SBS Seminar:
Dr Nicholas Demarais and Dr Gus Grey

We are pleased to announce the opening seminars in our mass spectrometry seminar series, aimed at educating researchers on how some of the core mass spectrometry techniques are performed and what can be achieved. Join us for presentations on “Spatially-resolved ‘omics using MALDI imaging mass spectromery” by Dr Nicholas Demarais and “Visualising the physiological biochemistry of human ocular lens transparency and cataract with imaging mass spectrometry” by Dr Gus Grey.

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful tool that enables targeted and untargeted investigations into the spatial distribution of molecular species in a variety of samples. It has the capability to image thousands of molecules, such as metabolites, lipids, peptides, proteins, and glycans, in a single experiment without labelling. The combination of information gained from mass spectra and visualization of spatial distributions in thin sample sections makes this a valuable chemical analysis tool for biological specimen characterization.

In this seminar, Drs Demarais and Grey will discuss their recent works and the MALDI Imaging Pipeline they have developed between the FoS and FMHS.  The first half of the seminar delivered by Dr Demarais will comprise two vignettes highlighting high-spatial and spectra resolution of brain tissue for lipidomic analysis relating to Huntington’s Disease, and high sensitivity metabolomic investigation of small molecule UV light filters in the aging human eye lens.  The second half of the seminar will focus on Dr Grey’s work using MSI to visualise the physiological biochemistry of ocular lens transparency and cataract. A combination of protein, metabolite, and ocular drug imaging will be presented to show the versatility of MSI, and some methodological developments translating MSI into three dimensions, aimed at understanding the role of the lens in overall ocular health will be discussed.

Dr Demarais is a research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences and an expert in high mass resolution (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Dr Gus Grey is a senior research fellow in the School of Medical Sciences, and an expert in MALDI imaging with a specific focus on the ocular lens and eye diseases.