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Carlito Lebrilla, PhD UC Davis The focus of the group is in the development of analytical tools based on advanced separation and mass spectrometry in two areas—nutrition and diseases. We are developing mass spectrometry based tools for the discovery of markers for cancer including ovarian, breast, and prostate. We are pioneering the glycomic approach for the early diagnosis of cancer. In nutrition we are examining human milk as the model for the perfect food and determining bioactive components in milk.

The path from fundamental discoveries with MS to translation and commercialization.

Location: De Anza

Stefani Thomas, PhD, DABCC, NRCC University of Minnesota Dr. Stefani Thomas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota, and the Associate Medical Director of the M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center West Bank Laboratory. She earned a BA in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth College, a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California, and she completed a Clinical Chemistry postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Her research program at the University of Minnesota utilizes mass spectrometry-based clinical proteomics for therapeutic and diagnostic biomarker development.

The mutational status of a solid tumor can predict the therapeutic efficacy of a specific drug in a molecularly defined subset of patients. Targeted therapies are available to treat advanced (stage II – IV) ovarian cancer with mutations in BRCA1/2 genes. Unfortunately, there is considerable inter-patient heterogeneity in BRCA1/2–based determinations of drug treatment sensitivity. Determining the proteome-level mechanisms of drug treatment sensitivity could enhance our ability to select the ovarian cancer patient populations that would benefit the most from these targeted therapies, consequently improving survival and overall treatment response. Our laboratory is applying mass spectrometry-based proteomics to identify protein signatures of drug treatment sensitivity and subsequent patient stratification for treatment. This presentation will provide an overview of the experimental models and analytical approaches that we are utilizing toward a long-term goal of identifying prognostic protein biomarkers of drug treatment sensitivity in patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer.

Location: De Anza

Peggi Angel, PhD MUSC Proteomics Center Peggi Angel is Associate Professor at Medical University of South Carolina, where she works on technology advancements in MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) and biomarker imaging analyses in cancer disparities. Dr. Angel attended graduate school at the University of Georgia’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, graduating with a PhD in 2007. Her graduate research was on development of technologies for mapping N-linked glycan sites in mammalian development. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University focused on membrane proteomics of fetal alcohol syndrome, she won a competitive Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Systems-based Consortium for Organ Design and Engineering. With the Fellowship, she worked at Vanderbilt University in the laboratory of Richard Caprioli on methods using MALDI IMS for developmental biology. Dr. Angel has developed IMS methods for increasing sensitivity of protein detection from tissues, analysis and identification of signaling lipids in negative mode, targeted metabolomics on tissue and cell culture, extracellular matrix protein detection in FFPE tissues, and N-glycomic strategies for proteins, cells, and tissue. Dr. Angel is a co-founder of Glycopath, a company that focuses on glycosylation patterns as a prognostic or diagnostic tool. She serves on the board of N-Zyme Scientifics, a company that produces enzymes for mass spectrometry. Dr. Angel is committed to serving the imaging mass spectrometry community and serves as President-Elect for the US Imaging Mass Spectrometry Society.

N-glycosylation plays a significant role in immune cell recruitment, influences disease progression and outcome and response to therapy. Here, we discuss simplified workflows capable of reporting N-glycan expression patterns in tissues, cells and biofluids. We present translational and pre-clinical work investigating glycosylation patterns in cardiovascular disease, cancer risk and cancer. A long-term goal is to leverage glycosylation patterns to non-invasively monitor disease status and therapeutic efficacy.

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