John Helms, assistant professor of chemistry at Morningside College, co-authored a research paper recently published in the peer-reviewed journal “Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.”

John Helms, assistant professor of chemistry at Morningside College, co-authored a research paper recently published in the peer-reviewed journal “Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.”

Helms co-authored the paper “Enhanced Detection of the Algal Toxin PbTx-2 in Marine Waters by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry” with faculty and students from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The paper describes improved methods for finding harmful algal toxins that cause significant economic losses to the shellfish and tourism industries along the Gulf Coast.

Helms joined the Morningside College faculty in 2014 after completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He has a doctorate in chemistry from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.