Marla Bianca

Dr. Marla Bianca studied chemistry at the University of Maryland in College Park where she received her PhD. Her thesis work in Dr. Neil Blough's lab focused on the contribution of ketone/aldehyde-containing species to the composition and optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) through MS and UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. The methods in this work proved useful in revealing information on the composition, source, and structure of DOM in natural waters. 
Marla is currently an ORISE postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Clifford Rice's lab at the USDA in Beltsville Maryland. Upon joining Dr. Rice's lab in December 2020 Marla began to work on developing and optimizing LC-MS/MS methods towards the separation of metolachlor metabolites. These studies will allow for additional transient tracers to be used for improved elucidation of environmental processes and show how these two metabolites relate to soil and land features which can then be used to assess conservation practices.