I approach mass spectrometry analysis from a fundamental perspective which informs my application work. Most of my work at the Museum Conservation Institute studies small molecules using high resolution MS, ambient ionization, and/or GCMS.

I have a major interest is in modifying ambient sampling and ionization techniques for cultural heritage and conservation science applications. Much of my current research involves developing instrumental methods for analyzing intact objects which are both too sensitive for microsampling and too dimensionally large to be positioned immediately adjacent to a mass spectrometer for conventional ambient sampling techniques. This technical challenge of analyzing sensitive, intact objects also involves close work with curators, conservators, and other interested parties to determine an acceptable level of “invasiveness” for the sampling.

Article

• Diaz-Granados, Katja, Bergemann, Laura J., Ballard, Mary, Newsome, G. A., Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., Caldwell, Joshua D., and Cleland, Timothy P. 2025. "Investigation of Natural Dyes and Taxonomic Identification of Fibers Used in Chancay Textiles by Vibrational Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry." Journal of Proteome Research, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00809. 2025
• Lancaster, Cady A., Newsome, G. A., and Campbell-Such, Julia. 2024. "Interlaboratory and cross-platform accessibility of time-of-flight wood identification database." Forensic science international, 363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112201. 2024
• Newsome, G. A., Birdsall, Erin R., and Cody, Robert B. 2024. "Selective Sampling to and Desorption from Single Solid-Phase Microextraction Arrow Fiber for Replicative and Quantitative Analysis." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.3c00394. 2024
• Ballard, Mary, Newsome, G. Asher, Simpson, Elizabeth, and Burke, Brendan. 2023. "Ancient Chromophores and Auxiliaries: Phrygian Colorants from Tumulus MM at Gordion, Turkey, ca 740 BCE." Heritage, 6, (2) 2220–2246. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6020118. 2023
• Chen, Xi, Newsome, G. Asher, Buchanan, Michael, Glasper, Jeremy, Hua, Leyan, Latif, Mohsen, Gandhi, Viraj, Li, Xintong, and Larriba-Andaluz, Carlos. 2023. "Flow-Optimized Model for Gas Jet Desorption Sampling Mass Spectrometry." The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.2c07999. 2023
• Newsome, G. Asher and Cleland, Timothy P. 2023. "Gas-phase dopant flow to modify nanoLC-MS and nanoESI protein charge." International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijms.2023.117026. 2023
• Simpson, Elizabeth, Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. A., and Burke, Brendan. 2023. "King Midas’s Textiles: Dyeing and Weaving Technology in Ancient Phrygia." The Textile Museum Journal, 4–31. https://doi.org/10.7560/TMJ5001. 2023
• Lawther, Hannah A. and Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. "Minimally Invasive Liquid Microjunction Sampling to Identify Dye on a 17th Century Spanish Illuminated Manuscript." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.3c00098. 2023
• Newsome, G. Asher and Martin, Kathleen M. 2023. "Non-proximate Sampling and Photoionization for Damage-Free Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Intact Native American Baskets." Analytical Chemistry, 95, (28) 10695–10702. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01468. 2023
• Brenner, Anne, Moore, Susannah C., and Newsome, G. Asher. 2022. "Faces of Mass Spectrometry/Asher Newsome." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.2c00278. 2022
• Heald, Susan, George, John, Osmond, Lauren, Elston, Sarah, Kaczkowski, Rebecca, Kavich, Gwenaelle, and Newsome, G. Asher. 2021. "A COVID-Redirect – Investigation and Mitigation of Adhesive Off-gassing and Crystal Formation Inside Exhibition Cases Takes an Unexpected Detour." Collections Quarterly, 11. 2021
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2021. "Extending the Reach: Non-Proximate Sampling for Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Large Objects and Surfaces." LCGC North America, 39, (s10) 14–16. 2021
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, Newsome, G. Asher, and Janssens, Koen. 2021. "High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry and Nontraditional Mass Defect Analysis of Brominated Historical Pigments." Analytical Chemistry, 93, (44) 14851–14858. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c03815. 2021
• Newsome, G. Asher and Cleland, Timothy P. 2021. "In-Line Dopant Generation for Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Mass Spectrometry." Analytical Chemistry, 93, (40) 13527–13533. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02400. 2021
• Romano, Christine, Lam, Thomas, Newsome, G. Asher, Taillon, Joshua A., Little, Nicole, and Tsang, Jia-sun. 2020. "Characterization of Zinc Carboxylates in an Oil Paint Test Panel." Studies in Conservation, 65, (1) 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2019.1666467. 2020
