Mass Spectrometry
Group Leader:
Dr David Sumpton
Biological mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical technology used to identify and quantify molecules within biological systems. It has become an essential tool in modern biomedical research and underpins several omics approaches, including metabolomics, the comprehensive study of small molecules or metabolites produced or modified by cellular metabolism.
Proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins that carry out most cellular functions, and lipidomics, the systematic study of lipids and their roles in cellular signalling and metabolism.
Our core aim is to enable the use of cutting-edge MS based omics to uncover new insights into cancer biology across the institute’s diverse research programmes.
Recent Publications
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Lab Members
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Recent Publications
2026
Pardo L, Moore M, Deshmukh R, Powley I, Waldron JA, Kruspig B, McGarry L, Dolma L, Campos AV, Wood C, Leslie H, Hughes M, Jeldes E, Munro J, Mitchell L, Officer-Jones L, Baird R, Coquelet H, Jamieson NB, Sumpton D, Strathdee D, le Quesne J, Bushell M, Murphy DJ, Norman JC. Increased mRNA translation delays tumour initiation and exposes a therapeutic vulnerability in lung cancer. Mol Cancer. 2026.
2025
Dias MM, King MS, Shokry E, Lilla S, Paul N, Thomason P, Zanivan S, Sumpton D, Kunji ERS, MacVicar T. SLC25A45 is required for mitochondrial uptake of methylated amino acids and de novo carnitine biosynthesis. Mol Cell. 2025.
Gounis M, Campos AV, Shokry E, Mitchell L, Deshmukh R, Dornier E, Rooney N, Dhayade S, Pardo L, Moore M, Novo D, Mowat J, Jamieson C, Kay E, Zanivan S, Paul NR, Mitchell C, Nixon C, Macpherson I, Tardito S, Sumpton D, Blyth K, Norman JC, Clarke CJ. Metabolic adaptations of micrometastases alter EV production to generate invasive microenvironments. Journal of Cell Biology. 2025;224(8).
Lilla S, Atkinson S, Radau S, Bailey UM, Deshmukh AS, van der Reest J, Kirkpatrick J, MacVicar T, Zanivan S. SICyLIA-cTMT dissects redox proteome dynamics with high accuracy and depth at microgram scale. Cell Rep Methods. 2025:101210.
Luo X, Kugeratski FG, Dowlatshahi DP, Sugimoto H, Arian KA, Fan Y, Huang L, Wills D, Lilla S, Hodge K, Zanivan SR, LeBleu VS, McAndrews KM, Kalluri R. Engineered Immunomodulatory Extracellular Vesicles from Epithelial Cells with the Capacity for Stimulation of Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Cancer and Autoimmunity. ACS Nano. 2025.
Makar AN, Holkham J, Lilla S, Wilkinson S, von Kriegsheim A. Overcoming Preservation Challenges to Enable Single-Cell Proteomics of Fixed Cells and Tissue Samples with Retained Proteome Integrity. J Proteome Res. 2025.
2024
Ackermann T, Shokry E, Deshmukh R, Anand J, Galbraith LCA, Mitchell L, Rodriguez-Blanco G, Villar VH, Sterken BA, Nixon C, Zanivan S, Blyth K, Sumpton D, Tardito S. Breast cancer secretes anti-ferroptotic MUFAs and depends on selenoprotein synthesis for metastasis. EMBO Mol Med. 2024.
Benzarti M, Neises L, Oudin A, Krötz C, Viry E, Gargiulo E, Pulido C, Schmoetten M, Pozdeev V, Lorenz NI, Ronellenfitsch MW, Sumpton D, Warmoes M, Jaeger C, Lesur A, Becker B, Moussay E, Paggetti J, Niclou SP, Letellier E, Meiser J. PKM2 diverts glycolytic flux in dependence on mitochondrial one-carbon cycle. Cell Rep. 2024;43(3):113868.
Dawson A, Zarou MM, Prasad B, Bittencourt-Silvestre J, Zerbst D, Himonas E, Hsieh YC, van Loon I, Blanco GR, Ianniciello A, Kerekes Z, Krishnan V, Agarwal P, Almasoudi H, McCluskey L, Hopcroft LEM, Scott MT, Baquero P, Dunn K, Vetrie D, Copland M, Bhatia R, Coffelt SB, Tiong OS, Wheadon H, Zanivan S, Kirschner K, Helgason GV. Leukaemia exposure alters the transcriptional profile and function of BCR::ABL1 negative macrophages in the bone marrow niche. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):1090.
