The Blair Lab Members
Dr. Blair received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1971 from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, under the mentorship of the 1969 Nobel Laureate, Sir Derek H.R. Barton. He was appointed as the A.N. Richards Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and Vice-Chair of the Department in 2002. He became Director of the Penn Superfund Research and Training Program Center, which is funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences in 2014. Dr. Blair is an expert in the use of mass spectrometric methods for the structural elucidation and quantification of endogenous biomolecules. His current research is focused on the use of high-resolution mass spectrometry and molecular biology as tools for conducting sophisticated proteomics, DNA-adductomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics research. Has a particular emphasis on discovering biomarkers for the early detection of cancer and biomarkers of response in rare diseases.
Clementina Mesaros joined the Blair lab in September 2004. She received her Ph. D. in organic chemistry from CASE University, Cleveland. Her graduate research in Prof. Robert Salomon's lab, involved the total synthesis of several oxidized phosphoplipids and mechanistic studies of lipids oxidation. During her three years of post-doctoral training in the Blair lab, she worked on the synthesis of reactive bifunctional electrophiles derived from AA. Clementina was also involved in identification of a novel 4-oxo-2(E)-nonenal adduct with glutathione (TOG) as a biomarker of oxidative stress using LC/MS approaches. She developed an LC/MS method for quantification of epoxy-eicosatrienoic acids and dihyrdroxy eicosatrienoic acids in biological samples. Clementina is now a Research Assistant Professor in the Blair lab. She is working on developing LC/MS assays for urinary biomarkers of oxidative stress.
Anupam Apoorva joined the Blair lab in November 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher. She received her Ph.D. in Natural product research from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP). Her PhD research focused on the fabrication of a hydrogel oral drug delivery system using a unique combination of sodium alginate and gum tragacanth polymers for the sustained release of encapsulated drugs and nutraceuticals into the intestine. Also, phytochemical characterization of bioactive compounds (especially phenolic compounds) and to evaluate their anticancer properties (on different cancer cells including bone cancer, liver cancer, and skin cancer cells), antiangiogenic properties, and bioactivities on the growth of healthy human cells (fibroblasts). In the Blair Lab, Apoorva is currently working on the analysis of lipid and eicosanoids involved in non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases using HRMS approaches.
Nicolas Eskenazi joined the Blair lab in March 2020 as a postdoc. He obtained his PhD in 2019 under the supervision of Dr Joelle Vinh of ESPCI Paris - PSL University in France. His thesis focused on the development of innovative glycoproteomics methods using mass spectrometry, notably the development of a sensitive liquid MALDI matrix for N-glycans and a new approach for glycopeptide structural analysis using the signature of their low-mass oxonium fragments. While these methods were designed to be applicable to any glycoprotein, Nicolas' research aimed at elucidating the glycoforms of pregnancy hormones hCG and other gonadotropins. In the Blair lab, he now works on the identification and quantification of proteins involved in Friedreich’s ataxia.
Kevin Gillespie joined the Blair lab in the summer of 2016. He is a doctoral candidate in the Pharmacology Graduate Group and a student trainee with the Translational Research Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences. He participated in undergraduate research with the Blair lab starting in June 2012 and graduated with a B.A. in chemistry from Haverford College in 2015. His undergraduate senior thesis research focused on Coenzyme A adduction and other metabolic effects of lipid peroxidation products. Kevin is currently investigating biomarkers of asbestos exposure and applying chemical derivatization of small molecules to LCMS analysis of oxidative stress and cellular redox cycling.
Nihal Medatwal joined the Blair lab in March 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher. He received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, India. He was co-advised by Dr. Avinash Bajaj and Dr. Ujjaini Dasgupta. His Ph.D. research was focused on “Deciphering the Role of Sphingolipids in Cancer Progression and Impact of Chemotherapy on Sphingolipid Signalling”. He was trained and well experienced in mass spectrometry-based lipidomics approaches; worked extensively on mass spectrometry-based sphingolipids profiling from plasma (mice and rats), patient tissues (breast cancer tissue normal and tumor), mice tumor tissues, and cancer cells. He had also gained experience in absolute quantitation of released drug molecules, quantification of enzymatic reaction products, and identification of degraded products of biomaterials. In the Blair Lab, he is currently involved in biomarker research that is focused analyzing intact lipids and their metabolites as toxicity biomarkers. For that, He is using HRMS and TQMS for detection, identification, and quantification of intact lipids, and at the same time, he is also working on pathway validation using different molecular biology techniques.
Ross Pirnie joined the Blair Lab in the spring of 2018. He is a doctoral candidate in the Pharmacology Graduate Group. Ross graduated from Bucknell University with a B.S. in biochemistry/cell biology in May 2017. His undergraduate thesis focused on using NMR to understand the structural dynamics and chiral properties of bile salt micelles. Ross is currently investigating predictive biomarkers and the molecular determinants of drug induced liver injury.
Teerapat Rojsajjakul joined The Blair Lab in the Perelman School of Medicine in June 2021 as a post-doctoral researcher. He was previously a post-doctoral fellow under Dr. Judith Steen at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, focusing on quantitative proteomics of Tau protein in Alzheimer’s disease, and under Dr. Richard Cummings at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, concentrating on glycobiology, immunology, and mass spectrometry. Teerapat obtained a PhD in Analytical Chemistry, concentrating on mass spectrometry from West Virginia University under Dr. Fred King. He also learned many aspects of mass spectrometry from Dr. Kelsey Cook at University of Tennessee, Dr. Alan Marshall at Florida State University, and Dr. David Smith at University of Nebraska. In The Blair Lab, Teerapat is working on immunoprecipitation and stable isotope labeling methods in mass spectrometry based-quantitative proteomics of frataxin isoform E in blood, mutant-mouse frataxin, leptin and metreleptin, and androgen receptor variant 7.
Wenyue Zhao joined The Blair Lab in the Perelman School of Medicine in September 2021 as a graduate student intern. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree with a major in Biotechnology from the College of Life Science and Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology (BJUT), Beijing, China. Wenyue is currently a graduate student in the Master’s degree program in Biotechnology in the Bioengineering Department within the School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research in the Blair Laboratory involves the development of immunoprecipitation and stable isotope labeling methods in mass spectrometry based-quantitative proteomics of androgen receptors and their splice variants as biomarkers of prostate cancer.
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