Post Doctoral REsearch Associate

Divion of Biological Sceince

Bio Separation and Mass Spec Group

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA)

Post Doctoral REsearch Associate

Division of Biology

Kansas Lipidomics Research Center

Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS)

Mass spectrometry method development for characterization, profiling and quantifying of intact lipids and metabolites.

Lipidomics is a rapidly expanding research field in which multiple techniques are utilized to quantitate the hundreds of chemically distinct lipids in cells and determine the molecular mechanism through which they facilitate cellular function. It is also important in the understanding of functional implications and profiling of lipid abnormalities that could be used as a potential biomarker for possible disorder. One feature of complex lipids is that many subtypes of these molecules exist as a diverse mixture in a biological sample. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of these closely related molecules require sensitive and specific analytical methods to detect intact lipid molecules and to differentiate between them. Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) and LC-ESI-MS/MS are sensitive and powerful techniques for full characterization of cellular lipids and metabolites. In my research I use direct infusion ESI-MS/MS and LC-ESI-MS/MS for structural characterization and quantification of intact lipid molecular species and metabolites from complex biological matrix. Main research interest includes:

1. Analytical method development and implementation of new mass spectrometry methods for quantifying intact endogenous lipids and metabolites from different complex biological matrices obtained from various disease and treatments.

2. Development of rapid and efficiency lipid and metabolite extraction method for high throughput screening of biological samples.

3. Ion Mobility Mass Sepectrometry for the separation of isomeric and isobaric metabolites and lipid species.