Two NIU chemistry professors vouch for the reliability of different parts of a standard urine test given for drugs.

The Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) tests, part of a standard urine test given for drugs, are “highly reliable,” according to John Carnahan, NIU associate professor in chemistry.

The GCMS and HPLC together are “one of the best techniques as far as determining compounds,” Carnahan said. The GCMS and HPLC detect the “fingerprint” of various drugs.

The other part of the test, Immunoassay Techniques, is “a highly sophisticated test, enough to win its inventor a Nobel Prize,” said NIU professor of chemistry A.A. Schilt.

Basically, these techniques make use of antibody-antigen reactions to detect and measure drugs in the urine.

The immunoassay techniques are “amazingly reliable,” he said.

The GCMS, HPLC and immunoassay techniques are used in a standard EMIT urine test given by the state Department of Corrections. Job applicants, regular providers of food, medical and other services and instructors in the prison education program must now take the test.