UC Davis researchers outline how non‑targeted analysis can augment SPOT monitoring

Bushra Khan, project scientist in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis and laboratory director of the Granite Canyon Laboratory, told the SPOT Scientific Review Committee that non‑targeted analysis (NTA) can strengthen the program’s ability to find drivers of toxicity and fill gaps in targeted monitoring.

"The idea here is how NTA can add value to our specific management questions and the design that we have," Khan said, describing a workflow that pairs correlation of high‑resolution mass‑spectrometry features with toxicity markers and, separately, a quantitative branch using a purchased standards list.

Why it matters: SPOT is a long‑running statewide sediment monitoring program used to detect chemical trends and prioritize sites for follow‑up. Committee members repeatedly raised concerns about budget constraints and laboratory comparability; Khan and UC Davis collaborators argued that NTA — run consistently and with clear QA/QC — can reveal novel contaminants and provide quantitative data when commercial targeted analyses are not scheduled.

Khan described two primary NTA outputs. The first is a qualitative…