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, George, John, Kaplan, Emily, Osmond, Lauren, Bright, Leah, Newsome, G. Asher, Kaczkowski, Rebecca, Vanmeert, Frederik, Kavich, Gwénaëlle, and Heald, Susan. 2020. "Identifying VOCs in exhibition cases and efflorescence on museum objects exhibited at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian-New York." Heritage Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00454-4. 2020
• Newsome, G. Asher, Kavich, Gwénaëlle, and Alvarez-Martin, Alba. 2020. "Interface for Reproducible, Multishot Direct Analysis of Solid-Phase Microextraction Samples." Analytical Chemistry, Article 9b05691. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b05691. 2020
• Finkelde, Irene and Newsome, G. Asher. 2020. "Salting Out: A Simple and Reliable Method to Distinguish Between Common Fluid Preservatives and Estimate Alcohol Concentration." Collection Forum, 34, (1) 11–31. https://doi.org/10.14351/0831-4985-34.1.11. 2020
• Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. Asher, and Heald, Susan. 2019. "An Ongoing Mystery: Copper Kettles And Chilkat Blue." The Textile Specialty Group Postprints, 29 99–113. 2019
• Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. Asher, and Baglia, Regina A. 2019. "Ghost Images in Living Color." Collections Quarterly, 3 18–20. 2019
• Cleland, Timothy P., Newsome, G. Asher, and Hollinger, R. Eric. 2019. "Proteomic and direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry analysis of a Native American ceremonial hat." The Analyst, 144, (24) 7437–7446. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9an01557d. 2019
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, Cleland, Timothy P., Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., Janssens, Koen, and Newsome, G. Asher. 2019. "Rapid Evaluation of the Debromination Mechanism of Eosin in Oil Paint by Direct Analysis in Real Time and Direct Infusion-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry." Analytical Chemistry, 91, (16) 10856–10863. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b02568. 2019
• Lam, Thomas, Romano, Christine, Newsome, G. Asher, Little, Nicole, and Tsang, Jia-sun. 2018. "Characterization of Zinc Soap from an Accelerated Aged Oil Painting Test Panel." Microscopy and Microanalysis, 24 2158–2159. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927618011273. 2018
• Newsome, G. Asher, Kayama, Ikumi, and Brogdon-Grantham, Shannon. 2018. "Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) of discrete sample areas without heat damage." Analytical Methods, 10 1038–1045. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7AY02987J. 2018
• Baucom, Jared N., Merrill, M. H., Field, Christopher R., and Newsome, G. Asher. 2016. "Effect of Placing a Probe in an Acoustic Drop Levitator." Journal of Vibration and Acoustics - Transactions of the ASME, 138, (1). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4031672. 2016
• Newsome, G. Asher, Ackerman, Luke K., and Johnson, Kevin J. 2016. "Humidity Effects on Fragmentation in Plasma-Based Ambient Ionization Sources." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 27, (1) 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-015-1259-y. 2016
• Newsome, G. Asher, Steinkamp, F. L., and Giordano, Braden C. 2016. "Isobutane Made Practical as a Reagent Gas for Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 27, (11) 1789–1795. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-016-1463-4. 2016
• Lubrano, Adam L., Field, Christopher R., Newsome, G. Asher, Rogers, Duane A., Giordano, Braden C., and Johnson, Kevin J. 2015. "Minimizing thermal degradation in gas chromatographic quantitation of pentaerythritol tetranitrate." Journal of Chromatography A, 1394 154–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2015.03.006. 2015
• Newsome, G. Asher, Ackerman, Luke K., and Johnson, Kevin J. 2014. "Humidity Affects Relative Ion Abundance in Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry of Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine." Analytical Chemistry, 86, (24) 11977–11980. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac503652x. 2014
• Newsome, G. Asher and Scholl, Peter F. 2013. "Quantification of Allergenic Bovine Milk alpha(S1)-Casein in Baked Goods Using an Intact N-15-Labeled Protein Internal Standard." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 61, (24) 5659–5668. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf3015238. 2013
• Grundy, H. H., Read, W. A., Macarthur, R., Dickinson, M., Charlton, A. J., Dusek, M., Breidbach, A., Scholl, P. F., Newsome, G. Asher, Bell, D., and Alewijn, M. 2013. "Selected reaction monitoring method to determine the species origin of blood-based binding agents in meats: A collaborative study." Food Chemistry, 141, (4) 3531–3536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.06.063. 2013
• Newsome, G. Asher and Glish, Gary L. 2011. "A New Approach to IRMPD Using Selective Ion Dissociation in a Quadrupole Ion Trap." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 22, (2) 207–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-010-0039-y. 2011
• Newsome, G. Asher and Glish, Gary L. 2009. "Improving IRMPD in a Quadrupole Ion Trap." Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 20, (6) 1127–1131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasms.2009.02.003. 2009

