Three analytical problems, start to finish

Plant biology studies needed hormone and lipid signals measured together from limited tissue, not class by class in separate assays.

Developed a targeted LC-MS/MS method on a SCIEX 3200 quantifying 80+ analytes across jasmonates, salicylic acid, abscisic acid, auxins and oxylipins from about 150 mg of tissue.

The method supported collaborative studies published in Plant Cell, Molecular Plant, Phytochemistry, Planta and Annals of Applied Biology. I also ran it as a fee-based analytical service for outside labs.

SCIEX 3200 · targeted MRM · internal standards · extraction development

A new research program needed targeted metabolite and hormone quantification on site.

Selected and purchased a SCIEX QTRAP 6500+ with startup funds; oversaw installation and vendor qualification; wrote the lab’s SOPs. Transferred the Texas A&M method to the new platform and improved it, achieving lower LODs with the more sensitive instrument and adding a cryogenic homogenization step to limit analyte degradation during extraction.

The instrument anchored a 10-person research lab where I trained 30+ student researchers in sample preparation, LC-MS/MS operation and data analysis.

SCIEX QTRAP 6500+ · SCIEX OS · method transfer · SOP authoring · cryogenic bead homogenization

Jasmonic acid’s role in insect defense is well established, but whether oxylipins from the 9-lipoxygenase branch contribute was unclear.

Continued backcross introgression of the lox5 Mu transposon-insertion mutant, PCR-genotyping each generation, and developed the targeted LC-MS/MS profiling used to compare wound-induced oxylipins and hormones between mutants and wild type.

The team identified the α-ketol 9,10-KODA as a defense signal. Mutants lacking the gene lost resistance to insect feeding; treating them with 9,10-KODA restored it and primed production of the hormones ABA and 12-OPDA rather than JA-Ile.

Mu transposon genetics · PCR genotyping · targeted LC-MS/MS · oxylipin and hormone profiling