Young Investigator For reprint orders, please contact: [email protected]
Announcing our finalists! Vote now for your favourite Held in association with Waters and the European Bioanalysis Forum
Young investigator AWARD 2014
Each year, Bioanalysis and Bioanalysis Zone run the Young Investigator Award to identify and reward promising early-career researchers in our community. This year, 15 young scientists were nominated for the Award and their profiles have appeared on our sister website, Bioanalysis Zone. Now our Senior Editors and Expert Panel have helped us to narrow the field down to the five most exceptional candidates. We are delighted to announce our five finalists for the 2014 Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award (in alphabetical order): • Casey Burton (Missouri University of Science & Technology, MO, USA) • Cristina Guallar-Hoyas (Imperial College, London, UK) • Xiujun (James) Li (University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA) • Peter Nemes (Department of Chemistry, The George Washington University, DC, USA) • Adam Shuhendler (Radiology, Stanford University, CA, USA) Now we need your help to choose a winner! You can view their mini profiles below, please go to www.bioanalysis-zone.com to view the finalists’ full profiles and cast your vote in our simple online poll (closing 31st August). To help you decide, each finalist has submitted a 5 min presentation on their work.
10.4155/BIO.14.183 © 2014 Future Science Ltd
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14), 1883–1888
part of
ISSN 1757-6180
1883
Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Casey Burton Supporting Comments: I am thrilled to recommend Mr. Casey Burton for the Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award to commemorate his remarkable accomplishments at such an early stage in his bioanalytical career. As an undergraduate researcher in my laboratory, he published four peer-reviewed papers (three as first author and one as second author), and delivered 14 bioanalytical presentations at the local, national and international levels. Casey is undoubtedly the most productive undergraduate researcher among the 128 undergraduate students I have advised during my past 28 years of university-level teaching in the USA. As a current first year graduate student in my group, Mr. Burton has already published two high-impact papers, including one in Analytical Chemistry, and has three new manuscripts under preparation for submission to bioanalysis journals. His high research capacity is supplemented by a remarkable scientific aptitude that has enabled him to overcome many research challenges by himself. Finally, I must emphasize Casey’s natural leadership and charisma that has allowed him to become a main driver in our early cancer-detection research. I am confident that Casey will undoubtedly make an exceptional bioanalytical leader in the future and this award will provide well-deserved recognition and encouragement to continue his research endeavors. Nominated by: Dr Yinfa Ma, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 320 Schrenk Hall, 400 W. 11th St., Rolla, MO, 65409, USA, Tel.: +1 573 341 6620, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community My research aims at the development of highly robust, specific, and sensitive bioanalytical methodologies and diagnostic technologies to aid clinical validation and screening of emerging cancer biomarkers. Signaling a shift from traditional genomic and proteomic bioanalysis platforms, my work focuses on the emerging metabolomic field, and in particular, noninvasive urinary metabolomics, as a means to provide a more comprehensive, real-time assessment of disease stage and progression. The diverse chemical nature of metabolites has enabled detection by a variety of instrumental platforms and techniques, which a review of my work details the stunning versatility metabolic analyses offer to clinical practitioners. Specifically, I have developed independent analyses for sarcosine, alanine, creatinine, and eight clinically important pteridines using enzymatic fluorescence, LC– MS/MS, and CE-LIF instrumental platforms. Notably, my work with sarcosine involving enzymatically-induced pH changes that may be sensitively detected by fluorescein has provided a powerful assay for a wide variety of additionally useful biomarkers with specific oxidase enzymes. In addition, my LC–MS/MS methodology for urinary pteridines has enabled clinical trials to reliably validate pteridines as possible cancer biomarkers. Finally, my contributions to proposing novel urine concentration-dilution normalization factors, such as urine specific gravity, carry significant transformative potential to the bioanalytical field.
QQ How do you envisage the field of bioanalysis evolving in the future? In the past several years, we have entered an exciting, new era for early cancer detection. Enabled by a series of recent technological advances, the field of metabolomics has in many ways been reborn. Nevertheless, this blossoming field contains a multitude of bioanalytical difficulties. Unlike genomic and proteomic approaches that are often premised on pathological ‘switches’, many pathological metabolites are also physiologically present. Hence, one of the more pressing issues facing this infantile field is the development of comprehensive biomarker panels in order to describe a more complete image of patient health. A second consequence of this metabolite ubiquity is the implication of metabolic biomarkers in a variety of pathological conditions, which we recently highlighted with urinary pteridines. In this way, I foresee the bioanalysis community moving toward increasingly multivariate approaches monitoring a multitude of biomarkers and supplementary specimen information instead of several well-established biomarkers. Consequently, we can expect bioinformatics to pervade the bioanalytical community as the complexity of these new, powerful bioanalyses, aided by technological advances, increases. In other words, I believe we are on the brink of an exciting new era, for not only early cancer detection, but bioanalysis altogether.
