Inside the Laboratory: The MARTE Group at the University of Zaragoza

"Inside the Laboratory" is a joint series with LCGC and Spectroscopy, profiling analytical scientists and their research groups at universities all over the world. This series spotlights the current chromatographic and spectroscopic research their groups are conducting, and the importance of their research in analytical chemistry and specific industries. In this edition of “Inside the Laboratory,” Martin Resano, a Coordinator of the Rapid Analysis Methods with Spectroscopic Techniques (MARTE) group and as part of the Aragon Institute for Engineering Research (I3A) at the University of Zaragoza, discusses how compressed sensing spectroscopic techniques are used in his laboratory (1).

This interview was conducted as part of our coverage of the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, which is taking place from January 9–17th in Tucson, Arizona (2).

Spectroscopy: Can you talk about your main research focus areas as Coordinator of the Rapid Analysis Methods with Spectroscopic Techniques (MARTE) group and as part of the Aragon Institute for Engineering Research (I3A) at the University of Zaragoza?

Martin Resano: Our research group is a group of atomic spectrometry. We work in inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and laser-assisted techniques. And those are our tools and our applications are nowadays more focused on the small side, so on analyzing entities. I mean nanoparticles, cells, microplastics, and also analyzing small volumes, you know, to develop minimally invasive approaches for clinical analysis, such as dry blood spots and so on.

Spectroscopy: Looking ahead to 2026, what are some major and emerging trends in spectroscopy heading into next year that experts should be paying attention to?

Martin Resano: There's a lot going on in spectroscopy with optical spectroscopy, but I think the major trends are focused on single-cell analysis and also analysis of compartments inside of the cells and extracellular vehicles. This is a big area that is growing, and the other area is microplastics, because if we consider microplastics as particles between 100 nanometers to five millimeters, this is a huge range. There is not only one technique that can cover everything. We have to use different optical techniques and our mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, and particularly when we go to small sizes, it's still very challenging to see below one micron.

This video clip is the first part of our conversation with Resano. To stay up to date on our coverage of the Winter Conference, click here.

References

1. University of Zaragoza, Researcher Martín Resano, winner of the European Plasma Spectrochemistry Award. Unizar.es. Available at: https://i3a.unizar.es/en/noticias/researcher-martin-resano-winner-european-plasma-spectrochemistry-award (accessed 2026-01-19).
2. IASA, Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry. IASA. Available at: https://iasa.world/winter-plasma-conference (accessed 2026-01-19).