Chapter

• Summerour, Rebecca, Ahlgren, Ingrid, Newsome, G. Asher, and Kavich, Gwenaelle. 2019. "Conserving 25 Jaki-Ed Marshallese Dress Mats at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution." In New Tools, Techniques, and Tactics in Conservation & Collections Care. Dodson, Kari, Wilcop, Mary, and Arista, Jessica, editors. Uncasville, Connecticut: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. In Objects Specialty Group Postprints, 26. 2019
• Coughlin, Mary, Kavich, Gwenaelle, Newsome, G. Asher, and Wang, Qiuhui. 2019. "Examining the Use of Ozone Test Strips to Detect PVC Plastics in Museums." In New Tools, Techniques, and Tactics in Conservation & Collections Care. Dodson, Kari, Wilcop, Mary, and Arista, Jessica, editors. Uncasville, Connecticut: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. In Objects Specialty Group Postprints, 26. 2019
• Baglia, Regina A., Newsome, G. Asher, and Ballard, Mary W. 2018. "Ambient Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Alizarin-Dyed Textile and Dye Transfer to Paper." In The Textile Specialty Group Postprints: Papers Delivered at the Textile Subgroup Session: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 46th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, May-June 2018, Volume 28. Eng-Wilmot, Kira, Casteneda, Alison, Frankel, Nora, Getts, Anne, Schmitt, Emma, and Urick, Jessica, editors. 127–139. Washington, DC: Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 2018

Dataset

• Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. [Dataset] SPME-DART Interface and Multi-slot Syringe for Arrow Fiber. Distributed by Suitland, Maryland: Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.21339078.V1. 2023
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2022. [Dataset] Nanospray Flex fitted enclosure plate. Distributed by Suitland, Maryland: Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute. https://doi.org/10.25573/DATA.21339075.V1. 2022

Report

• Newsome, G. Asher, Rosen, Elias P., Kamens, Richard M., and Glish, Gary L. 2020. Real-time Detection and Tandem Mass Spectrometry of Secondary Organic Aerosols with a Quadrupole Ion Trap. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.12633836.v1. 2020

