Weighing Molecules to Diagnose Disease, from Heel Prick to Skin Swab

Weighing Molecules to Diagnose Disease, from Heel Prick to Skin Swab

The Science and Society lecture series returns for 2025, with Professor Perdita Barran, delivering her lecture; Weighing Molecules to Diagnose Disease, from Heel Prick to Skin Swab.

Every year more than 30 million babies worldwide are screened for inborn metabolic disorders directly after birth with a heel prick assay that takes a tiny amount of blood to be analysed with a mass spectrometer.

By analysing sebum with mass spectrometry, a new method to detect Parkinson’s disease has been determined.