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New DSL "MassQL" lets scientists query mass spectrometry data
Courtesy of UC Riverside, biologists and chemists have a new programming language to uncover previously unknown environmental pollutants and other information at breakneck speed – without requiring them to code.
(Stan Lim/UCR)Mass spectrometry data is like a chemical fingerprint, showing scientists what molecules are in a sample such as air, water, or blood, and in what amounts. Technical details about the language, and an example of how it helped identify flame retardant chemicals in public waterways, are described in a new Nature Methods journal article. Demonstrating the effectiveness of the language, Nina Zhao, a postdoctoral student at UC San Diego, used MassQL to sift through the entire world’s mass spectrometry data on water samples that has been made available to the public.
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