Past Event: Oden Institute Seminar

Mass Spectrometry, Molecular Data, and Cancer Diagnosis: Advances & Challenges towards clinical use

Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, Assistant Professor, William H. Tonn Professorial Fellow, Departments of Chemistry, Oncology & Diagnostic Medicine, The University of Texas at Austin; Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine

Abstract

Mass spectrometry is recognized as a powerful analytical technology to acquire molecular profiles of biological samples comprised of thousands of molecular ions with unparalleled sensitivity and chemical specificity. In my laboratory, we have developed the MasSpec Pen technology as a handheld device integrated to a mass spectrometer that allows detection of rich molecular profiles directly from in vivo and ex vivo tissues on clinically relevant timescales (<15 seconds). The complex molecular data generated by the MasSpec Pen are used in conjunction with machine learning methods to build statistical models capable of distinguishing disease states with high accuracies (92-98%, depending on tissue type). In this presentation, I will describe my team's effort developing, translating, and testing the MasSpec Pen technology and classification models to diagnose tissues in the laboratory as well as intraoperatively, including challenges and opportunities to improve data analysis and statistical classification.

Biography

Prof. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Oncology and Diagnostic Medicine at the University of Texas at Austin, and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Eberlin received her B.S. in Chemistry in 2008 from the State University of Campinas, her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 2012 from Purdue University under the guidance of Prof. Graham Cooks, and pursued her postdoctoral research with Prof. Richard Zare in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. In 2016, Prof. Eberlin started her independent career at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research in mass spectrometry has been recognized through grants and awards, including a NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, a Moore Inventor Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her research program centers around the development and application of novel mass spectrometry technologies in health-related research, with a particular focus on disease detection and diagnosis.