Schneller Frontiers Lecture - Livia Eberlin, Baylor College of Medicine

At this year's Schneller Frontiers Lecture, Dr. Livia Eberlin from Baylor College of Medicine will present a talk titled "Advancing Cancer Research and Treatment with Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry". The host is Dr. Ahmed Hamid.

Technologies that provide precise molecular diagnosis of clinical sample are highly desirable to guide treatment strategies and improve care for cancer patients. In particular, the ability to rapidly measure metabolism directly from human cells and tissues provides a powerful approach for cancer diagnosis, stratification, and prognosis. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (MS) techniques allow the chemical specificity and analytical sensitivity necessary to perform in situ analysis of biological samples for near real-time metabolic assessment. The chemically rich and reproducible mass spectra obtained are dominated by a wealth of metabolites, fatty acids, and complex lipid species, offering a powerful means for diagnosis and insights into biological mechanisms. The research in my group is focused on advancing the development and validation of ambient ionization MS techniques for cancer diagnosis and clinical implementation. In this presentation, I will highlight a few of my lab’s most recent research projects in this field, with emphasis on the use of mass spectrometry imaging for clinical diagnosis, and our efforts in developing and translating the MasSpec Pen technology for intraoperative use.