About the size of a large car battery, the unit is, at less than 20 pounds, much smaller than the refrigerator sized, 300 pound units used in labs today, and comes with enough battery power to be used in the field.

Purdue’s researchers say that, far from being science fiction, the system could have ‘down-to-earth’ applications, such as such as testing foods for dangerous bacterial contaminants including salmonella, which Purdue says was recently found in a popular brand of peanut butter.

The system itself is ultrafast at analyzing chemicals, with researchers assuring us that it has “numerous promising uses for detecting everything from cancer in the liver to explosives residues on luggage and "biomarkers" in urine that provide an early warning for diseases”, such as cancer.

What the new unit does is miniaturize a mass spectrometer combined with a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, and was invented by a team of researchers led by R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in Purdue's College of Science.

According to Cooks, "Conventional mass spectrometers analyze samples that are specially prepared and placed in a vacuum chamber. The key DESI innovation is performing the ionization step in the air or directly on surfaces outside of the mass spectrometer's vacuum chamber. We like to compare it to the tricorder because it is truly a handheld instrument that yields information about the precise chemical composition of samples in a matter of minutes without harming the samples.”

Purdue researchers use the device to look for compounds that indicate the possible presence of a particular substance, such as cocaine or explosives residues. They say that if these indicators are found, the equipment performs a more in-depth analysis to determine the exact chemical structure.

The research team has used the device to analyze clothes, foods and tablets, and to identify cocaine on $50 bills in less than 1 second, with the technology now set to be commercialized by Prosolia Inc. in Indianapolis, and Griffin Analytic Technologies LLC, in West Lafayette, Ind.

All we need now is teleportation and a warp drive, and we’ll be set!
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Alex Zaharov-Reutt  Chemistry  Research  Science