1884
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14)
future science group
Announcing our finalists!
Young Investigator
Cristina Guallar-Hoyas Supporting Comments: Dr Guallar Hoyas worked with me and Prof Ian Wilson to establish non-invasive metabolomic approaches to biomarker discovery and next generation diagnostics as we set up a Centre for Analytical Science here at Loughborough. Her PhD programme successfully evaluated and developed a work-flow for volatile organic compound profiling; new candidate markers for stress and childhood asthma were subsequently reported. The key detail in this project was that although Dr Guallar’s focus was breath, her research unlocked approaches into skin and saliva and that has led to new toxicity screening methods and new routes to non-invasive marker discovery studies. On completion of her PhD, Dr Guallar Hoyas took up a research post in the department of surgery and cancer at imperial College working on the agenda setting iknife project, combining advanced sampling MS and clinical science. It is my judgement that Dr Guallar embodies the skills and spirit of our next generation of analytical scientists. She works in a multidisciplinary space that requires flexible and collaborative cross-disciplinary approaches. To date Dr Guallar’s has worked in clinical chemometric, mass spectrometric and analytical science research spaces, creating new bioanalytical approaches and new research pathways for biomarker prospecting and discovery. Nominated by: Prof CL Paul Thomas, Loughborough University, Leicester, LE11 3TU, UK, Tel.: +150 922 2549, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the most difficult challenge you have encountered in the laboratory and how you overcame it One of the most difficult challenges was the collection of breath samples from a large cohort of participants that took over a year to obtain. The stability of these samples was not well defined and rapid analysis after sampling was mandatory. During the year, retention time shifts due to the high water levels in breath gradually degrading the GC stationary phase were an important confounding factor. Until this was solved molecules could not be reliably tracked across the samples, and this prevented effective chemometric modelling. I developed a method that aligned and tracked all exhaled breath volatiles across the cohort. I developed a secondary retention index where the key was the realization that the retention index relationships of ubiquitous siloxanes present in all samples could be exploited to correct for shifts in retention time. Thermal desorption is a destructive sample introduction technique and samples are difficult to manipulate. Solving this vital data challenge was a breakthrough moment. It enabled breath volatiles to be coded by retention index and mass spectrum. This was essential to the subsequent creation of a breath data base and the breath matrix approach that has since been used successfully in multivariate analysis.
QQ Where do you see your career in bioanalysis taking you? I can see a career in which the combination of analytical techniques will be necessary to deliver a better understanding of the biochemistry associated with interacting processes within our bodies. Robust methods, reliable instrumentation and a complete understanding of metabolic processes are necessary to introduce bioanalysis in clinical laboratories. Each technique can provide complementary information with the potential of improving clinical outcomes for patients and the implementation of personalized medicine strategies. Marker discovery and stratified measurements is my goal.
