Ferguson, Carly N.
Carly is a first year trainee and is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her research mentor is Dr. Joseph Loo. She received a B.S. degree in 2009 from the University of Florida.
Mentor: Dr. Joseph Loo
Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) gives us the ability to directly identify biological compounds in tissues and to define spatial location within a given tissue or organism. These characteristics of MALDI-IMS will be utilized in whole-animal imaging studies to define the pharmacokinetics of drugs targeted at genetic disorders, such as Ataxia Telangeictasia. The resulting three-dimensional map will be useful in analyzing the effects of the drugs by allowing monitoring of changes in the proteome as well as metabolite production. In addition, MALDI-IMS will be used to probe 2D gels for salivary biomarkers of gastric cancer, eliminating the issues associated with protein extraction from gels and reducing the invasive nature of traditional diagnostic procedures.
