John Michael Ramsey is an American

analytical chemist Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...

at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. He currently holds the position of Minnie N. Goldby Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. His current research with the university focuses on microscale and nanoscale devices such as microchip

electrospray The name electrospray is used for an apparatus that employs electricity to disperse a liquid or for the fine aerosol resulting from this process. High voltage is applied to a liquid supplied through an emitter (usually a glass or metallic capilla ...

, microscale Ion trap mass spectrometers, and microfluidic point of care devices. He is ranked #2 in the "Giants of Nano" field on The Analytical Scientist Power List.

Career

Early research

Dr. Michael Ramsey attended

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

for his undergraduate studies where he obtained his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in Chemistry with dual minors in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and Mathematics in June 1974. He then went on to obtain his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

Analytical chemistry Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...

from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

in January 1979. Dr. Ramsey conducted his research under the direction of Dr. Gary M. Hieftje from 1974-1979 culminating in his published dissertation "New Approaches for the Measurement of Subnanosecond Chemical Phenomena

Current research

Th
Ramsey Group
at the University of Chapel Hill is interested in utilizing micro- and nano fabrication strategies to create devices that facilitate people's ability to gather chemical and biochemical information. Their motivations for fabricating devices include clinical diagnostics, High-throughput screening, high-throughput biochemical experimentation, understanding of transport mechanisms in

nanoscale The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1–100 nanometers (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. The nanoscopic scale is (roughly speaking) a lo ...

-confined spaces, and development of portable mass spectrometers operating at high-pressures (>1 Torr). Applications for the devices that they develop include drug discovery, health care,

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well a ...

, chemical process control, and High-throughput screening, high-throughput laboratory analysis and basic research. The four main areas of active research in the Ramsey group include: # Microchip

Microfluidic Microfluidics refers to the behavior, precise control, and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale (typically sub-millimeter) at which surface forces dominate volumetric forces. It is a multidisciplinary field tha ...

point of care # Microscale Ion Trap MS #

Nanofluidics Nanofluidics is the study of the behavior, manipulation, and control of fluids that are confined to structures of nanometer (typically 1–100 nm) characteristic dimensions (1 nm = 10−9 m). Fluids confined in these structures exhibit p ...

Industry

He is a founding scientist and current director of 908 Devices incorporated, a company which focuses on building handheld mass spectrometry devices for applications in laboratory analysis, safety and security, as well as for use in the life sciences. In 2017 908 Devices Inc. received the

Federal Laboratory Consortium The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a U.S.-based nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides a forum to develop strategies and opportunities to help transfer laboratory mission technologies into commercial ...

Excellence in Technology Transfer Award. The company is known for several products, including the zipchip ™ separations platform for quick and high quality separation and mass spectrometry analysis of biological samples and the M908 ™ handheld High Pressure Mass Spectrometry tool for analysis of chemical warfare agents. Dr. Ramsey is also a founding scientist and former scientific advisory board member of Caliper Technologies incorporated, later renamed

Caliper Life Sciences Caliper, A PerkinElmer Company produces products and services for life sciences research. The firm, founded in 1995, is based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts with direct sales, service and application-support operations in countries around the glob ...

, a company that commercializes

microfluidics Microfluidics refers to the behavior, precise control, and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale (typically sub-millimeter) at which surface forces dominate volumetric forces. It is a multidisciplinary field th ...

and

lab-on-a-chip A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates one or several laboratory functions on a single integrated circuit (commonly called a "chip") of only millimeters to a few square centimeters to achieve automation and high-throughput screening. ...

technologies. Caliper Life Sciences was acquired by

PerkinElmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation focused in the business areas of diagnostics, life science research, food, environmental and industrial testing. Its capabilities include detection, imaging, in ...

in 2011 for $650M. Between 1979 and 2004, Dr. Ramsey worked as a

Eugene P. Wigner Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his con ...

Fellow, research associate, and eventually a group leader for

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

Awards/Memberships

Awards that Dr. Ramsey has received include but are not limited to: the Ralph N. Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry (2013), the CASSS Award for Outstanding Achievements in Separation Science (2012), the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Award in Chromatography (2007), the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award (2006), the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation (2003), the Battelle Distinguished Inventor Award (2003), and the Frederick Conference Capillary Electrophoresis Award (2000). Dr. Ramsey currently holds professional memberships with

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

, the

, and the Analytical Division of the

. He has 108 issues patents, 2 allowed patents, and 20 pending patents. The

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

website can be searched for specific patents, with Dr. Ramsey's being listed under the names John Michael Ramsey, J. Michael Ramsey, and John M. Ramsey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsey, John Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Analytical chemists University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Bowling Green State University alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni 21st-century American chemists