future science group
www.future-science.com
1885
Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Xiujun (James) Li Supporting Comments: Xiujun Li is an outstanding young investigator in bioanalysis. During his PhD period in my group, he pioneered a new concept of ‘Same-single-cell analysis’ for multidrug resistance study using microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology, which was highlighted by ACS News in 2008. What amazed me the most is that he published nine peer-reviewed journal papers (two in Analytical Chemistry, one in Lab on a Chip) and three book chapters from his PhD work. After his PhD graduation, he gained extensive bioanalysis experience from postdoctoral research in genetic analysis with Prof. Richard Mathies at the University of California Berkeley (CA, USA), and low-cost diagnosis with Prof. George Whitesides at Harvard University (MA, USA), while holding a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. Since the start of his own bioanalysis career at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2012, I have seen extensive evidence of his development as an outstanding tenure-track young investigator. He edited a multidisciplinary book entitled ‘Microfluidic Devices for Biomedical Applications’ from Elsevier. His first-year research proposal was awarded by NIH with a grant of ~$450,000, and his research was highlighted several times by UTEP News and Magazine. He is also the recipient of Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal from Simon Fraser University in 2009, UT STARS Award in 2012, and Outstanding Performance Award in bioanalysis research from UTEP in 2014. Nominated by: Prof. Paul CH Li, Simon Fraser University, 888 University Drive-Chemistry, V5A 1S6, Canada, Tel.: +1 778 782 5956, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community During my PhD study, I initiated a new concept of ‘Same-single-cell analysis’ (Li XJ, Ling V, Li PCH. Samesingle-cell analysis for the study of drug efflux modulation of multidrug resistant cells using a microfluidic chip. Anal. Chem. 80, 4095–4102 [2008]) and applied it to solve cellular heterogeneity issues in multidrug resistance (MDR), a major obstacle in current cancer chemotherapy. This work can be beneficial for investigating MDR in minor cell subpopulations (e.g., cancer stem cells) and for personalized drugs, as highlighted by ACS News. After postdoctoral training in two prestigious groups at Harvard University and UC Berkeley, I also become interested in infectious disease diagnosis (e.g., meningitis). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), without epidemics, more than 200,000 people die annually due to meningitis. Most cases of such diseases occur in high-poverty countries, which cannot afford expensive and bulky instruments for diagnosis. Thus, I am focusing on developing simple low-cost point-of-care (POC) devices for disease diagnosis and pathogen detection in resource-poor setting, especially for developing nations. Because different LOC device substrates have their own advantages and disadvantages. I reported the first polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/paper hybrid LOC device for simple one-step pathogen detection (Lab Chip, 13, 3921 [2013]).
QQ Where do you see your career in bioanalysis taking you? My research is split into two directions, one of which is to study the fundamentals and mysteries of important cellular phenomena including cancer research. The other aims to tackle challenging real-world problems by developing POC devices for low-cost rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, such as meningitis, pertussis, and so on. For instance, meningitis is one of the most deadly global infectious diseases. Infected people can die within 24 h, if not diagnosed and treated quickly. This demands new technologies and methodologies for rapid diagnosis in low-resource settings. I hope the ‘little’ POC devices and a new start-up company that I am working on could help our ‘big’ world. Financial & competing interests disclosure Patents have been applied about the disease diagnosis and pathogen detection discussed in the manuscript (pending). A start-up company will commercialize related products.
1886
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14)
future science group
Announcing our finalists!
Young Investigator
Peter Nemes Supporting Comments: I write to nominate Prof. Peter Nemes for the Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award. A gifted experimentalist, Prof. Nemes’s work with Prof Vertes led to the development of the patented Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization (LAESI) system, selected by R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most significant inventions of 2012. For his postdoctoral work and continuing at the US FDA, he demonstrated his talent to innovate by combining his expertise in integrating fields of proteomics and metabolomics through new forms of MS by hyphenating single cell capillary electrophoresis to MS. His current interests enable the capability for expanding the detection of substances in the metabolome and peptidome, “providing spatiotemporal assessment of important biomolecules.” Recently, he expanded by establishing a cross-disciplinary program to target the glycosylated proteins found in congenital muscular dystrophy. The platform will fill a gap for use in neuroscience (and other fields) in general using microscopy-guided sampling, CE separation, and accurate high-resolution MS to separate and identify assorted compounds in their original environments. This program is important because to definitively understand cellular processes in volume limited samples we must be able to quantify the chemically complex samples without changing the environment in which the samples are found. Nominated by: Prof and Chair Michael King, Department of Chemistry, The George Washington University, 725 21st St., NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA, Tel.: +1 202 994 6488, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ What made you choose a career in bioanalysis? Understanding mechanisms that govern states of health and disease is critical to developing next-generation treatments, but this largely depends on the bioanalytical toolset that is available to these investigations. At an early career, I recognized the central position that the bioanalytical field fulfills towards this goal. I strategically selected bioanalysis as a career because I knew that the systematic and thorough approaches that are undertaken in this field would promote innovating technologies, provide answers to leading challenges in health research, and move science forward at a basic level.
