Physical Sciences of Imaging in the Biomedical Sciences: Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Cancer Biomarkers

The University of Birmingham is offering the opportunity for further study at the interface between the different science, engineering and medicine disciplines, providing a career route for graduates to the imaging industry, pushing the boundaries of this field to improve health care.

The aims of this project are to develop and apply novel methodologies for mass spectrometry imaging to the analysis of thin tumour sections. Comprehensive knowledge of the location and spatial arrangement of key species (e.g. lipids, peptides and proteins) is urgently needed since it is fundamental to gaining improved understanding of biological events and life system dynamics.

The project will involve analysis of ‘normal’ and cancerous tissue, including margin regions by MALDI-MS techniques. Recent work has demonstrated that production of spatially resolved maps of lipids and proteins in tissue highlight differentiation of healthy and diseased tissue regions. This holds great potential as a method of characterising, for example, tumour margin regions, with major implications in disease diagnostics.

In addition to profiling of intact biomolecules, tandem mass spectrometry experiments will be conducted with a view to identifying, or structurally characterising, detected species. This will involve both ion fragmentation via collisonally induced dissociation (CID) but also tissue preparation steps such as ‘on tissue tryptic digestions’.

Supervisors: Dr J Bunch, Dr D G Ward, Dr A Martin, Dr G Landini, Prof E Claridge.

Applications for entry in 2012 are open to students that have, or expect to obtain, a good 2:1 (Hons) or 1st class degree (or equivalent EU/overseas degree) in a physical scientific subject (Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Natural Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering or Mathematics accepted).