Postdoctoral Fellows, Research Associates and Technicians
Helen (Nan) Wang, Ph.D.
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Dr. Nan Wang is a Research Associate in Professor Liang Li’s group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2008. Nan has published a number of papers on the development of mass spectrometric techniques for biochemical analysis, particularly in the area of protein identification and characterization for proteomics applications. Nan is currently involved in developing and applying new LC-MS techniques for global qualitative and quantitative metabolome analysis. She is interested in combining metabolomics and proteomics for biological studies and disease biomarker discovery.
Dan Xu
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Dan Xu is a Laboratory Assistant in Professor Liang Li’s group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. She obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta in 2010. She is involved in metabolome analysis by LC-MS. She provides technical support in sample pre-processing, metabolite extraction, isotope labeling, and data processing.
Graduate Students
Lu Chen, B.Sc.
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In Zhejiang University, I did experiments on improving conditions of plating gold on microelectrodes in Dr. Hengwu Chen`s lab when I was a sophomore. Then I joined SRTP (Students` Research Training Program) of Zhejiang University, using HPLC to separate four different pigments, Tartrazine, Amaranth, Sunset Yellow, and Brilliant Blue. Under the supervision of Dr. Weiqiang Guo, I optimized mobile phase composition, pH, flow rate, gradient mobile phase, and detecting gradient wavelength. The relative standard deviation of the method was low and it could quickly finish detection within five minutes. After that, I joined Dr. Xianfu Lin`s group whose work is based on nonaqueous enzymology. Instead of organic catalyst, I used over ten enzymes to synthesize the same product and explored one-pot synthesis based on my previous work. I joined Dr. Li`s group in September of 2007.
Jared Curle, B.Sc.
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I am a first year graduate student new to Edmonton and Dr. Li's lab group. During my undergraduate degree I undertook a mass spectrometric study of lantiobiotic binding with transition metals under the supervision of Dr. Kingsley Donkor. I have not begun research yet but I am looking forward to continuing work with mass spectrometry, as it is a powerful analytical technique to examine biological molecules and systems. When not in school or working as a wildfirefighter in the summer I am an avid sports enthusiast and enjoy hockey, soccer, snowboarding, cycling, and many others.
Lara Ebert, B.Sc.
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I just moved to Edmonton from Vancouver to start my Master's here at U of A. During my time at SFU, I completed a total of two years of various industry co-op work terms. I also completed a four month undergrad research term, where I worked for Dr. Tim Storr synthesizing organic compounds for cancer imaging. After I graduated I worked for Phyton Biotech LLC synthesizing Paclitaxel and Docetaxel API on a 2 to 6 kg scale. After a year and a half of industry work, I decided to further my education and experience in analytical chemistry, which is one of the reason why I joined Dr. Li's group during Winter of 2012. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading, knitting/ crocheting, skiing, and hanging out with friends.
Feifei Fu, B.Sc.
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My undergraduate major is pharmacy, focusing on the direction of pharmaceutical analysis. During the past few years, I have participated in several research projects within the area of medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics and pharmaceutical analysis, namely: “Synthesis, biological evaluation and function studies of Natural products XJP and its derivatives. (National Innovative research projects)” “Study on the phase II metabolism of Picroside II.”etc. I enjoy taking part in all kinds of social activities and absolutely is an extremely optimistic girl. I joined Dr. Liang Li’s group in September, 2010.
Tao Huan, B.Sc.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder found in 63% of all dementias. It is believed that within a generation, the number of people living with AD or related dementias will more than double to 1.1 million Canadians and the economic burden of dementia is enormous. The objective of my proposed research is to develop and apply mass spectrometry-based quantitative metabolomic techniques to search for small molecule biomarkers of AD. Our hypothesis is that in the early stages of AD, certain metabolic changes must be occurring in the brain and that by monitoring one or more key metabolites involved in these metabolic processes it may be possible to diagnose early-stage AD. It is believer that my proposed research will result in the development of a new analytical technique for metabolome profiling with much improved performance compared to existing techniques. Such technique will allow me to detect and quantify a large number of metabolites from AD samples vs. controls. This research may result in the identification of novel metabolite biomarkers for early diagnosis of AD.