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community My research focuses on developing next-generation bioanalytical platforms to enhance basic and applied research. I have been fortunate to introduce notable innovations, and three are discussed here. 1) As a PhD student, I co-invented laser ablation ESI-MS, LAESI, a novel MS technology for high-throughput and in vivo analyses of metabolites, peptides, and proteins and their imaging in 2D and 3D in tissues. The bioanalytical industry commercialized LAESI, and the industrialized product, DP-1000, was released for the US and European markets last year. Bioanalysis recognized LAESI in the News and Analysis section in 2010, and LAESI received the 2012 North American Frost&Sullivan, Pittcon 2012 Editors’ Bronze Award, 2012 R&D Top-100-Innovations, and the Scientist Magazine 2011 Top-10-Innovation awards. 2) As a postdoctorate Scientist, I developed single-cell capillary electrophoresis MS and measured the metabolome of individual identified neurons. This work received the 2010 Science and Technology Innovation award from Baxter Healthcare Corporation. 3) As a laboratory leader at the US FDA, I introduced pyrolysis DART MS, making screening of the notorious contaminated heparin 100fold faster. The work received the FDA’s 2013 Special Recognition Award. As an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, I am currently developing new bioanalytical advances for volume-limited samples including single cells. Financial & competing interests disclosure P Nemes is a member of the Science Advisory Board for Protea Biosciences (Morgantown, WV) at remuneration. He holds several patents to the LAESI invention, and receives royalties for LAESI from the George Washington University.
future science group
www.future-science.com
1887
Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Adam Shuhendler Supporting Comments: Adam is one of the rare young talents who merge in vitro bioanalysis with in vivo molecular imaging. He combined training in bioanalysis and pharmaceutical sciences and is making unique contributions to bioanalysis research. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford for 2.5 years and has published eight papers, with many in high impact journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Chemistry. In nearly all of the papers he has been the driving force from experimental design, execution to data analysis. His work involves the use of analytical techniques to measure biomolecules in living subjects. Different from traditional bioanalysis, which typically handles in vitro samples, he is facing much more complicated challenges by directly measuring biomolecules in vivo, which requires efforts in both analytical techniques and molecular design of biosensors. A good example is his latest paper in Nature Biotechnology that simultaneously measures both drug-induced oxidative and nitrosative stress in mouse livers in real time, a very difficult problem in the field. Adam has won a number of awards for his creative work, including a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship, travel awards, best poster awards and a young investigator award. He is truly deserving of this special recognition. Nominated by: Dr. Jianghong Rao, Stanford University, Radiology, 1201 Welch Rd, Stanford, CA, USA, Tel.: +1 650 736 8563, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the most difficult challenge you have encountered in the laboratory and how you overcame it The most difficult challenge I have faced in designing molecular imaging probes for in vivo and in situ bioanalysis is finding the right materials from which to construct the nanosensors that satisfy key requirements. In addition to biocompatibility, sensitivity and target specificity, and since the target for these probes are highly oxidative RONS, it was paramount that the nanoprobe materials resisted oxidation and maintained their emissive properties in order to ensure true ratiometric fluorescence in vivo imaging. Finally, since the goal was bioanalysis in living animals, near-IR emission from the material was necessary. A failure of the nanoprobe material to satisfy any of these requirements would have led to failure of the bioanalytical probe. This challenge, which was fundamental to nanoprobe success, was overcome with the integration of semiconducting polymers into the nanoprobe design: biocompatible, near-infrared emitting materials with excellent resistance to RONS-induced chemical oxidation. The combination of these robust polymers with RONS sensing moieties has provided the foundation for the successful investigation of RONS in vivo, extending bioanalysis previously limited to in vitro applications into the whole living animal.
QQ How do you envisage the field of bioanalysis evolving in the future? Our global community of scientists is uncovering fundamental aspects of biology, chemistry, and physics. While this continuously and exponentially expands our knowledge, it also exposes current gaps in our understanding. However, at the same time it provides innovations in materials and instrumentation with which to seal these gaps. This will be key for bioanalytical techniques, as bioanalytical scientists will be tasked with searching out these novel materials and technologies, and to apply them in unique ways. I believe bioanalysis will make two major leaps forward in the future: (1) high fidelity and rapid whole pan-omic analysis from patient blood samples for diagnosis of disease and monitoring of therapy response; (2) high spatial and temporal resolution molecular imaging techniques predicated upon novel ‘smart’ imaging probes responsive to small molecule or enzyme targets pertinent to disease onset, progression or remediation. Bioanalytical techniques that have changed the way biological samples are analyzed (i.e., microfluidics and electrophoresis), and imaging technologies that allow us to see into living things are well out of their infancy and are primed with knowledge and experience. This is why I believe that this combination of innovative ex vivo and in vivo bioanalytical techniques will drive the future of bioanalysis.
