This is an ongoing project at Caltech in Tejada's lab, collaborating with Prof. John Eiller. 

Diet is a key driver of evolution, affecting gene expression, disease risk, and traits like brain development. To understand its evolutionary role, we need to reconstruct ancient feeding ecologies over long timescales. Nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) in amino acids help infer trophic levels, but applying this to deep-time fossils is challenging due to protein degradation and low organic nitrogen in dental enamel—the only tissue preserving signals beyond 100,000 years. Traditional methods need large protein amounts, unsuitable for most fossils. 

This project leverages Orbitrap-based Fourier-transform mass spectrometry, a cutting-edge technique capable of measuring isotope ratios at natural abundance with nanogram-level sensitivity. Although previously applied only to inorganic materials, this approach opens new possibilities for high-resolution dietary reconstructions from rare or ancient biological samples. 

I work on the ERC-funded HYDROMA project, which focuses on the origin and evolution of organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites: the influence of hydrothermal processes. 

This project was part of my postdoctoral research in Paris, focusing on the chemical evolution of organic compounds in meteorites during aqueous alteration. By examining the distribution of amino acids and nucleobases between liquid water and mineral phases, and their interactions during alteration, we aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of parent body processes. Combining this with C-H isotope analysis provided deeper insights into the evolution of meteorite parent bodies and, ultimately, the origin of life. Our findings showed that aqueous alteration significantly affects the distribution of amino acids, with minerals like saponite playing a key role, likely due to interactions influenced by the molecular structure of the organics. Another key observation was the potential occurrence of D–H exchange between amino acids and water on the parent body. 

My primary focus was on the search for extraterrestrial organic compounds, utilizing Py-GC/MS with wet chemistry techniques, particularly TMAH and MTBSTFA, on Mars. This research was conducted in conjunction with missions carried out by the Curiosity rover and the ExoMars rover.

My expertise extends to systematic studies involving TMAH derivatization reactions with Py-GC/MS. This encompasses a wide range of samples, from chemical standard samples with simple molecular structures (such as fatty acids, nucleobases, DNA fragments, and RNA tail-poly A) to organic compounds(sugars, pigments etc.) extracted from extremophile cells, such as cyanobacteria and halophilic Archaea. These extremophiles are of particular interest due to their potential resilience to Martian conditions. 

This project was part of my Master’s research. The main objective was to catalytically convert coal tar into light aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEXN), which are valuable raw materials for a wide range of chemical products due to their high commercial value.

 I found that low-molecular-weight compounds in coal play a key role in the formation of light aromatics and serve as a major hydrogen source. Additionally, the ZSM-5 catalyst proved effective in promoting the reforming of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into light aromatics. These findings provide theoretical support for the industrial production of benzene and related compounds from coal tar reforming.