Eberhart T, Stanley FU, Ricci L, Chirico T, Ferrarese R, Sisti S, Scagliola A, Baj A, Badurek S, Sommer A, Culp-Hill R, Dzieciatkowska M, Shokry E, Sumpton D, D'Alessandro A, Clementi N, Mancini N, Cardaci S. ACOD1 deficiency offers protection in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity by maintaining a healthy gut microbiota. Cell Death Dis. 2024;15(2):105.
Gounis M, Campos AV, Shokry E, Mitchell L, Dornier E, Rooney N, Dhayade S, Pardo L, Moore M, Novo D, Mowat J, Jamieson C, Kay E, Zanivan S, Nixon C, Macpherson I, Tardito S, Sumpton D, Blyth K, Norman JC, Clarke CJ. Metabolic adaptations of micrometastases alter EV production to generate invasive microenvironments. bioRxiv. 2024:2024.2005.2012.593552.
Jans M, Kolata M, Blancke G, D'Hondt A, Gräf C, Ciers M, Sze M, Thiran A, Petta I, Andries V, Verbandt S, Shokry E, Sumpton D, Vande Voorde J, Berx G, Tejpar S, van Loo G, Iliev ID, Remaut H, Vereecke L. Colibactin-driven colon cancer requires adhesin-mediated epithelial binding. Nature. 2024.
Khalaf A, de Beauchamp L, Kalkman E, Rattigan K, Himonas E, Jones J, James D, Shokry ESA, Scott MT, Dunn K, Tardito S, Copland M, Sumpton D, Shanks E, Helgason GV. Nutrient-sensitizing drug repurposing screen identifies lomerizine as a mitochondrial metabolism inhibitor of chronic myeloid leukemia. Sci Transl Med. 2024;16(751):eadi5336.
Kiourtis C, Terradas-Terradas M, Gee LM, May S, Georgakopoulou A, Collins AL, O’Sullivan ED, Baird DP, Hassan M, Shaw R, Tan EH, Müller M, Engelmann C, Andreola F, Hsieh Y-C, Reed LH, Borthwick LA, Nixon C, Clark W, Hanson PS, Sumpton D, Mackay G, Suzuki T, Najumudeen AK, Inman GJ, Campbell A, Barry ST, Quaglia A, Morris CM, LeBeau FEN, Sansom OJ, Kirschner K, Jalan R, Oakley F, Bird TG. Hepatocellular senescence induces multi-organ senescence and dysfunction via TGFβ. Nature Cell Biology. 2024.
Mahmood M, Liu EM, Shergold AL, Tolla E, Tait-Mulder J, Huerta-Uribe A, Shokry E, Young AL, Lilla S, Kim M, Park T, Boscenco S, Manchon JL, Rodríguez-Antona C, Walters RC, Springett RJ, Blaza JN, Mitchell L, Blyth K, Zanivan S, Sumpton D, Roberts EW, Reznik E, Gammage PA. Mitochondrial DNA mutations drive aerobic glycolysis to enhance checkpoint blockade response in melanoma. Nat Cancer. 2024.
Sanchez-Lopez I, Orantos-Aguilera Y, Pozo-Guisado E, Alvarez-Barientos A, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Lachaud C, Martin-Romero FJ. STIM1 translocation to the nucleus protects cells from DNA damage. Nucleic Acids Res. 2024.
Santi A, Kay EJ, Neilson LJ, McGarry L, Lilla S, Mullin M, Paul NR, Fercoq F, Koulouras G, Rodriguez Blanco G, Athineos D, Mason S, Hughes M, Thomson G, Kieffer Y, Nixon C, Blyth K, Mechta-Grigoriou F, Carlin LM, Zanivan S. Cancer-associated fibroblasts produce matrix-bound vesicles that influence endothelial cell function. Sci Signal. 2024;17(827):eade0580.
Singh SP, Smyth DJ, Cunningham KT, Mukundan A, Byeon CH, Hinck CS, White MPJ, Ciancia C, Wąsowska N, Sanders A, Jin R, White RF, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Schoenherr C, Inman GJ, van Dinther M, Ten Dijke P, Hinck AP, Maizels RM. The TGF-β mimic TGM4 achieves cell specificity through combinatorial surface co-receptor binding. EMBO Rep. 2024.