Financial & competing interests disclosure Apart from the disclsosure for X Li and P Nemes, the authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the
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Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14)
manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
future science group
Announcing our finalists!
future science group
Young Investigator
www.future-science.com
1889
Announcing our finalists! Vote now for your favourite Held in association with Waters and the European Bioanalysis Forum
Young investigator AWARD 2014
Each year, Bioanalysis and Bioanalysis Zone run the Young Investigator Award to identify and reward promising early-career researchers in our community. This year, 15 young scientists were nominated for the Award and their profiles have appeared on our sister website, Bioanalysis Zone. Now our Senior Editors and Expert Panel have helped us to narrow the field down to the five most exceptional candidates. We are delighted to announce our five finalists for the 2014 Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award (in alphabetical order): • Casey Burton (Missouri University of Science & Technology, MO, USA) • Cristina Guallar-Hoyas (Imperial College, London, UK) • Xiujun (James) Li (University of Texas at El Paso, TX, USA) • Peter Nemes (Department of Chemistry, The George Washington University, DC, USA) • Adam Shuhendler (Radiology, Stanford University, CA, USA) Now we need your help to choose a winner! You can view their mini profiles below, please go to www.bioanalysis-zone.com to view the finalists’ full profiles and cast your vote in our simple online poll (closing 31st August). To help you decide, each finalist has submitted a 5 min presentation on their work.
10.4155/BIO.14.183 © 2014 Future Science Ltd
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14), 1883–1888
part of
ISSN 1757-6180
1883
Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Casey Burton Supporting Comments: I am thrilled to recommend Mr. Casey Burton for the Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award to commemorate his remarkable accomplishments at such an early stage in his bioanalytical career. As an undergraduate researcher in my laboratory, he published four peer-reviewed papers (three as first author and one as second author), and delivered 14 bioanalytical presentations at the local, national and international levels. Casey is undoubtedly the most productive undergraduate researcher among the 128 undergraduate students I have advised during my past 28 years of university-level teaching in the USA. As a current first year graduate student in my group, Mr. Burton has already published two high-impact papers, including one in Analytical Chemistry, and has three new manuscripts under preparation for submission to bioanalysis journals. His high research capacity is supplemented by a remarkable scientific aptitude that has enabled him to overcome many research challenges by himself. Finally, I must emphasize Casey’s natural leadership and charisma that has allowed him to become a main driver in our early cancer-detection research. I am confident that Casey will undoubtedly make an exceptional bioanalytical leader in the future and this award will provide well-deserved recognition and encouragement to continue his research endeavors. Nominated by: Dr Yinfa Ma, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 320 Schrenk Hall, 400 W. 11th St., Rolla, MO, 65409, USA, Tel.: +1 573 341 6620, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community My research aims at the development of highly robust, specific, and sensitive bioanalytical methodologies and diagnostic technologies to aid clinical validation and screening of emerging cancer biomarkers. Signaling a shift from traditional genomic and proteomic bioanalysis platforms, my work focuses on the emerging metabolomic field, and in particular, noninvasive urinary metabolomics, as a means to provide a more comprehensive, real-time assessment of disease stage and progression. The diverse chemical nature of metabolites has enabled detection by a variety of instrumental platforms and techniques, which a review of my work details the stunning versatility metabolic analyses offer to clinical practitioners. Specifically, I have developed independent analyses for sarcosine, alanine, creatinine, and eight clinically important pteridines using enzymatic fluorescence, LC– MS/MS, and CE-LIF instrumental platforms. Notably, my work with sarcosine involving enzymatically-induced pH changes that may be sensitively detected by fluorescein has provided a powerful assay for a wide variety of additionally useful biomarkers with specific oxidase enzymes. In addition, my LC–MS/MS methodology for urinary pteridines has enabled clinical trials to reliably validate pteridines as possible cancer biomarkers. Finally, my contributions to proposing novel urine concentration-dilution normalization factors, such as urine specific gravity, carry significant transformative potential to the bioanalytical field.
QQ How do you envisage the field of bioanalysis evolving in the future? In the past several years, we have entered an exciting, new era for early cancer detection. Enabled by a series of recent technological advances, the field of metabolomics has in many ways been reborn. Nevertheless, this blossoming field contains a multitude of bioanalytical difficulties. Unlike genomic and proteomic approaches that are often premised on pathological ‘switches’, many pathological metabolites are also physiologically present. Hence, one of the more pressing issues facing this infantile field is the development of comprehensive biomarker panels in order to describe a more complete image of patient health. A second consequence of this metabolite ubiquity is the implication of metabolic biomarkers in a variety of pathological conditions, which we recently highlighted with urinary pteridines. In this way, I foresee the bioanalysis community moving toward increasingly multivariate approaches monitoring a multitude of biomarkers and supplementary specimen information instead of several well-established biomarkers. Consequently, we can expect bioinformatics to pervade the bioanalytical community as the complexity of these new, powerful bioanalyses, aided by technological advances, increases. In other words, I believe we are on the brink of an exciting new era, for not only early cancer detection, but bioanalysis altogether.
