Cutting edge research by Rachel Bennett, a graduate student in the Fernandez lab at Georgia Tech, demonstrated the ability to acquire a 'chemical fingerprint' using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry. Her work published in Analytical Chemistry in 2013 demonstrated how DESI could be used to map a rock surface to learn how different mineral compositions within the rock may have reacted to form unique product profiles. Using this technique, the center is better able to examine the role that surfaces may have had on prebiotic chemistries.