Pittcon 2025: Kate Perrault Uptmor Talks About Multidimensional GC and Mentorship

Last week at Pittcon, Katelynn Perrault Uptmor, an assistant professor of chemistry at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, was presented with the 2025 Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award. The award presentation was part of a larger award symposium that took place on the morning of Tuesday, March 4^th, which featured several talks from invited speakers and experts, including Perrault Uptmor.

As part of the symposium, Perrault Uptmor delivered a talk in the second half of the symposium titled, “Retroactive Curiosity Within Your Data: Asking Your Multidimensional Gas Chromatographic Samples Different Questions.” Her presentation highlighted the capabilities of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC–TOF-MS) in extracting deeper insights from complex samples (1). This technique offers enhanced peak capacity and detectability, allowing researchers to obtain a full analyte profile and retroactively mine extensive data sets for additional information (1). Her talk focused on data processing strategies for analyzing food and forensic samples, demonstrating the application of statistical approaches to maximize data utility (1).

At the College of William and Mary, Perrault Uptmor leads the Nontargeted Separations Group, which is a laboratory research team comprised of primarily undergraduate students. Her laboratory investigates the application of multidimensional gas chromatography (GC) in forensic chemistry and odor analysis (2). The research she and her group have conducted has demonstrated how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be effectively identified through multidimensional GC technology (2). Additionally, she has advanced forensic science by converting GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) systems into comprehensive two-dimensional GC, tandem GC (GC×GC) setups for complex sample analysis (2).

In a previous interview segment, Perrault Uptmor previewed her talk at Pittcon and spoke about what winning the LCGC Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award means for her research (3). This interview segment was part of a larger interview that we conducted with Perrault Uptmor at Pittcon.

During our entire interview with Perrault Uptmor, we asked her about the resources available for those interested in learning more about multidimensional chromatography, and current trends happening in separation science that are of particular note.

References

1. Pittcon, Retroactive Curiosity Within Your Data: Asking Your Multidimensional Gas Chromatographic Samples Different Questions. Lab Science Events. Available at: https://labscievents.pittcon.org/event/pittcon-2025/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfMjQ5NTQ4MQ== (accessed 2025-03-13).
2. Workman, Jr., J. The 2025 Lifetime Achievement and Emerging Leader in Chromatography Awards. LCGC Int. 2025, 2 (1), 34–40. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/the-2025-lifetime-achievement-and-emerging-leader-in-chromatography-awards (accessed 2025-03-03).
3. Wetzel, W. Pittcon 2025: Kate Perrault Uptmor Previews Her Talk on Multidimensional GC. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/pittcon-2025-kate-perrault-uptmor-previews-her-talk-on-multidimensional-gc (accessed 2025-03-13).