1884
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14)
future science group
Announcing our finalists!
Young Investigator
Cristina Guallar-Hoyas Supporting Comments: Dr Guallar Hoyas worked with me and Prof Ian Wilson to establish non-invasive metabolomic approaches to biomarker discovery and next generation diagnostics as we set up a Centre for Analytical Science here at Loughborough. Her PhD programme successfully evaluated and developed a work-flow for volatile organic compound profiling; new candidate markers for stress and childhood asthma were subsequently reported. The key detail in this project was that although Dr Guallar’s focus was breath, her research unlocked approaches into skin and saliva and that has led to new toxicity screening methods and new routes to non-invasive marker discovery studies. On completion of her PhD, Dr Guallar Hoyas took up a research post in the department of surgery and cancer at imperial College working on the agenda setting iknife project, combining advanced sampling MS and clinical science. It is my judgement that Dr Guallar embodies the skills and spirit of our next generation of analytical scientists. She works in a multidisciplinary space that requires flexible and collaborative cross-disciplinary approaches. To date Dr Guallar’s has worked in clinical chemometric, mass spectrometric and analytical science research spaces, creating new bioanalytical approaches and new research pathways for biomarker prospecting and discovery. Nominated by: Prof CL Paul Thomas, Loughborough University, Leicester, LE11 3TU, UK, Tel.: +150 922 2549, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the most difficult challenge you have encountered in the laboratory and how you overcame it One of the most difficult challenges was the collection of breath samples from a large cohort of participants that took over a year to obtain. The stability of these samples was not well defined and rapid analysis after sampling was mandatory. During the year, retention time shifts due to the high water levels in breath gradually degrading the GC stationary phase were an important confounding factor. Until this was solved molecules could not be reliably tracked across the samples, and this prevented effective chemometric modelling. I developed a method that aligned and tracked all exhaled breath volatiles across the cohort. I developed a secondary retention index where the key was the realization that the retention index relationships of ubiquitous siloxanes present in all samples could be exploited to correct for shifts in retention time. Thermal desorption is a destructive sample introduction technique and samples are difficult to manipulate. Solving this vital data challenge was a breakthrough moment. It enabled breath volatiles to be coded by retention index and mass spectrum. This was essential to the subsequent creation of a breath data base and the breath matrix approach that has since been used successfully in multivariate analysis.
QQ Where do you see your career in bioanalysis taking you? I can see a career in which the combination of analytical techniques will be necessary to deliver a better understanding of the biochemistry associated with interacting processes within our bodies. Robust methods, reliable instrumentation and a complete understanding of metabolic processes are necessary to introduce bioanalysis in clinical laboratories. Each technique can provide complementary information with the potential of improving clinical outcomes for patients and the implementation of personalized medicine strategies. Marker discovery and stratified measurements is my goal.
