Advances in Proteomics & Metabolomics 2024

Dr. Christoph Borchers is recognized as a pioneer and leading figure in the development of mass spectrometry-based methods for protein quantification using Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM). He has also published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals which have been cited more than 29,000 times (H-factor 82), and is the founder and director of the McGill-Lady Davis Institute Integrated Proteomics Program at the Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, where he is currently a full professor in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology. His research is centred around the improvement, development, and application of proteomics and metabolomics technologies, with a major focus on quantitative targeted proteomics for clinical diagnostics, as well as new mass-spectrometry-based techniques for structural proteomics. Dr. Borchers received his BS, MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Konstanz, Germany in 1996. After his post-doctoral training and employment as a staff scientist at NIEHS/NIH/RTP, NC, he became the director of the Duke–UNC Proteomics Facility and held a faculty position at the UNC Medical School in Chapel Hill, NC (2001-2006). From 2006 to 2019, he was a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, and Director of the University-Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where he held the Rix BC Leadership Chair in Biomedical and Environmental Proteomics. Dr. Borchers is also involved in promoting proteomics research and education through his involvement with HUPO (International Council Member), the British Columbia Proteomics Network (Executive Committee Member, past Scientific Director) and the Canadian National Proteomics Network (Member, past VP External and Chair of the Board of Directors). He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Mathias Uhlén received his PhD at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden in 1984. After a post-doc period at the EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany, he became professor in microbiology at KTH in 1988. His research is focused on protein science, antibody engineering and precision medicine and range from basic research in human and microbial biology to more applied research, including clinical applications in cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and neurobiology. His research has resulted in more than 750 publications. He is a member of several academies and societies, including Royal Swedish Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering (USA), the Swedish Academy of Engineering Science (IVA) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). His group was the first to describe a number of innovations in science including: Affinity-based protein engineering, Real-time sequencing by synthesis, Map of the human proteome (The Human Protein Atlas). The Human Protein Atlas program started by Dr Uhlén in 2003 with the aim to contribute to the holistic understanding of all the proteins encoded from our DNA. The objective of the program is to map all the human proteins in cells, tissues, and organs using integration of various omics technologies, including antibody-based imaging, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, transcriptomics, and systems biology. The ultimate aim for the project is a complete understanding of the functions and interactions of all proteins and where in the different cells and tissues they reside. Dr Uhlén was the Founding Director of the SciLifeLab from 2010–2015. This national infrastructure was launched in Stockholm with funding from the Swedish government to allow technology- and data-driven research to be establish as a support for Swedish and European research in life science.

Aaron Gajadhar received his doctorate in medical biophysics at the University of Toronto. Following his graduate training, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT with Forest White at the Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research. In 2015, Gajadhar joined Merrimack Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, where he worked as a senior scientist in early discovery. Gajadhar joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in San Jose in 2017 and was involved in developing new LC-MS technologies for the proteomics market. Since 2021, Gajadhar worked at Seer in roles spanning program management for proof-of-principle and collaborations, software product management, and, more recently, overseeing the strategic applications group to explore novel uses of Seer’s Proteograph Product Suite.

Gary Siuzdak, PhD is Professor and Senior Director of the Scripps Center for Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He has received an received honorary doctorate (with Emmanuelle Charpentier) from Umeå University for his work in activity metabolomics, and was a Faculty Guest at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Vice President of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. His research includes developing novel approaches to metabolomics, the development of nanostructure-initiated desorption/ionization, and intact viral analysis. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications and four books, the latest being Activity Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry, 2024, which is freely available at http://masspec.scripps.edu/.

Dr. Kari Basso is a prominent scientist at the University of Florida, where she serves as the Director of the Mass Spectrometry Research and Education Center. Her expertise lies in mass spectrometry, proteomics, and lipidomics. Before joining the University of Florida, she was the Director of the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility at The Ohio State University from 1999 to 2014. Dr. Basso has made significant contributions to the field of analytical chemistry, particularly in the development and application of mass spectrometry techniques. Her research focuses on the structural characterization of complex biological molecules, which has implications for understanding various biological processes and diseases. She is also recognized for her efforts in mentoring and supporting women in science, having been selected as a “female superstar in Mass Spec” by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. Her work continues to provide valuable insights and advancements in the field of mass spectrometry, making her a key figure in both academic and scientific communities.

