Shared Resource Director
John Haley, PhD
Associate Professor Research
Department of Pathology
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Overview
The Biological Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource (MS-SR) was developed at Stony Brook Cancer Center, providing investigators with a wide range of analytical capabilities to support their research programs.
The MS-SR has instrumentation and expertise in three broad areas of molecular analysis: proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolite/small molecule. Advances in the sampling rate and sensitivity of mass spectrometry have enhanced global and targeted analyte measurements as well as structural analysis. Current services include protein/peptide quantitation, small molecule/pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis, polar metabolite studies, bioactive lipid profiling and quantitation, lipid flux, and the quantitation of DNA adducts and repair intermediates.
The MS-SR has established routine use of qualitative and quantitative proteomics (using both label free and stable isotope approaches), with experience in the analysis of protein complexes and in post-translational modifications important in cancer cell signaling and drug action. The lipidomics portion of the MS-SR offers targeted analysis of multiple lipid classes, notably sphingolipids and ceramides by LC-MS/MS. This service has transformed the field of lipids in cancer biology, and the MS-SR facility and Stony Brook Cancer Center (SBCC) investigators have played a pivotal role in advancing this field.
The MS-SR continues to develop cutting-edge methodology utilizing a pulse of unnatural sphingolipid to accurately monitor metabolic flux in this pathway. For example, studies enabled by the MS-SR resulted in identification of the novel acyl-ceramides with important roles in regulating apoptosis and cancer therapy (Cell Metabolism 2017).
The SBCC recently acquired two state-of-the-art Bruker scanning MALDI/ESI instruments, timsTOF fleX and rapifleX, for the MS-SR. These two instruments allow investigators to measure lipids, metabolites, drug levels and proteins in a tissue scanning mode, thus, providing marked synergy between digital pathology and IHC data from the same tissue blocks. This is revolutionizing the translational activities of research at the SBCC.
Our metabolite analysis suite offers an array of targeted assays covering a broad spectrum of inflammatory and biosynthetic pathways. We have developed considerable experience in absolute quantitation of polar metabolites and drug metabolites in mouse and human tissue and plasma samples, most frequently for drug development projects.
Professional Staff:
Bo Chen, PhD (Technical Director)
Izolda Mileva, MS (Lipidomics)
Robert Rieger, BS (Metabolites)