Vringer E, Heilig R, Riley JS, Black A, Cloix C, Skalka G, Montes-Gómez AE, Aguado A, Lilla S, Walczak H, Gyrd-Hansen M, Murphy DJ, Huang DT, Zanivan S, Tait SW. Mitochondrial outer membrane integrity regulates a ubiquitin-dependent and NF-κB-mediated inflammatory response. EMBO J. 2024.
Whitelaw JA, Lilla S, Nikolaou S, Tweedy L, Fort L, Paul NR, Zanivan S, Gadegaard N, Insall RH, Machesky LM. CYRI-B loss promotes enlarged mature focal adhesions and restricts microtubule and ERC1 access to the cell leading edge. bioRxiv. 2024:2024.2003.2026.586838.
Zarou MM, Rattigan KM, Sarnello D, Shokry E, Dawson A, Ianniciello A, Dunn K, Copland M, Sumpton D, Vazquez A, Helgason GV. Inhibition of mitochondrial folate metabolism drives differentiation through mTORC1 mediated purine sensing. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):1931.
2023
Ackermann T, Shokry E, Deshmukh R, Anand J, Galbraith LCA, Mitchell L, Rodriguez-Blanco G, Villar VH, Sterken BA, Nixon C, Zanivan S, Blyth K, Sumpton D, Tardito S. Paracrine secretion of MUFAs prevents ferroptosis in triple-negative breast cancer and reveals selenocysteine synthesis dependency for lung metastasis. bioRxiv. 2023;Volume:2023.2006.2013.544588.
Altea-Manzano P, Doglioni G, Liu Y, Cuadros AM, Nolan E, Fernández-García J, Wu Q, Planque M, Laue KJ, Cidre-Aranaz F, Liu XZ, Marin-Bejar O, Van Elsen J, Vermeire I, Broekaert D, Demeyer S, Spotbeen X, Idkowiak J, Montagne A, Demicco M, Alkan HF, Rabas N, Riera-Domingo C, Richard F, Geukens T, De Schepper M, Leduc S, Hatse S, Lambrechts Y, Kay EJ, Lilla S, Alekseenko A, Geldhof V, Boeckx B, de la Calle Arregui C, Floris G, Swinnen JV, Marine JC, Lambrechts D, Pelechano V, Mazzone M, Zanivan S, Cools J, Wildiers H, Baud V, Grünewald TGP, Ben-David U, Desmedt C, Malanchi I, Fendt SM. A palmitate-rich metastatic niche enables metastasis growth via p65 acetylation resulting in pro-metastatic NF-κB signaling. Nat Cancer. 2023; 4: 344–364
May S, Müller M, Livingstone CR, Skalka GL, Walsh PJ, Nixon C, Hedley A, Shaw R, Clark W, Voorde JV, Officer-Jones L, Ballantyne F, Powley IR, Drake TM, Kiourtis C, Keith A, Rocha AS, Tardito S, Sumpton D, Le Quesne J, Bushell M, Sansom OJ, Bird TG. Absent expansion of AXIN2+ hepatocytes and altered physiology in Axin2CreERT2 mice challenges the role of pericentral hepatocytes in homeostatic liver regeneration. J Hepatol. 2023; 78: 1028-1036
Mahmood M, Liu EM, Shergold AL, Tolla E, Tait-Mulder J, Uribe AH, Shokry E, Young AL, Lilla S, Kim M, Park T, Manchon JL, Rodriguez-Antona C, Walters RC, Springett RJ, Blaza JN, Zanivan S, Sumpton DA, Roberts EW, Reznik E, Gammage PA. Tumour mitochondrial DNA mutations drive aerobic glycolysis to enhance checkpoint blockade. bioRxiv. 2023;Volume:2023.2003.2021.533091.
Moore M, Pardo L, Mitchell L, Schmidt T, May S, Mueller M, Strathdee D, Bryson S, Hodge K, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Waldron J, McGarry L, Peter-Durairaj R, Kanellos G, Nixon C, Ballantyne F, LeQuesne J, Sansom OJ, Bird T, Bushell M, Norman JC. The eIF4A2 negative regulator of mRNA translation promotes extracellular matrix deposition to accelerate hepatocellular carcinoma initiation. bioRxiv. 2023;Volume:2023.2008.2016.553544.
