Congratulations to Andres on the award of his MPhil degree. We look forward to welcoming him back to Manchester very soon to study for a PhD. Hasta la vista, Andres!
PhD Studentship
New insights into disease pathogenesis and therapy through high resolution mass spectrometry imaging
Dr Nick Lockyer, Dr Katie Moore, Prof Kaye Williams
3.5 year MRC DTP PhD Studentship (UK/EU)
Application Deadline: 18 November 2016
Various imaging modalities provide essential tools in modern biological and medical research. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for example employs fluorophore- or enzyme-tagged antibodies to report the distribution of disease-associated proteins in pathological tissues. In this project we will explore the application of mass spectrometry imaging technology to provide a more quantitative and comprehensive distribution of diagnostic ions related to cancer biomarkers and drug therapy. This is important because of the heterogeneity of solid tumours containing a variety of cells involved in biological cross-talk and responding differently to drug intervention.
The approach will be based on the highly sensitive detection of established and novel anticancer metallo-drugs e.g. cisplatin and metal/nanoparticle-tagged antibodies binding to specific protein biomarkers. Samples will range from in-vitro cellular targets, to multi-cellular 3D tumour models and tissue microarrays. We will assess the performance characteristics of the latest secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging platforms in a series of calibration studies and perform benchmarking against the current state-of-the-art IHC approaches. This technology has the potential to precisely localise, on a sub-cellular scale, multiple biomarkers and metallo-drugs in a single-step measurement. The overall aim of the project is to develop and validate methodology demonstrating the power of secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging as a novel tool for diagnosis, intervention and the development of novel therapeutics for cancer and other diseases.
This is a highly interdisciplinary project providing excellent training opportunities in the application of advanced analytical technologies at the life sciences/medical interface. In addition the student will acquire niche research and core bioscience skills.
For more details contact Dr N Lockyer (nick.lockyer@manchester.ac.uk)
Funding Notes
This project is to be funded under the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership. Full details on how to apply can be found on our website https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/research/funded-programmes/mrc-dtp/
Applications are invited from UK/EU nationals only. Applicants must have obtained, or be about to obtain, at least an upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject.
References
- Angelo, M. et al. Multiplexed ion beam imaging of human breast tumours. Nature Medicine 20, 436 (2014).
- Wedlock L.E. et al. NanoSIMS multi-element imaging reveals internalisation and nucleolar targeting for a highly-charged polynuclear platinum compound. Chem. Commun. 49, 6944 (2013).
- Steinhauser, M.L. et al. Multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry quantifies stem cell division and metabolism. Nature 481, 516 (2012).
New project funded
August sees the start of a new EPSRC-funded project entitled ‘Development of Multiplexed ToF-SIMS Instrumentation‘ which represents a completely new paradigm for ToF-SIMS and builds of the group’s reputation for innovation in instrument development. The 3-year, £0.5M project involves collaborators in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Ionoptika Ltd.
Jo’s Graduation
A typically sunny day in Manchester!
Dr Joanna Denbigh
Congratulations to Jo on successfully completing her PhD ‘Lipidomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Biological Response Mechanisms in Cancer Cells: A Multidisciplinary Approach’.
Jo starts a post-doc in the area of mass spectrometry imaging in collaboration with Adam McMahon’s group at the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre.
Irma’s Graduation
PhD studentship on multimodal imaging
Diagnosing the Masses – Molecular pathology through multimodal mass spectrometry imaging.
Position Filled – we look forward to welcoming Danielle McDougall to the group.
Dr Irma Berrueta Razo
Congratulations to Irma who has passed her PhD entitled ‘Molecular imaging of mouse brain tissue using Cluster Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry’.
We wish her well as she leaves for Dave Castner’s group at the University of Washington.
Paper – Water cluster beam imaging of brain tissue
Open Access
Irma Berrueta Razo, Sadia Sheraz (née Rabbani), Alex Henderson, Nicholas P. Lockyer and John C. Vickerman
Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 29 (2015) 1851–1862
Visit to Hyogo University
Nick visited the groups of Drs Moritani and Toyoda at the University of Hyogo, Himeji, Japan, who work extensively with gas cluster ion beams (GCIBs) for materials processing and analysis. He gave a presentation on our ion yield enhancements with the water GCIB source.
Visit to Osaka University
Nick visited the groups of Prof Terada and colleagues at Osaka University, who are developing high resolution ToF mass analyzers and applying them in SIMS, SNMS, MALDI and FAB. He gave a presentation on our instrumentation and methodology development and discussed laser SNMS theory – he also had the opportunity to view some moon samples returned by the Apollo 15 and 17 missions.
Presentation in Kyoto
Nick gave an invited presentation at a meeting in Kyoto, Japan, organized by Prof. Jiro Matsuo. The subject was tissue imaging with cluster ion beams
Presentation at SISS-17 Tokyo
Record attendance at the ‘SIMS and related techniques’ meeting SISS-17, Seikei University, Tokyo. Nick gave an invited talk on the subject of our recent Analytical Chemistry paper.
Welcome to Andres
Welcome to Andres Galindo who joins the group to study biotechnology applications of ToF-SIMS and DESI. Andres is co-supervised by Prof Sabine Flitsch.
SARC on Twitter
We’ve joined the Twittersphere!
Follow @SARCUoM to hear the latest developments in SIMS, and associated research, from the group and other items of interest.