Fabian Coscia obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, under supervision of Prof Matthias Mann. In his doctoral and later postdoctoral work as Marie Curie fellow at the Novo Nordisk Center for Protein Research (University of Copenhagen), he developed and applied single-cell and spatial tissue proteomics workflows, and pioneered a new discovery proteomics concept termed Deep Visual Proteomics. In June 2021, he joined the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin where he is heading the independent research group Spatial Proteomics. His team conducts translational proteomics studies and works at the interface between high-content imaging, deep learning and ultrasensitive mass spectrometry. More recently, he has been awarded an ERC starting grant to study cellular neighborhoods and their impact on the disease related proteome and cancer therapy resistance.

Simone Sidoli is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2014, he joined Ben Garcia’s lab, located within the Epigenetics Institute at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA). In this environment hosting many worldwide famous experts in epigenetics, he investigated human disease systems by developing a proteomics and computational pipeline to link cell signaling cascades (protein phosphorylation) with chromatin changes (histone modifications). He also applied this methodology to identify the regulated proteome during host viral infection. These methods include improvements in quantification accuracy of histone codes, enhancement of throughput, quantification of chromatin accessibility and follow-up optimization of the middle-down MS strategy. Simone has been a member of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), HUman Proteome Organization (HUPO) and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). Simone joined the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in February 2019, and he kick-started the lab officially in July 2019. He joined the Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Nathan Shock Institute for Aging Research, the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research and the Einstein Institute for Neuroimmunology and Inflammation. Since April 2020, he is also the Scientific Director of the Proteomics Core.

Dr. Hagen Gegner is an interdisciplinary scientist with expertise in metabolomics, mass spectrometry, and science communication. He earned his Ph.D. from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where his research focused on understanding the impact of environmental factors on coral reef ecosystems using metabolomics approaches. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Heidelberg, further developing his expertise in targeted metabolomics method development and application in clinical research. Hagen has a proven track record in method development, workflow optimization, and automation using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometers (MS). He has worked in both academic and corporate settings, leading data generation, analysis, and reporting for clinical as well as toxicology studies. His expertise lies in targeted metabolomics method development and the implementation of quality assurance strategies. He has a deep understanding of the challenges associated with metabolomics sample preparation and study design, particularly in clinical settings. Hagen's recent publications highlight his commitment to advancing the field of metabolomics:

Matt received his PhD in mass spectrometry from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He then joined Waters as the technical Marketing specialist for LCMS and MALDI Products. Matt joined Bruker in 2010 and is responsible for proteomics applications and support in North America.

Matteo is a Senior Biomarker Scientist in Owlstone Medical’s Clinical and Translational Science program. With 12+ years’ experience in rare diseases, metabolic disorders, and immunology, his expertise spans academic research and bio/med-tech and management consulting. He is an accomplished project leader, excelling in team-oriented environments for pre- and clinical biomarker discovery.

Janne Lehtiö has MSc degree from Helsinki University, Finland and PhD in engineering at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. Post the PhD, Lehtiö worked in USA based biotech industry; and obtained his postdoctoral experience in cancer research at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden. In 2015, he was selected to faculty Professor position at KI and since 2021 holds shared clinical professor position at Karolinska Univ. Hospital heading proteomics unit. Lehtiö-labs major research focus in on proteome analysis, systems biology and cancer precision medicine. He’s lab is working from methods development to clinical applications mainly focusing on lung and breast cancer as well as in leukaemia research. Lehtiö has also vast experience on research infrastructures, from heading core facilities and national infrastructure initiatives to expert assignments in the field of technology driven personalized medicine. Between 2018-2023 Lehtiö serves, as Scientific Director for SciLifeLab, Sweden’s national bioscience infrastructure and is engaged in SciLifeLab-KAW Data Driven Life Science program as steering group member and precision medicine area-lead. He also serves in Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Center board of directors and scientific advisory boards for national infrastructures in both Finland (Biocenter Finland) and Norway (NAPI) as well as Cancer Core Europe. Lehtiö is member of Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet warding Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

Crystal Montoya has spent 5 years at Miltenyi Biotec contributing to efforts expanding and researching new applications for fluorescent cell sorting. Crystal uses her broad background and expertise in both research and clinical environments to champion new workflows incorporating fluorescent cell sorting. Crystal has earned a B.S. in Biology and B.A in Chemistry from Whitworth University and a M.S. in Veterinary Immunology and Pathology from Washington State University. from University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from San Jose State University.