Nikolatou K, Sandilands E, Román-Fernández A, Cumming EM, Freckmann E, Lilla S, Buetow L, McGarry L, Neilson M, Shaw R, Strachan D, Miller C, Huang DT, McNeish IA, Norman JC, Zanivan S, Bryant DM. PTEN deficiency exposes a requirement for an ARF GTPase module for integrin-dependent invasion in ovarian cancer. The EMBO Journal. 2023;n/a:e113987.
Rattigan KM, Zarou MM, Brabcova Z, Prasad B, Zerbst D, Sarnello D, Kalkman ER, Ianniciello A, Scott MT, Dunn K, Shokry E, Sumpton D, Copland M, Tardito S, Vande Voorde J, Mussai F, Cheng P, Helgason GV. Arginine dependency is a therapeutically exploitable vulnerability in chronic myeloid leukaemic stem cells. EMBO Rep. 2023;10.15252/embr.202256279:e56279.
Ricci L, Stanley FU, Eberhart T, Mainini F, Sumpton D, Cardaci S. Pyruvate transamination and NAD biosynthesis enable proliferation of succinate dehydrogenase-deficient cells by supporting aerobic glycolysis. Cell Death Dis. 2023;14:403.
Román-Fernández A, Mansour MA, Kugeratski FG, Anand J, Sandilands E, Galbraith L, Rakovic K, Freckmann EC, Cumming EM, Park J, Nikolatou K, Lilla S, Shaw R, Strachan D, Mason S, Patel R, McGarry L, Katoch A, Campbell KJ, Nixon C, Miller CJ, Leung HY, Le Quesne J, Norman JC, Zanivan S, Blyth K, Bryant DM. Spatial regulation of the glycocalyx component podocalyxin is a switch for prometastatic function. Sci Adv. 2023;9:eabq1858.
Rushworth LK, Loveridge C, Salji M, MacLeod M, Mui E, Sumpton D, Neilson M, Hedley A, Alexander L, McCartney E, Patel R, Wallace J, Delles C, Jones R, Leung HY. Phase II proof-of-concept study of atorvastatin in castration-resistant prostate cancer. BJU Int. 2023;131:236-243.
Santi A, Kay EJ, Neilson LJ, McGarry L, Lilla S, Mullin M, Paul NR, Fercoq F, Koulouras G, Blanco GR, Athineos D, Mason S, Hughes M, Kieffer Y, Nixon C, Blyth K, Mechta-Grigoriou F, Carlin LM, Zanivan S. Cancer-associated fibroblasts produce matrix-bound vesicles that influence endothelial cell function. bioRxiv. 2023;Volume:2023.2001.2013.523951.
Schmidt T, Dabrowska A, Waldron JA, Hodge K, Koulouras G, Gabrielsen M, Munro J, Tack DC, Harris G, McGhee E, Scott D, Carlin Leo M, Huang D, Le Quesne J, Zanivan S, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. eIF4A1-dependent mRNAs employ purine-rich 5’UTR sequences to activate localised eIF4A1-unwinding through eIF4A1-multimerisation to facilitate translation. Nucleic Acids Research. 2023; 51: 1859–1879
Vande Voorde J, Steven RT, Najumudeen AK, Ford CA, Dexter A, Gonzalez-Fernandez A, Nikula CJ, Xiang Y, Ford L, Maneta Stavrakaki S, Gilroy K, Zeiger LB, Pennel K, Hatthakarnkul P, Elia EA, Nasif A, Murta T, Manoli E, Mason S, Gillespie M, Lannagan TRM, Vlahov N, Ridgway RA, Nixon C, Raven A, Mills M, Athineos D, Kanellos G, Nourse C, Gay DM, Hughes M, Burton A, Yan B, Sellers K, Wu V, De Ridder K, Shokry E, Huerta Uribe A, Clark W, Clark G, Kirschner K, Thienpont B, Li VSW, Maddocks ODK, Barry ST, Goodwin RJA, Kinross J, Edwards J, Yuneva MO, Sumpton D, Takats Z, Campbell AD, Bunch J, Sansom OJ. Metabolic profiling stratifies colorectal cancer and reveals adenosylhomocysteinase as a therapeutic target. Nature Metabolism. 2023;10.1038/s42255-023-00857-0.
