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I cannot really say I picked my career track; it actually picked me and I got lucky! My graduate training was primarily on LC-MS-based bioanalytical method development with a focus on naturally occurring molecules in bacteria, as well as other endogenous and exogenous molecules. I have developed numerous targeted MRM LC-MS/MS methods to study drug and drug metabolites, amino acids, peptides, nucleosides and nucleotides, hormones, water contaminants etc. Later in my career, I worked in regulated bioanalysis and developed high-throughput LC-MS/MS methods for quantification of oligonucleotides and small molecule drugs from biological samples.
Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) chromatogram of 20 common proteinogenic amino acid DL stereoisomers.
Robert Langmuir's 1939 US Patent of Mass Spectrometry.
My research journey started with microparticle based formulation development and characterization as part of Masters thesis. I worked on synthesis of polymeric microspheres as drug delivery systems, studied release of drugs from the microspheres, their morphological and rheological characteristics as well as drug-excipient compatibility. During my PhD, I developed several LC-MS methods to analyze active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in various formulations to study stability, release characteriestics, and cellular uptake. Decades later, I am back to pharmaceutical analysis in my current role at US Pharmacopeia, where I develop analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of drug substances and drug products.
Different drug delivery systems.
(Image © Navid J. Ayon)
Proteomics is the study of proteins, which are composed of amino acids and are responsible for various essential functions in living organisms. Some examples of proteins are enzymes, hormones, and antibodies. I was very fortunate to learn shotgun proteomics during a summer internship at Streck Inc. under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Sobansky. I developed and optimized a untargeted, label-free, bottom-up proteomics workflow for huamn plasma proteins. Later, I learned intact protein analysis (top-down proteomics) at the Kelleher Research Group, Northwestern University Proteomics Center of Excellence using Orbitraps.
Metabolomics is the study of endogenous small molecule metabolites. Metabolome of an organism can be directly linked to phenotypic reactions and metabolomics can help to understand the biology at any given time and/or condition. Mass spectrometer can greatly aid in the structural analysis of small molecule metabolites. Additionally, untargeted metabolomics can help to explore novel metabolites and can help to discover molecules which can help with disease diagnosis or treatment. During my graduate research, I worked targeted bacterial metabolomics focusing on cell-wall and DNA biosynthesis. During my postdoctoral research, I worked on untargeted fungal metabolomics for exploring bioactive natural products.
Bioactive molecular networking in which nodes connected in a network represent structurally related compounds based on MS/MS fragmentation patterns.
Drug repurposing is the study of exploring existing drugs for new therapeutic use. One of the greatest examples of drug repurposing is 'Sildenafil', which was originally developed by Pfizer to treat hypertension, later was discovered to treat erectile dysfunction. I led a drug repurposing project during my PhD where I developed a high-throughput chemical libraries screening workflow to test drug metabolites for antibacterial activities ang synergistic actions.
Science is more powerful, when combined! Although, I do not have my own lab, but I would like to believe that in future, I will be in a position to be able to collaborate with scientists all around the world. Let's connect! This can be the start of something big!
We need to be humble to begin education, and on our way, it's supposed to make us more humble. (tweaked from Robert Kiyosaki)
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