Blair Surridge

Mr. Surridge received his BSc (1998) from the University of British Columbia and his MSc (2000) in Organic Chemistry from the University of Calgary. The MSc thesis project was sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Thesis title – Isolation and Purification of Molybdenum Compounds from Alfalfa Grown on Mine Tailings.

Mr. Surridge has held positions as an analytical chemist in both government and industry labs working on everything from toxic environmental contaminants such as pesticides and plasticizers like Bisphenol A to nutraceutical health supplements such as St. John's Wort and Ginseng.

His teaching experience has included positions at both Grant MacEwan College and Camosun College teaching 1st and 2nd year courses. Most recently courses taught at Camosun College include the following:

• CHEM 100 Introduction to Chemistry
• CHEM 110 College Chemistry
• CHEM 121 General Chemistry II
• CHEM 224 Introduction to Analytical Chemistry
• CHEM 259 Quality Assurance in Environmental Chemistry

Mr. Surridge's teaching philosophy is to bring a number of different approaches and types of activities into the class room and into homework. It's believed that students cannot be expected to learn using a single method, therefore different approaches to teaching are required. For instance, some class time is provided to work through examples which could be either a traditional word problem or a "case study" problem. Word problems tend to contain basic information to facilitate use of equations where case study problems tend to be applied and more visual and might require more conceptual knowledge. With variety, hopefully a connection between theory and the real world can be made. After all chemistry is an applied science. At least once a week class time is taken for discussion of a news article where students are required to use terminology and ideas that are related to course topics. Chemistry is a lot of fun in the lab but it is also a great place to learn. Integrating laboratory experiments and course content is extremely important to introductory topics. Often labs are carried out without discussion in the classroom and this is a real shame. These are a few examples of what to expect when taking a chemistry course with Mr. Surridge.      

His research interests include developing laboratory procedures used for the analysis of organic compounds. Projects have dealt with topics in environmental monitoring and marine toxicology. Recently, industry partnership and NSERC funding has been obtained to develop cost efficient, comprehensive methods for testing pesticides in foods.  Past applied research topics include chemical ecology and toxic plants. For more specifics please review some of the recent publications.

Learn more about Mr. Surridge's work in this article and video from BC Farms and Food: Pesticide Free? A Low-Cost Way to Detect Pesticides in the Food We Eat.

Publications from Applied Research Activities

1. Surridge B.2, Dew-Jones*,  T. Staples B., Thomson E., GC/MS Analysis of Aroma Active Compounds “Application to the development of a novel dry hopping method” Conference: College Chemistry Canada (C3) General Meeting, May 24-26, 2019, Victoria BC
2. Surridge B., Charnock H., Lithgow K., Schienbein S., Snow Z., Thomson E., Coffee Flavour Maturation Conference: College Chemistry Canada (C3) General Meeting, May 24-26, 2019, Victoria BC
3. Schottle, B.1, Surridge, B.2, Carriere, K.2, McPherson, L.2, Guan, C.2, Dolberg, J.2 and Thomson, E.1,  Detection of foam-negative lubricants on can lids by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. 1Phillips Brewing & Malting Co., Victoria, BC, CANADA, 2Camosun College, Victoria, BC, CANADA, Conference: American Society for Brewing Chemists (ASBC) General Meeting, June 4-7, 2017, Fort Myers Florida
4. Surridge B.D., Dyer T., Bilideau R., Bertolin Presoti P. Analysis of Pesticides and Contaminants using HS-SPME-GC/MS and DRS Detection. Western Canada Trace Organics Workshop, 2015 Calgary, AB
5. Benskin, J.P.; Ikonomou M.G.; Surridge B.D.; Dubetz C.; Klaassen E. Biodegradation Potential of Aquaculture Chemotherapeutants in Marine Sediments,  Aquaculture Research, 2014. July; DOI: 10.1111/are.12509
6. Surridge, B.D, Standford, B., Bilodeau, R. Determination of Pesticides in Strawberries:  A Comparison of Sample Preparation Techniques SPME and QuEChERS. Western Canada Trace Organics Workshop, 2013 Vancouver, B.C.
7. Surridge, B.D.; Ikonomou, M. G. Ultra-Trace Determination of Aquaculture Chemotherapeutants and Degradation Products in Environmental Matrices by LC-MS/MS. Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem., 2013, 93, 2, pp 183
8. Majak, W.; McDiarmid, R.; Surridge, B.; Brooke, B.; Benn, M., Cycloartane glycosides from Actaea Rubra berries, Biochem. Sys. Ecol., 2010, 38, pp 1077
9. Kelly, B.C; Ikonomou, M.G.; Blair, J.D.; Surridge B.D.; Hoover,D.; Grace, R.; Gobas, F.; Perfluoroalkyl Contaminants in an Arctic Marine Food Web: trophic magnification and wildlife exposure, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43, 11, pp 4037
10. Blair, J.; Ikonomou, M.G.; Surridge, B.D.;Cobas, F.; Ultra-Trace Determination of Phthalate Ester Metabolites in Seawater, Sediments, and Biota from an Urbanized Marine Inlet by LC/ESI-MS/MS, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, pp 6262
11. Surridge, B.D.; Sorensen, T.S.; Majak, W. Purification and Characterization of Molybdenum Species From Medicago Sativa (Alfalfa) Grown on Mine Tailings, Journal of Agriculture and Food-Chemistry, 2001, 49, 8, pp 3853