Villar VH, Allega MF, Deshmukh R, Ackermann T, Nakasone MA, Vande Voorde J, Drake TM, Oetjen J, Bloom A, Nixon C, Müller M, May S, Tan EH, Vereecke L, Jans M, Blancke G, Murphy DJ, Huang DT, Lewis DY, Bird TG, Sansom OJ, Blyth K, Sumpton D, Tardito S. Hepatic glutamine synthetase controls N5-methylglutamine in homeostasis and cancer. Nature Chemical Biology. 2023;19:292-300.
2022
Baudot AD, Wang VM, Leach JD, O'Prey J, Long JS, Paulus-Hock V, Lilla S, Thomson DM, Greenhorn J, Ghaffar F, Nixon C, Helfrich MH, Strathdee D, Pratt J, Marchesi F, Zanivan S, Ryan KM. Glycan degradation promotes macroautophagy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022;119(26):e2111506119.
Blomme A, Peter C, Mui E, Rodriguez Blanco G, An N, Mason LM, Jamieson LE, McGregor GH, Lilla S, Ntala C, Patel R, Thiry M, Kung SHY, Leclercq M, Ford CA, Rushworth LK, McGarry DJ, Mason S, Repiscak P, Nixon C, Salji MJ, Markert E, MacKay GM, Kamphorst JJ, Graham D, Faulds K, Fazli L, Gleave ME, Avezov E, Edwards J, Yin H, Sumpton D, Blyth K, Close P, Murphy DJ, Zanivan S, Leung HY. THEM6-mediated reprogramming of lipid metabolism supports treatment resistance in prostate cancer. EMBO Molecular Medicine. 2022;14:e14764
Camargo L, Samji S, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Bulleid N, Hartley R, Delles C, Leiper J, Fuller W, Montezano A, Touyz R. Proteomic Profile of Cysteine Oxidation in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Human Hypertension. Journal of Hypertension. 2022;40:e225-e226.
Cousins A, Olivares O, Markert E, Manoharan A, Bubnova X, Bresolin S, Degn M, Li Z, Silvestri D, McGregor G, Tumanov S, Sumpton D, Kamphorst JJ, Michie AM, Herzyk P, Valsecchi MG, Yeoh AE, Schmiegelow K, Te Kronnie G, Gottlieb E, Halsey C. Central nervous system involvement in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia is linked to upregulation of cholesterol biosynthetic pathways. Leukemia. 2022;36:2903–2907
Kay EJ, Paterson K, Riero-Domingo C, Sumpton D, Däbritz JHM, Tardito S, Boldrini C, Hernandez-Fernaud JR, Athineos D, Dhayade S, Stepanova E, Gjerga E, Neilson LJ, Lilla S, Hedley A, Koulouras G, McGregor G, Jamieson C, Johson RM, Park M, Kirschner K, Miller C, Kamphorst JJ, Loayza-Puch F, Saez-Rodriguez J, Mazzone M, Blyth K, Zagoni M, Zanivan S. Cancer-associated fibroblasts require proline synthesis by PYCR1 for the deposition of pro-tumorigenic extracellular matrix. Nature Metabolism. 2022;4(6):693-710.
McGarry DJ, Castino G, Lilla S, Carnet A, Kelly L, Micovic K, Zanivan S, Olson MF. MICAL1 activation by PAK1 mediates actin filament disassembly. Cell Reports. 2022;41.
Närvä E, Taskinen ME, Lilla S, Isomursu A, Pietilä M, Weltner J, Isola J, Sihto H, Joensuu H, Zanivan S, Norman J, Ivaska J. MASTL is enriched in cancerous and pluripotent stem cells and influences OCT1/OCT4 levels. iScience. 2022;25:104459.
Nikolatou K, Sandilands E, Roman-Fernandez A, Cumming EM, Freckmann EC, Lilla S, Buetow L, McGarry L, Neilson M, Shaw R, Strachan D, Miller C, Huang DT, McNeish IA, Norman JC, Zanivan S, Bryant D. PTEN deficiency exposes a requirement for an ARF GTPase module in integrin-dependent invasion in ovarian cancer. bioRxiv. 2022;Volume:2022.2011.2029.518198.