Presentation

• Newsome, G. Asher. 2020. Ambient Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. Seminar to Smithsonian volunteers, September 2, 2020. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2019. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. December 1, 2019. Columbia, Maryland: Washington-Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2021. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. British Mass Spectrometry Society Ambient Ionisation SIG virtual seminar series, February 4, 2021. British Mass Spectrometry Society.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2021. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. June 16, 2021. Bordeaux summer school.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2020. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. Seminar to the Kaveh Jorabchi lab, April 8, 2020. Georgetown University.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2020. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. Seminar to the NASA Goddard Center, March 4, 2020. Greenbelt, Maryland: NASA.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2020. Ambient Sampling and Ionization for Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. Seminar to the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, February 26, 2020. College Park, Maryland: Food and Drug Administration.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2018. Ambient Sampling and Ionization of Materials for Mass Spectrometry [presentation]. 2nd Materials Working Group, November 1, 2018. New York, NY.
• Baglia, Regina A., Ballard, Mary W., and Newsome, G. Asher. 2018. Ambient analysis of historic textiles by DART-MS [presentation]. American Institute for Conservation 46th Annual Meeting, May 1, 2018. Houston, Texas: American Institute for Conservation.
• Newsome, G. Asher, Alvarez-Martin, Alba, and Kavich, Gwenaelle. 2019. An Interface for Reproducible, Multi-shot Direct Analysis of Solid-phase Microextraction Samples [presentation]. 67th Meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, June 1, 2019. Atlanta, Georgia: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. Analytical Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute [presentation]. September 1, 2023. Washington, DC: George Washington University.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2024. Application and Accessibility Improvements for Real-time, Minimally-invasive, Non-proximate Sampling of Conserved Art Objects [presentation]. International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2024, August 23, 2024. Melbourne, Australia: International Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2018. Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) Mass Spectrometry of Ancient, Historic, and Modern Objects [presentation]. Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage, July 1, 2018. Castelldefels, Spain.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2017. Direct Analysis in Real Time of Heat-Sensitive Objects without Damage [presentation]. 38th East Coast Ion Chemistry Conference, October 1, 2017. Newark, Delaware.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2019. Direct analysis in real time (DART) of Objects [presentation]. 67th Meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, June 1, 2019. Atlanta, Georgia: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, Janssens, K., Kavich, Gwenaelle, and Newsome, G. Asher. 2018. Evaluation of the Discoloration Mechanism of Eosin in Oil Paint by Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry [presentation]. 66th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry, June 1, 2018. San Diego, California: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Chen, X., Buchanan, M. G., Glasper, J., Newsome, G. Asher, and Larriba-Andaluz, C. 2021. Flow Optimization of an Ambient Desorption Source for Solvent-free Analysis of Non-proximate Objects [presentation]. 69th Conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, November 1, 2021. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Society for Mass Spectroscopy.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. From the FDA to the Smithsonian: Creating instrumental solutions for fundamental and applied mass spectrometry [presentation]. US HUPO Webinar, September 1, 2023. US Human Proteome Organization.
• Birdsall, Erin R., Newsome, G. Asher, Heald, Susan, and Kavich, Gwenaelle. 2024. Investigating volatile contaminant mitigation and object cleaning methods via in-situ¬ SPME sampling [presentation]. 72nd ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, Anaheim, California: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2019. Mass Spectrometry of Museum Objects and Materials [presentation]. group meeting at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, September 1, 2019. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Newsome, G. Asher, Romano, Christine, Lam, Thomas, and Tsang, Jia-sun. 2018. Microsampling, DART-MS, and GC-MS of Metal Soap Protrusions on Aged Oil Paintings [presentation]. 66th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry, June 1, 2018. San Diego, California: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Lawther, Hannah A., Newsome, G. Asher, and Haight-Smith, Vanessa. 2022. Minimally-Invasive Liquid Microjunction Sampling to Identify Dye on a 17th Century Spanish Illuminated Manuscript [presentation]. 70th conference the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, June 1, 2022. Minneapolis, Minnesota: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher and Cleland, Timothy P. 2018. Multimodal Mass Spectrometric Analysis of an 18th-19th Century Cultural Heritage Object [presentation]. 39th East Coast Ion Chemistry Conference, October 1, 2018. Newark, Delaware.
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, Newsome, G. Asher, and Kavich, Gwenaelle. 2018. New strategy to detect ‘small’ VOCs in museum collections: Solid Phase Micro-extraction coupled to Direct Analysis in Real Time-Mass Spectrometry (SPME-DART-MS) [presentation]. Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage, July 1, 2018. Castelldefels, Spain.
• Newsome, G. Asher, Martin, Kathleen, and Campbell-Such, Julia. 2020. Non-proximate Ambient Sampling for Solvent-free Analysis of Intact Objects [presentation]. 68th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics. Virtual conference, June 1, 2020. American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher, Martin, Kathleen, and Campbell-Such, Julia. 2020. Non-proximate Ambient Sampling for Solvent-free Analysis of Intact Objects [presentation]. Chicago Mass Spec Day. Virtual conference, August 14, 2020.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2024. Non-proximate sampling of intact Native American baskets with in-line dopant permeation and photoionization [presentation]. March 18, 2024. Columbia, Maryland: Washington Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. Non-proximate sampling of intact Native American baskets with in-line dopant permeation atmospheric pressure photoionization [presentation]. International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2022, August 1, 2023. Maastricht, Netherlands: International Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher, Diaz-Granados, Katja S., Caldwell, Joshua D., and Birdsall, Erin R. 2024. Pyrolysis and Thermal Extraction of Polymeric Materials with Suction-driven, Real-time Chemical Ionization Sources and Rapid Polarity Switching [presentation]. 72nd ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, June 4, 2024. Anaheim, California: American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2022. Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and the Philosophy of Damage [presentation]. Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, July 1, 2022. Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2024. Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and the Philosophy of Damage for Cultural Heritage Analysis [presentation]. September 12, 2024. Los Alamos, New Mexico: Los Alamos National Labs.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2024. Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and the Philosophy of Damage in a Museum Setting [presentation]. February 2, 2024. Kingston, Ottawa, Canada: Queen's Universtiy.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2023. Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and the Philosophy of Damage in a Museum Setting [presentation]. February 1, 2023. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia.
• Newsome, G. Asher. 2022. Surface Sampling, Ambient Mass Spectrometry, and Damage [presentation]. Organic Residue Analysis working group, January 28, 2022.