Nicole Strittmatter obtained her BSc and MSc degree in Chemistry at the Justus-Liebig Universität in Giessen, Germany. She was specialising in Analytical Chemistry with focus on Mass Spectrometry in the group of Prof. Bernhard Spengler. She is now a 3rd year PhD student in the group of Prof. Zoltan Takats at the Section of Computational and Systems Medicine at Imperial College London. Her field of expertise is in Desorption Electrospray Ionisation (DESI) Mass Spectrometry and the application of Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) to biological samples. Her PhD project is the development of a REIMS-based identification and characterisation system for unicellular organisms.