Patel R, Ford CA, Rodgers L, Rushworth LK, Fleming J, Mui E, Zhang T, Watson D, Lynch V, Mackay G, Sumpton D, Sansom OJ, Vande Voorde J, Leung HY. Cyclocreatine suppresses creatine metabolism and impairs prostate cancer progression. Cancer Res. 2022;82: 2565–2575.
Salji MJ, Blomme A, Däbritz JHM, Repiscak P, Lilla S, Patel R, Sumpton D, van den Broek NJF, Daly R, Zanivan S, Leung HY. Multi-omics & pathway analysis identify potential roles for tumor N-acetyl aspartate accumulation in murine models of castration-resistant prostate cancer. iScience. 2022;25:104056.
Schmidt T, Dabrowska A, Waldron JA, Hodge K, Koulouras G, Gabrielsen M, Munro J, Tack DC, Harris G, McGhee E, Scott D, Carlin LM, Huang D, Le Quesne J, Zanivan S, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. Purine-rich RNA sequences in the 5’UTR site-specifically regulate eIF4A1-unwinding through eIF4A1-multimerisation to facilitate translation. bioRxiv. 2022;Volume:2022.2008.2008.503179.
Taurino G, Deshmukh R, Villar VH, Chiu M, Shaw R, Hedley A, Shokry E, Sumpton D, Dander E, D'Amico G, Bussolati O, Tardito S. Mesenchymal stromal cells cultured in physiological conditions sustain citrate secretion with glutamate anaplerosis. Mol Metab. 2022:101532
Group Leader
David Sumpton
I am an analytical chemist with a PhD from the University of York, where my research focused on applying mass spectrometry to study complex signalling molecules between plants and microbes during symbiosis. Since joining the institute in 2007, I have developed extensive expertise in biological mass spectrometry and its application to omics research, including metabolomics, lipidomics, and proteomics. One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is collaborating with scientists from diverse disciplines on a wide range of cancer biology projects. I enjoy working at the interface of analytical chemistry and biology, applying advanced mass spectrometry approaches to address complex biological questions. Outside the laboratory, I enjoy spending time outdoors, exploring the natural world, and capturing it through photography.
Lab Members
Group Member
Alejandro Huerta Uribe
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Group Member
Engy Shokry
I am an analytical chemist with more than 10 years of experience in mass spectrometry and bioanalytical research. As a Principal Scientific Officer at the Metabolomics Facility, I support targeted and untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics studies using high-resolution LC–MS platforms and collaborate with internal and external research teams in cancer research.
My interest in mass spectrometry began during my early research training in the Newborn Screening Unit at Meyer Children’s Hospital, Italy, where I worked on inborn errors of metabolism and therapeutic drug monitoring. Since then, I have built an international research career spanning Italy, Brazil, Germany, and the UK, applying omics approaches to address a broad range of biological and clinical questions.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), Brazil, I developed mass spectrometry-based metabolomics workflows using cerumen as a novel diagnostic biofluid, including applications in early disease detection. I later joined the metabolomics group led by Prof. Berthold Koletzko at LMU Munich, Germany, where I contributed to research in nutritional science, maternal and child health, and chronic disease metabolism. I hold a PhD in Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, and my research interests focus on advancing mass spectrometry technologies and integrating multi-omics approaches to better understand disease mechanisms and support translational research.
Group Member
Sergio Lilla
I graduated in Food Science at the Department of Agricultural Sciences at the "University of Naples Federico II" with an experimental thesis carried out in the mass spectrometry lab of the “Federico II University Hospital” studying composition of milk micelle structure using mass spectrometry.
I later completed a PhD in Food Biotechnology at the same university, in the mass spectrometry laboratories of the “Institute of Food Sciences of Italian National Research Council in Avellino” working on crosslinking of transglutaminase on food proteins.
After completing my doctorate, I was offered a postdoctoral researcher at the “University of São Paulo Brazil (USP)”, in the Department of Pharmacology, where I was purifying and analysing peptides and proteins with pharmacological activity coming from different types of animal venoms in a newly established proteomics laboratory.
I later worked for one year at the Waters European Training & Demo Centre in Almere, Netherlands, providing customer support and conducting proteomic sample analysis for product demonstrations.
Since 2008, I have been affiliated to the Proteomic and mass spectrometry facility of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute (formerly known as Beatson), supporting cancer scientists with proteomic approaches that help answer questions about cancer biology, disease progression, biomarker discovery, and potential therapeutic targets.