Pharmaco-Toxicological Analysis (PTA Lab). Coordinator: Mercolini

Research themes

• Development and validation of innovative and advanced strategies for the analysis of illicit substances, including classic drugs of abuse (cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates-opioids, amphetamines, etc..),  new psychoactive substances -NPS (synthetic cannabinoids, cathinone analogues, fentanyl analogues, etc…) and doping agents. Neurotransmitters and metabolites are also investigated for risk factors and possible correlations in addiction cases.
• Therapeutic drug  monitoring (TDM) of CNS drugs (antidepressant,  antiepiletic, sedative-hypnotics). This research is aimed at the investigation on chemical-clinical correlations between dosages and biological fluid concentrations, therapeutic and toxic effects.
• Analysis of biomarkers, drugs and metabolites, also related to neurodegenerative diseases. Advanced methodologies are developed and validated for qualitative and quantitative analysis in complex matrices based on high-throughput sampling and pre-treatment coupled to multi-analyte and multi-matrix platforms.
• Extraction and analysis of active ingredients of natural origin, e.g. extracts, formulations, foods, beverages and derived products through the development of selective analytical methodologies methods for the identification and quantitation of bioactive compounds.
• Development and validation of microsampling and miniaturised pretreatment procedures for biological and non-biological samples, e.g. by means of Dried Blood Spot (DBS), VAMS, DMS and MEPS.
• Design of advanced analytical approaches based on 3D printing and lab-on-chip platforms featuring high-throughput for the point-of-care analysis.
• The instrumental techniques used are high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, UHPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE), coupled to the main detection means: mass spectrometry (single quadrupole, triple quadrupole), HRMS (Q-ToF), electrochemical, spectrofluorimetry and spectrophotometry. Moreover, qualitative and quantitative solid-state analysis is performed by ATR-FTIR.

Lab Members

Laura Mercolini, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry (CHEM-07/A)

Head of the Research Group of Pharmaco-Toxicological Analysis (PTA Lab)

Director of the II level Professional Master in Forensic Chemical-Toxicological Analyses

Michele Protti, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry (CHEM-07/A)

Elisa Milandri, PhD student

Sobia Noreen, PhD student

Chiara Pia Iattoni, Research scholarship holder

Internship projects

Experimental activities aimed at thesis dissertation in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Pharmacy, Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences, Health Biology and within the II level Professional Master in Forensic Chemical-Toxicological Analyses.

Main publications

• Elisa Milandri, Roberta Di Lecce, Chira Pia Iattoni, Andrea Armirotti, Tomaz Vovk, Roberto Mandrioli, Michele Protti, Laura Mercolini. Volumetric absorptive microsampling for lumateperone analysis: method validation and stability evaluation. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 418 (2026) 643-653. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-025-06169-4.
• Michele Protti, Ina Varfaj, Andrea Carotti, Daniele Tedesco, Manuela Bartolini, Alessandro Favilli, Sandro Gerli, Laura Mercolini, Roccaldo Sardella. Microsampling and enantioselective liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for chiral bioanalysis of novel psychoactive substances. Talanta 257 (2024) 124332. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124332
• Ina Varfaj, Michele Protti, Alessandro Di Michele, Jose Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Andrea Carotti, Roccaldo Sardella, Laura Mercolini. Chromatographic enantioresolution and stereochemical characterization of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists with Whelk-O®1 chiral stationary phases under mass spectrometry compatible reversed-phase conditions: A study case with seized samples. Anal. Chim. Acta. 1317 (2024) 342901. DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2024.342901
• Michele Protti, Roberto Mandrioli, Camilla Marasca, Andrea Cavalli, Alessandro Serretti, Laura Mercolini. New-generation, non-SSRI antidepressants: Drug-drug interactions and therapeutic drug monitoring. Part 2: NaSSAs, NRIs, SNDRIs, MASSAs, NDRIs, and others. Med. Res. Rev. 40 (2020) 1794-1832. DOI: 10.1002/med.21671.
• Michele Protti, Roberto Mandrioli, Laura Mercolini. Tutorial: Volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS). Analytica Chimica Acta 1046 (2019) 32-47, 2019.DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2018.09.004