Young-Jin Lee
Ohio University’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Colloquium Series presents Dr. Young-Jin Lee on “Mass Spectrometry for Bioenergy Science: Plant Metabolite Imaging and Bio-oil Analysis” on Monday, April 11, at 4:35 p.m. in Clippinger Laboratories 194.
Dr. Lee is an Associate Professor with the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University.
Abstract: Two of our research projects will be introduced that have overarching theme of ‘mass spectrometry for bioenergy science’; mass spectrometry imaging of plant metabolites and high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis of bio-oils.
In the first project, we work with plant scientists to develop and apply mass spectrometric imaging technique for the understanding of plant metabolic biology at single cell and eventually subcellular level. The lack of chromatographic separation is a critical limitation in mass spectrometry imaging to confidently identify metabolites. To overcome this limitation, we have developed multiplex mass spectrometry imaging technique that acquires high-resolution mass spectra and tandem mass spectra directly on the tissue in a single data acquisition. We have further expanded this technique to include polarity switching so that both positive and negative ion mass spectrometric images can be acquired.
We have demonstrated this technique for various plant systems, including high-spatial resolution expression of functional genomics, single cell level lipid distributions in cotton embryos, epiecuticular lipid distributions on Arabidopsis flower, and subcellular level localization in maize leaf. We are now expanding the application to understand chemical interfaces between plants and pests, and metabolomics scale understanding of corn seed germination biology.
In the second project, we work with chemical/mechanical engineers and develop high-resolution mass spectrometry technique to understand complex chemical nature in pyrolysis bio-oils. Using this approach, we have successfully characterized over eight hundred lignin and cellulose pyrolysis products, many of which have not been previously analyzed. In an application to switchgrass bio-oils, we identified over two hundred nitrogen containing compounds and determined their structural motifs. A novel instrumentation we have recently developed will be introduced that can monitor chemical kinetics of molecular pyrolysis in real time.
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