future science group
www.future-science.com
1885
Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Xiujun (James) Li Supporting Comments: Xiujun Li is an outstanding young investigator in bioanalysis. During his PhD period in my group, he pioneered a new concept of ‘Same-single-cell analysis’ for multidrug resistance study using microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology, which was highlighted by ACS News in 2008. What amazed me the most is that he published nine peer-reviewed journal papers (two in Analytical Chemistry, one in Lab on a Chip) and three book chapters from his PhD work. After his PhD graduation, he gained extensive bioanalysis experience from postdoctoral research in genetic analysis with Prof. Richard Mathies at the University of California Berkeley (CA, USA), and low-cost diagnosis with Prof. George Whitesides at Harvard University (MA, USA), while holding a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. Since the start of his own bioanalysis career at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2012, I have seen extensive evidence of his development as an outstanding tenure-track young investigator. He edited a multidisciplinary book entitled ‘Microfluidic Devices for Biomedical Applications’ from Elsevier. His first-year research proposal was awarded by NIH with a grant of ~$450,000, and his research was highlighted several times by UTEP News and Magazine. He is also the recipient of Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal from Simon Fraser University in 2009, UT STARS Award in 2012, and Outstanding Performance Award in bioanalysis research from UTEP in 2014. Nominated by: Prof. Paul CH Li, Simon Fraser University, 888 University Drive-Chemistry, V5A 1S6, Canada, Tel.: +1 778 782 5956, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community During my PhD study, I initiated a new concept of ‘Same-single-cell analysis’ (Li XJ, Ling V, Li PCH. Samesingle-cell analysis for the study of drug efflux modulation of multidrug resistant cells using a microfluidic chip. Anal. Chem. 80, 4095–4102 [2008]) and applied it to solve cellular heterogeneity issues in multidrug resistance (MDR), a major obstacle in current cancer chemotherapy. This work can be beneficial for investigating MDR in minor cell subpopulations (e.g., cancer stem cells) and for personalized drugs, as highlighted by ACS News. After postdoctoral training in two prestigious groups at Harvard University and UC Berkeley, I also become interested in infectious disease diagnosis (e.g., meningitis). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), without epidemics, more than 200,000 people die annually due to meningitis. Most cases of such diseases occur in high-poverty countries, which cannot afford expensive and bulky instruments for diagnosis. Thus, I am focusing on developing simple low-cost point-of-care (POC) devices for disease diagnosis and pathogen detection in resource-poor setting, especially for developing nations. Because different LOC device substrates have their own advantages and disadvantages. I reported the first polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/paper hybrid LOC device for simple one-step pathogen detection (Lab Chip, 13, 3921 [2013]).
QQ Where do you see your career in bioanalysis taking you? My research is split into two directions, one of which is to study the fundamentals and mysteries of important cellular phenomena including cancer research. The other aims to tackle challenging real-world problems by developing POC devices for low-cost rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, such as meningitis, pertussis, and so on. For instance, meningitis is one of the most deadly global infectious diseases. Infected people can die within 24 h, if not diagnosed and treated quickly. This demands new technologies and methodologies for rapid diagnosis in low-resource settings. I hope the ‘little’ POC devices and a new start-up company that I am working on could help our ‘big’ world. Financial & competing interests disclosure Patents have been applied about the disease diagnosis and pathogen detection discussed in the manuscript (pending). A start-up company will commercialize related products.
1886
Bioanalysis (2014) 6(14)
future science group
Announcing our finalists!
Young Investigator
Peter Nemes Supporting Comments: I write to nominate Prof. Peter Nemes for the Bioanalysis Young Investigator Award. A gifted experimentalist, Prof. Nemes’s work with Prof Vertes led to the development of the patented Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization (LAESI) system, selected by R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most significant inventions of 2012. For his postdoctoral work and continuing at the US FDA, he demonstrated his talent to innovate by combining his expertise in integrating fields of proteomics and metabolomics through new forms of MS by hyphenating single cell capillary electrophoresis to MS. His current interests enable the capability for expanding the detection of substances in the metabolome and peptidome, “providing spatiotemporal assessment of important biomolecules.” Recently, he expanded by establishing a cross-disciplinary program to target the glycosylated proteins found in congenital muscular dystrophy. The platform will fill a gap for use in neuroscience (and other fields) in general using microscopy-guided sampling, CE separation, and accurate high-resolution MS to separate and identify assorted compounds in their original environments. This program is important because to definitively understand cellular processes in volume limited samples we must be able to quantify the chemically complex samples without changing the environment in which the samples are found. Nominated by: Prof and Chair Michael King, Department of Chemistry, The George Washington University, 725 21st St., NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA, Tel.: +1 202 994 6488, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ What made you choose a career in bioanalysis? Understanding mechanisms that govern states of health and disease is critical to developing next-generation treatments, but this largely depends on the bioanalytical toolset that is available to these investigations. At an early career, I recognized the central position that the bioanalytical field fulfills towards this goal. I strategically selected bioanalysis as a career because I knew that the systematic and thorough approaches that are undertaken in this field would promote innovating technologies, provide answers to leading challenges in health research, and move science forward at a basic level.
