This work lead by former Fernández lab member, Dr. Samyukta Sah, and current student, Elisabeth Schwiebert, entitled “Metabolomics of Papanicolaou Tests for the Discovery of Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers”, was published in metabolites. This work is the first, to our knowledge, to evaluate residual Papanicolaou (Pap) tests as a potential biospecimen for metabolomics and lipidomics studies. In this first-stage, feasibility study, we were able to detect and annotate numerous lipid species in all of our non-cancerous samples that we plan to compare to cancerous samples in future.

https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14110600

This work lead by Dmitry Leontyev entitled “Desorption Electrospray Ionization Cyclic Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Traumatic Brain Injury Spatial Metabolomics” published in Analytical Chemistry enabled the recognition of multiply charged phosphoinositide species that had previously not been reported in traumatic brain injury (TBI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) studies.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.4c02394

Several members of the Fernández lab traveled to Tampa, Florida, for the 2024 meeting of the Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA). Drs. Xin Ma and Olatomiwa Bifarin and graduate students, Elisabeth Schwiebert and Katherine Kenney, all had the opportunity to present their research projects.

Carter Asef is the newest Ph.D. graduate of the Fernández Lab! He recently defended his thesis, titled “Advanced Approaches for Metabolite Identification by Mass Spectrometry,” and we could not be more proud! He will be joining Andson Biotech as a field application scientist for the DynaCHIP platform, a device for automated sample purification ahead of mass spectrometry.

Congratulations again, Carter, and we can’t wait to see all that you accomplish in the future!

This work led in part by Alex Van Grouw entitled “Investigation of MSC potency metrics via integration of imaging modalities with lipidomic characterization” published in Cell Reports shows how the use of label-free differential phase contrast imaging and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) aided in the identification of differences in lipid signatures in morphologically defined MSC subpopulations and of higher abundances of certain lipid classes involved in cellular immune functions.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114579

We recently said good-bye and good luck to one of our postdoctoral research fellows, Dr. Daniel Vallejo, as he prepares to start his new position as a Conservation Scientist in the Scientific Research Department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.!

We cannot wait to see the great things that he will accomplish and wish him all the best!

Congratulations to Issy for being recognized with this award at the 2024 SoCB Spring Symposium for her role as a teaching assistant for a general chemistry course during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Read about it here!

The proud new owners of the Waters Select Series Cyclic IM-MS and the MRT platforms. We look forward to using these instruments to their fullest in the years to come and advance our research platform higher and further!

This pre-print work lead by Dmitry Leontyev entitled “Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectrometry Imaging Maps Brain Lipidome Alterations Associated with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury” published in bioRxiv demonstrates the use of next generation ion mobility instrumentation to gain more insight on mTBI pathology, a non-targeted spatial metabolomics workflow utilizing ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry imaging was developed to measure brain region-specific lipid alterations in rats.

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14092262

This work lead by Xin Ma entitled “Triboelectric nanogenerator-coated blade spray mass spectrometry for volume-limited drug analysis” published in the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry shows it is possible to extract and analyze drug samples in a pulsed fashion at sub-nanogram to picogram levels with good stability and reproducibility using coated scalpel blades.

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14092262