ion Chromatography and Tandem Mass Spectrometry (IC-MS/MS) for the Multi-Residue Simultaneous Determination of Highly Polar Anionic Pesticides in Fruit and Vegetables. Food Chemistry. 298:125028.
Flynn EE, Melton LM, Reid K, Taylor MJ, Man W-chi.  2018.  Utilisation of Ion Chromatography and Tandem Mass Spectrometry (IC/MSMS) for the Quantitative Determination of Highly Polar Anionic Pesticide Residues in Fruit and Vegetables. PDF icon SASA BMSS 2018 ICMSMS poster.pdf (704.01 KB)
Melton LM, Taylor MJ, Flynn EE, Reid K, Viezens KJ, Vyas DS, Wilson AT.  2018.  Utilisation of LC/MSMS (QTRAP) and polarity switching for the quantitative analysis of over 300 pesticides in crude QuEChERs extracts from various fruit and vegetable matrices. Chromatography Today. February/March:28-33.
Reid KB, Viezens KJ, Melton LM, Taylor MJ.  2017.  The use of a deactivated (baffled) PTV injector liner and GCMS/MS method for the quantitative determination of Captan, Folpet and their metabolites in ethyl acetate extracts of fruit samples. PDF icon The use of a deactivated (baffled) PTV injector liner and GCMS/MS method (920.11 KB)
Melton LM, Vyas DS, Flynn EE, Reid KB, Taylor MJ, Viezens KJ, Wilson AT.  2017.  Utilisation of LC/MSMS (QTRAP) and polarity switching for the quantitative analysis of over 300 pesticides in crude QuEChERS extracts from various fruit and vegetable matrices. PDF icon Utilisation of LC/MSMS (QTRAP) and polarity switching for the quantitative analysis of over 300 pesticides (933.64 KB)
Reid KB, Melton LM, Taylor MJ.  2016.  Utilising Citrate QuEChERS extraction without dispersive SPE clean-up and LCMSMS (QTRAP) multi-residue method to include pesticides from the European Commission working document. PDF icon Utilising Citrate QuEChERS extraction without dispersive SPE clean-up and LCMSMS (QTRAP) multi-residue method... (988.05 KB)
Reid KB, Taylor MJ, Melton LM, Lock S, Stoddart P.  2014.  Comparison of micro-flow and high-flow UHPLC/MSMS (incorporating polarityswitching) for the quantitative determination of multiple pesticide residues present in strawberry crude extract. PDF icon European Pesticide Residue Workshop, Dublin, 2014 (922.87 KB)
Taylor MJ, Melton LM, Sharp EA, Watson JE.  2013.  A liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of multiple pesticide residues involved in suspected poisoning of non-target vertebrate wildlife, livestock and pets. Analytical Methods. 5(1):248-259.
Hartley G, Sharp EA, Melton LM, Taylor MJ.  2013.  Impact of changes to the requirements for the on-farm burial of rats poisoned with rodenticides in Scotland. PDF icon Impact of changes to the requirements for the on-farm burial of rats poisoned with rodenticides in Scotland - (2).pdf (1.12 MB)
Hughes J, Sharp EA, Taylor MJ, Melton LM, Hartley G.  2013.  Monitoring agricultural rodenticide use and secondary exposure of raptors in Scotland. Ecotoxicology. 22(6):974-984.
Hughes J, Sharp EA, Taylor MJ, Melton LM.  2013.  Monitoring Plant Protection Product and Rodenticide Use and Wildlife Exposure in Scotland. PDF icon SETAC 2013 Monitoring PPP and rodenticide use and wildlife exposure in scotland.pdf (904.12 KB)
Melton LM, Viezens K, Giela A, Taylor MJ, Reid KB.  2013.  Simple acetonitrile extraction of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QAC) from fruit and vegetables and quantitative analysis by UPLC-MSMS and UPLC-QTOF-MS. PDF icon European Union Reference Laboratories workshop poster 2013 (980 KB)
Melton LM, Viezens K, Giela A, Taylor MJ, Reid KB.  2013.  Simple acetonitrile extraction of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QAC) from fruit and vegetables and quantitative analysis by UPLCMSMS and UPLC-QTOF-MS. PDF icon North American Chemical Residue Workshop, Florida, 2013 (979.98 KB)
Melton LM, Taylor MJ.  2013.  The use of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the investigation of suspected (pesticide) poisoning of vertebrate animals and beneficial insects . Spectroscopy Europe. 25(4):12-14.
Melton LM, Keenan GA, Sharp EA, Taylor MJ.  2012.  A complementary multi-residue LC-MSMS method for faster laboratory investigations into suspected poisoning of vertebrate wildlife and domestic animals. PDF icon Chem poster - Montreux 2012 (1.08 MB)
Keenan GA, Melton LM, Sharp EA, Giela A, Taylor MJ.  2011.  The investigation of wildlife poisoning by Q-TOF MS using an atmospheric pressure solids analysis probe. PDF icon THE INVESTIGATION OF WILDLIFE POISONING ASAP final Feb2012.pdf (1.91 MB)
Taylor MJ, Sharp EA, Melton LM, Giela A, Watson JE.  2009.  Walk on the wild side: An Investigation into secondary poisoning of wild birds using LC-MS. Official Publication of the British Mass Spectrometry Society. Edition 60(November 2009):12-14.
Hunter K, Taylor MJ, Sharp EA, Melton LM, Le Bouhellec S.  2004.  Determination of chloralose residues in animal tissues by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography B. 805(2):303-309.
Sharp EA, Le Bouhellec S, Melton LM, Taylor MJ, Hunter K.  2001.  Analytical Diagnosis of Chloralose Poisoning in Scottish Wildlife Crime Investigation. PDF icon Chem poster - Glasgow 2001.pdf (252.97 KB)
Taylor MJ, Sharp EA, Le Bouhellec S, Melton LM, Hunter K, Sage AB.  2001.  The Determination of Chloralose Residues in Poisoned Birds of Prey. PDF icon Chem poster - Cambridge 2001.pdf (617.49 KB)