The Toxpod

Go behind the curtain as Sam chats with 2026 TIAFT/SOFT meeting host Andre Sukta about the highly successful Chicago conference, and explores the challenges and rewards of hosting a major toxicology meeting.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at https://tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

At the Joint SOFT-TIAFT2026 conference in Chicago, USA, Sam caught up with a few fellow toxicologists to talk about their work.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at https://tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Sam is joined by fellow Bulletin editors Rebecca and Luke for a rundown of the latest Bulletin.

For more information on the Bulletin, head to the TIAFT website or email bulletin@tiaft.org

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

We look at 5 recent publications in the field of toxicology.

1. Helander A, Andersson A, Villén T. Origin and Interpretation of Low Methamphetamine Levels Found in Amphetamine-Positive Urine Samples: Support for Methylation of Amphetamine as a Minor Metabolic Pathway. Drug Test Anal. 2025;17(11):2276-2282. doi:10.1002/dta.3940

2. Labay LM, Midthun KM, Kacinko SL, Papsun DM. Drug identification in biologicals on clothing, bedding, and other materials. J Anal Toxicol. 2025;49(8):603-608. doi:10.1093/jat/bkaf057

3. Ogawa S, Shiraki R, Wakigawa K, et al. Quantitative analysis of ethylene glycol in human serum by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with p-toluenesulfonyl isocyanate derivatization. Forensic Toxicol. 2026;44(1):37-46. doi:10.1007/s11419-025-00729-0

4. Ballotari M, Truver MT, Sojin NA, et al. Analysis of cannabinoids and semi-synthetic cannabinoids in authentic breastmilk samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J Anal Toxicol. 2025;49(8):559-566. doi:10.1093/jat/bkaf047

5. Grafinger KE, Weinmann W, Pasin D, et al. Machine learning in forensic toxicology: Concepts, applications and challenges in bioanalysis, ADME, and toxicodynamics. Forensic Sci Int. Published online February 9, 2026. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2026.112883

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Get free open access journal articles at https://forensiclibrary.org/home

You can send us a text message using this link!

Sam is joined by fellow Bulletin editors Rebecca and Luke for a rundown of the latest Bulletin.

For more information on the Bulletin, head to the TIAFT website or email bulletin@tiaft.org

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Keeping up to date with New Psychoactive Substances is hard! We've assembled a crack team of international experts to help us do just that:

• Michael Evans-Brown, EUDA
• Jared Brown, UNODC
• Alex Krotulski, CFSRE

Hosted by TIAFT NPS Committee chair, Svante Vikingsson.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT. Episode production by Sam Joubert.

You can send us a text message using this link!

You can send us a text message using this link!

Part 2 of On the Spot at TIAFT 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at https://tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

At the TIAFT2025 conference in Auckland, New Zealand, Peter and Sam caught up with a few fellow toxicologists to talk about their work.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at https://tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

The AI Task force is the first of the President and Board’s Taskforces to tackle emerging issues in toxicology. TTF1 members are TIAFT members who had an active history and with a keen interest in the application of this technology in their work.

The AI Task Force:

Marie Mardal (Denmark)
Stephen Trobbiani (Australia)
Nieves Manuela Barbo (Philippines)
Aaron Shapiro (Canada)
Tyler Devincenzi (United States

Sam and Peter facilited the presentation of the TTF1 report live at TIAFT 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand in Novemeber 2025

The TTF1 report can be found in the TIAFT Members section under Resources.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Tim, Sam and Peter explore the differences and the similarities between life and work in the Forensic and Clinical branches of Toxicology and the opportunities collaboration can bring. And sadly TIm bids farewell to the Toxpod as he explores new opportunities. Thank you Tim for coming up with the idea of the Toxpod and all the hard work you've done! You will be missed!

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Sam and Peter are joined by Jenn Schumann and Matt Hosking from the TIAFT Auckland Organising Committee to whet your appetite for what promises to be another great TIAFT meeting. Come have a listen!

Don’t forget to come and see the Toxpod hosted TIAFT Taskforce on AI presentation at Tuesday Lunchtime in Auckland!

Its not too late to register!

Meeting dates: Sunday 23 November to Thursday 28th November

Meeting website: https://tiaft2025.com/

The views of the hosts are their own and not their employers or TIAFT's

You can send us a text message using this link!

We look at 5 recent publications in the field of toxicology.

