Introducing Our Authors pubs.acs.org/acschemicalbiology
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TROY COMI
Education: M.Sc., Bioengineering (2007), Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden; Ph.D., Chemistry (2012), Advisor: Prof. Owe Orwar, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden; Postdoctoral Research Associate (2013−2015), Advisor: Jonathan V. Sweedler, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Illinois, United States Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow (2015−), Advisor: Richard N. Zare, Stanford University, California, United States Nonscientific Interests: Music (plays the accordion and the double bass), weightlifting, and real-time strategy computer games My research interests include the development of analytical methods to improve our understanding of cell-to-cell signaling mechanisms. The common denominator of the developed approaches is the ability to provide biochemical information down to the single-cell level, e.g., investigations of peptide hormones with mass spectrometry, and ligand−receptor interactions with microfluidic platforms combined with patchclamp electrophysiology and fluorescence assays. In our recent paper, we show single-cell heterogeneity of peptide hormone processing in rat islets of Langerhans with single-cell mass spectrometry. Our study shows that single-cell mass spectrometry enables rapid analysis of thousands of cells in a multiplexed and label-free fashion, allowing the comparison of the chemical content of cells that exist in disparate amounts. Furthermore, it shows that a group of (expectedly) similar cells will not necessarily end up with a similar content of peptide products. (Read Jansson’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00602.)
Image courtesy of Joel Dexter.
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Biochemistry, and Molecular & Cellular Biology (2012), University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry (2012−), Advisor, Prof. Jonathan V. Sweedler, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, IL Nonscientific Interests: Running, electronics, reading, and programming My research interests include developing software and instrumentation to enable investigations of single-cell heterogeneity. Mass spectrometry has developed to the point that astounding measurements from biological specimens are now possible. A major bottleneck in single-cell analysis is sampling sufficient numbers of cells to make statistically valid conclusions. Our recent work with optically guided MALDI-MS is one option for such high-throughput analysis. One experimental goal with our work was to streamline the process of finding, sampling, and analyzing single cells. In addition to our exciting biological conclusions, we have a functional, intuitive interface for working with optical images of samples and generating cell coordinates for mass spectral analysis. Such enabling technologies allow interrogation of cell populations with MALDI-MS that would otherwise be impractical. (Read Comi’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00602.)
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TONG JU
ERIK TOMAS JANSSON
Image courtesy of Qian Du.
Education: Tianjin University, B. A. in Pharmaceutics with Dr. Kang Zhao, 2009; University of NebraskaLincoln, Ph.D. in Chemistry with Dr. Jiantao Guo, 2016 Current Position: I am attending University of Chicago to study the sociology of science and knowledge and hope to understand science through a sociological lens Nonscientific Interests: Reading, movies, guitar, and cooking Published: September 16, 2016
Image courtesy of Louise Lundberg.
© 2016 American Chemical Society
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DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00769 ACS Chem. Biol. 2016, 11, 2383−2385
ACS Chemical Biology
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My Ph.D. research focused on the development of chemical and biological tools for the study of protein tyrosine-O sulfation. We have recently applied phage display technology to evolve the Src SH2 domain, a phosphotyrosine-targeting protein in nature, to recognize sulfotyrosine, and demonstrated that the evolved SH2 domain mutant could be used to detect sulfoprotein levels on the cell surface. This work is important because it provides a useful tool that can be used to deepen our understanding on the role and extent of protein tyrosine O-sulfation in mammalian cell biology. Hopefully, in the future, the currently engineered SH2 domain could help unravel more mysteries in the field of protein tyrosine O-sulfation. (Read Ju’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00555.)
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Introducing Our Authors
DARLENY Y. LIZARDO
Image courtesy of Niloofar Zarifi.
NASI LI
Education: Trinity College, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012. Advisor: Dr. Thomas M. Mitzel Current Position: State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Chemistry, Ph.D. candidate with Professor G. Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen Nonscientific Interests: Food, traveling, hiking, music, and spending time with family and friends My research focuses on the functional involvement of lipids in different cell fates. Lipids serve as the structural backbone of cellular compartments and play key roles in energy storage, signaling, and complex cellular processes. Recently, I have been investigating the changes in the lipidome of HCT116 cells during apoptosis. A global lipidomics approach showed the accumulation of specific triacylglycerol species during this process. We investigated the biochemical pathways that could contribute to this accumulation and found that triacylglycerol biosynthesis is activated. Our results strongly suggest that triacylglycerols are regulated at the molecular level, and this may be a protective mechanism against lipid oxidation during apoptosis. (Read Lizardo’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00410.)
Image courtesy of Paul G. Purcell.
Education: Qingdao University of Science and Technology, B.S. Pharmaceutical Engineering; East China University of Science and Technology, M.S. Pharmaceutical Engineering, with Prof. Bingcheng Yang Current Position: The State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Chemistry, Ph.D. student with Prof. G. Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen Nonscientific Interests: Music, movies, and traveling My research focuses on the functional characterization of lipids at the molecular level during apoptosis. We used an untargeted lipidomics approach to identify the changes in the lipid composition during this process. We found that specific TAGs accumulate during apoptosis, a majority of which contain a polyunsaturated fatty acyl (PUFA) chain. Further studies on biochemical pathways strongly suggest that activated TAG biosynthesis is responsible for the accumulations we observed. On the basis of our results, we propose that, despite the decreased de novo lipogenesis, PUFAs are diverted to glycerolipid biosynthesis, which could be a mechanism to protect cells from lipid oxidation during apoptosis. Our results demonstrate the fine-tuning of individual lipid species, suggesting the specific functions of them. It would be an important next step to develop biochemical and biophysical tools to study the functional roles of specific lipid species during apoptosis. (Read Li’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00410.)
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EIKE-CHRISTIAN WAMHOFF
Image courtesy of Jessica Schulze.
Education: B. Sc. and M. Sc. at the Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany (2007−2012) Current Position: Ph.D. student at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany (since 2013); Department for Biomolecular Systems (Prof. Dr. Seeberger); Structural Glycobiology (Dr. Christoph Rademacher) Nonscientific Interests: Basketball, bouldering, music, literature, movies, and traveling 2384
DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00769 ACS Chem. Biol. 2016, 11, 2383−2385
ACS Chemical Biology
Introducing Our Authors
My research focuses on the design of glycomimetic ligands for the C-type lectin receptor Langerin. These ligands bear therapeutic potential in targeted delivery applications and simultaneously represent valuable tools to investigate dendritic cell biology. In spite of recent successful campaigns, the field of glycomimetic ligand design is still facing technological challenges. We employ an integrated design strategy comprising carbohydrate chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and computational methods to characterize and optimize the molecular recognition process. As a consequence of this work, I became particularly interested in the thermodynamic and kinetic characterization of carbohydrate recognition at different hierarchical levels. Detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms may enable us to eventually control the phenomenon of multivalency and to optimize the design of specific, functional nanoparticles. (Read Wamhoff’s article DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00561.)
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DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00769 ACS Chem. Biol. 2016, 11, 2383−2385