QQ Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical research, and its importance to the bioanalytical community My research focuses on developing next-generation bioanalytical platforms to enhance basic and applied research. I have been fortunate to introduce notable innovations, and three are discussed here. 1) As a PhD student, I co-invented laser ablation ESI-MS, LAESI, a novel MS technology for high-throughput and in vivo analyses of metabolites, peptides, and proteins and their imaging in 2D and 3D in tissues. The bioanalytical industry commercialized LAESI, and the industrialized product, DP-1000, was released for the US and European markets last year. Bioanalysis recognized LAESI in the News and Analysis section in 2010, and LAESI received the 2012 North American Frost&Sullivan, Pittcon 2012 Editors’ Bronze Award, 2012 R&D Top-100-Innovations, and the Scientist Magazine 2011 Top-10-Innovation awards. 2) As a postdoctorate Scientist, I developed single-cell capillary electrophoresis MS and measured the metabolome of individual identified neurons. This work received the 2010 Science and Technology Innovation award from Baxter Healthcare Corporation. 3) As a laboratory leader at the US FDA, I introduced pyrolysis DART MS, making screening of the notorious contaminated heparin 100fold faster. The work received the FDA’s 2013 Special Recognition Award. As an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, I am currently developing new bioanalytical advances for volume-limited samples including single cells. Financial & competing interests disclosure P Nemes is a member of the Science Advisory Board for Protea Biosciences (Morgantown, WV) at remuneration. He holds several patents to the LAESI invention, and receives royalties for LAESI from the George Washington University.
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Young Investigator Announcing our finalists! Adam Shuhendler Supporting Comments: Adam is one of the rare young talents who merge in vitro bioanalysis with in vivo molecular imaging. He combined training in bioanalysis and pharmaceutical sciences and is making unique contributions to bioanalysis research. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford for 2.5 years and has published eight papers, with many in high impact journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Chemistry. In nearly all of the papers he has been the driving force from experimental design, execution to data analysis. His work involves the use of analytical techniques to measure biomolecules in living subjects. Different from traditional bioanalysis, which typically handles in vitro samples, he is facing much more complicated challenges by directly measuring biomolecules in vivo, which requires efforts in both analytical techniques and molecular design of biosensors. A good example is his latest paper in Nature Biotechnology that simultaneously measures both drug-induced oxidative and nitrosative stress in mouse livers in real time, a very difficult problem in the field. Adam has won a number of awards for his creative work, including a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship, travel awards, best poster awards and a young investigator award. He is truly deserving of this special recognition. Nominated by: Dr. Jianghong Rao, Stanford University, Radiology, 1201 Welch Rd, Stanford, CA, USA, Tel.: +1 650 736 8563, E-mail: [email protected]
QQ Describe the most difficult challenge you have encountered in the laboratory and how you overcame it The most difficult challenge I have faced in designing molecular imaging probes for in vivo and in situ bioanalysis is finding the right materials from which to construct the nanosensors that satisfy key requirements. In addition to biocompatibility, sensitivity and target specificity, and since the target for these probes are highly oxidative RONS, it was paramount that the nanoprobe materials resisted oxidation and maintained their emissive properties in order to ensure true ratiometric fluorescence in vivo imaging. Finally, since the goal was bioanalysis in living animals, near-IR emission from the material was necessary. A failure of the nanoprobe material to satisfy any of these requirements would have led to failure of the bioanalytical probe. This challenge, which was fundamental to nanoprobe success, was overcome with the integration of semiconducting polymers into the nanoprobe design: biocompatible, near-infrared emitting materials with excellent resistance to RONS-induced chemical oxidation. The combination of these robust polymers with RONS sensing moieties has provided the foundation for the successful investigation of RONS in vivo, extending bioanalysis previously limited to in vitro applications into the whole living animal.
QQ How do you envisage the field of bioanalysis evolving in the future? Our global community of scientists is uncovering fundamental aspects of biology, chemistry, and physics. While this continuously and exponentially expands our knowledge, it also exposes current gaps in our understanding. However, at the same time it provides innovations in materials and instrumentation with which to seal these gaps. This will be key for bioanalytical techniques, as bioanalytical scientists will be tasked with searching out these novel materials and technologies, and to apply them in unique ways. I believe bioanalysis will make two major leaps forward in the future: (1) high fidelity and rapid whole pan-omic analysis from patient blood samples for diagnosis of disease and monitoring of therapy response; (2) high spatial and temporal resolution molecular imaging techniques predicated upon novel ‘smart’ imaging probes responsive to small molecule or enzyme targets pertinent to disease onset, progression or remediation. Bioanalytical techniques that have changed the way biological samples are analyzed (i.e., microfluidics and electrophoresis), and imaging technologies that allow us to see into living things are well out of their infancy and are primed with knowledge and experience. This is why I believe that this combination of innovative ex vivo and in vivo bioanalytical techniques will drive the future of bioanalysis.
Financial & competing interests disclosure Apart from the disclsosure for X Li and P Nemes, the authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the
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manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
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Announcing our finalists!
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