• Dietzen, Dennis J., and Connor J. Blair. "Precision Chemotherapy: Optimizing Calibration for Rapid Determination of Blood Methotrexate by Tandem Mass Spectrometry±Liquid Chromatography." Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 39.14 (2025): e10053.
• Skjelland, D., Jørgenrud, B. M., Gundersen, K., Bjørnaas, M. A., Brekke, M., Dalaker, V. M., ... & Vallersnes, O. M. (2025). Gamma-hydroxybutyrate poisoning: clinical diagnosis versus laboratory findings. Clinical Toxicology, 63(4), 253-260.
• Guyon, J., Maillot, A., Bastard, S., Weisse, F., Daveluy, A., & Mété, D. (2025). Psychoactive cocktail consumption on Reunion Island: A case report. Journal of Analytical Toxicology, bkaf009
• Helland, A., Muller, S., Spigset, O., Krabseth, H. M., Hansen, M., & Skråstad, R. B. (2025). Drug detection in oral fluid and urine after single therapeutic doses of dexamphetamine, lisdexamphetamine, and methylphenidate in healthy volunteers. Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 49(2), 65-72.
• Liu, C. M., Huang, B. Y., Hua, Z. D., Jia, W., & Zhi‐yu, L. (2025). Characterization of Mass Spectrometry Fragmentation Patterns Under Electron‐Activated Dissociation (EAD) for Rapid Structure Identification of Nitazene Analogs. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 39(12), e10030.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

You can send us a text message using this link!

WIN A TOXPOD MUG!

Listen to the episode and email Toxpod@tiaft.org the name of the EUDA's 1000th drug and we'll send one lucky listener a coveted Toxpod mug!

Keeping up to date with New Psychoactive Substances is hard! We've assembled a crack team of international experts to help us do just that:

• Michael Evans-Brown, EUDA
• Jared Brown, UNODC
• Alex Krotulski, CFSRE

Hosted by TIAFT NPS Committee chair, Svante Vikingsson.
This episode features:

• THC-P - fully synthetic or semi-synthetic cannabinoid?
• the emerging etomidate and analogues
• the intriguing mystery of BTMPS-adulterant or precursor
• the 1000th NPS reported by EUDA and much more

These updates will be a regular part of our podcast schedule, letting you know about recent developments in NPS markets, detection and harms.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Peter is joined by Bulletin editors Rebecca, Samantha and Luke for a rundown of the latest Bulletin.

For more information on the Bulletin, including how to submit content, click here.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

You can send us a text message using this link!

We look at 5 recent publications in the field of toxicology.

• Ning He, et al. Contextual bias in forensic toxicology decisions: A follow-up empirical study from China. (2024) Journal of Forensic Sciences, doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.15520.
• Kesmen, E. et al. Bioinformatics-driven untargeted metabolomic profiling for clinical screening of methamphetamine abuse. (2024) Forensic Toxicology, doi: 10.1007/s11419-024-00703-2.
• Schuller, M. et al. Electromembrane extraction of drugs of abuse and prescription drugs from micropulverized hair. (2024) Journal of Analytical Toxicology, doi: 10.1093/jat/bkae051.
• Schackmuth, M. et al. Identification of fentanyl analogs and potential biomarkers in urine using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q/TOF-MS). (2024) Journal of Chromatography B, doi: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2024.124303.
• Trobbiani, S. et al. Increasing the linear dynamic range in LC-MS: is it valid to use a less abundant isotopologue? (2017) Drug Testing and Analysis, doi: 10.1002/dta.2175

You can try out NotebookLM yourself at https://notebooklm.google/

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT or their employers.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In the final part of the St Gallen Special, The Toxpod speaks with TIAFT President Simon Elliott, Young Scientist Best Paper Award winner Liam Ward and host of TIAFT 2025, Matt Hosking.
Liam Ward's paper can be found here:
Ward, Liam J. et al.Postmortem metabolomics as a high-throughput cause-of-death screening tool for human death investigations, iScience, Volume 27, Issue 5, 109794

All the info you need for going to TIAFT in 2025 (23-27 November 2025) can be found at https://tiaft2025.com/

You can send us a text message using this link!

Neither Tim or I could make it to the The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists meeting in St Gallen to get “On The Spot” interviews with delegates this year, so we asked TIAFT past President Dimitri Gerostamoulos to give us a rundown of how the meeting went. Also we have Michael Scholz, who won the Young Scientist’s best oral presentation award. Hope you enjoy part 1!

You can send us a text message using this link!

Keeping up to date with New Psychoactive Substances is hard! We've assembled a crack team of experts to help us do just that:

• Michael Evans-Brown, EUDA
• Conor Crean, UNODC
• Alex Krotulski, CFSRE

And now hosted by TIAFT NPS Committee chair, Svante Vikingsson!

These updates will be a regular part of our podcast schedule, letting you know about recent developments in NPS markets, detection and harms.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

We'll be previewing issues of the TIAFT Bulletin as they are released every few months.

Special thanks to Jennifer Schumann and Rebecca Hartman, editors of the TIAFT Bulletin. For more information on the Bulletin, including how to submit content, click here.
Geraldine's new podcast is called The Analytical Zen Podcast (buzzsprout.com), give it a go!
Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

Keeping up to date with New Psychoactive Substances is hard! We've assembled a crack team of experts to help us do just that:

• Michael Evans-Brown, EUDA
• Conor Crean, UNODC
• Alex Krotulski, CFSRE

And now hosted by TIAFT NPS Committee chair, Svante Vikingsson!

These updates will be a regular part of our podcast schedule, letting you know about recent developments in NPS markets, detection and harms.

Contact us at toxpod@tiaft.org

Find out more about TIAFT at http://www.tiaft.org/

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!