Chad Iverson, M.Sc.
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I have just recently begun my Ph. D and have not yet begun my research in the Li group. In general, I am interested in research in both the chemical and biological research that pertains to medicine and therapeutics.
Avalyn E. Lewis, B.Sc.
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After graduation, I worked for an environmental testing firm, using GC/MS to identify and quantify environmental pollutants in soils and waters. I was also employed at SUNY-Stony Brook Mass Spectrometry Facility, where I participated in several research projects, using mass spectrometry and modern analytical techniques in biochemical analyses. I have recently joined the group (Fall 2006) and look forward to beginning my research project next semester.
Zhendong Li, B.Sc.
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During my bachelors in U of A, I worked under Dr. Vederas conducting research in chiral synthesis of novel amino acids, and solid phase protein synthesis. During this research and subsequent stint in industry, I have gained many experiences in the use of variety of LC and MS systems. These experiences has pushed me to return to research under Dr. Li to gain more understanding and find new application for these industry critical techniques. Outside of school I am an avid ping pong player and a connoisseur of fine foods.
Jun Peng, M.Sc.
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I received a Master degree from the Department of Public Health Sciences, where my thesis research was focused on the characterization of the intact hemoglobin-oxaliplatin complexes in the red blood cells of cancer patients using nanoelectrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. I worked as an analytical chemist in the Department of Biological Sciences, where I was mainly involved in human biofluids metabolomics using GC-MS and NMR. I am looking forward to starting my research project next semester.
Difei Sun, B.Sc.
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I joined SRTP(Students` Research Training Programme) of Zhejiang University when I was sophomore, and my supervisor is Dr. Haoran Li. In this project, my topic is “Schiff Base Complexes from Natural Amino Acids as Designable Bionic Catalysts for the Aerobic Oxidation of Cyclic Olefins”. The aim of this was to compare the quality and selectivity of each catalyst and then apply the result to the fine chemical industry.After that, I joined Dr. Yuanjiang Pan's group to finish my dissertation which focused on the biomimetic synthesis of resveratrol oligomers. I used three different catalysts to catalyze the oxidative coupling reaction, comparing the catalytic and oxidative effects of them. In addition, I propose the mechanism of the oxidative coupling reaction to guide the following research.I joined Dr. Li's group in September of 2008.
Yanan Tang, B.Sc.
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I had studied Pharmacy in Hua Xi Medical Science Center, Sichuan University. In my undergraduate period, I participated in a research program under the direction of Dr. Yong Wu, to design and synthesize a series of hepatic targeting drug carriers mediated by the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) on the membrane of liver cells. In this research program, we used liposome as the base of our decoration. By inserting certain ligands, which could be specifically recognized and bound by ASGP-R, into the bilayer-membrane of liposome, we successfully increase the hepatic targeting capability and selectivity of this kind of drug carrier. Now, I’m a new member of Dr. Li’s group.
Tran Tran, B.Sc.
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After years of putting up with the blazing sun of Texas, I decided to venture up north for my graduate career. Back in my undergraduate days, I spent one semester doing organic synthesis research for Dr. Christopher O'Brien and 1.5 year working in the analytical laboratory of Dr. Daniel W. Armstrong. During that time, I had an opportunity to develop and evaluate new stationary phases for Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography as well as to perform the separation of pharmaceutical compounds using GC and HPLC instruments. Outside of the lab, I'm considered as being a manga addict, a thriller novel fanatic and an ardent chess player.
Chiao-Li Tseng, B.Sc.
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My awarded B.S. and M.S. degrees of education are both from Department of Chemistry, National Central University. In my junior at university, I joined Professor Wang-Hsien Ding research group for environmental and analytical chemistry. Under Professor Ding’s guidance, my research was focused on using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to detect two antibiotics. Strongly interesting environmental and analytical chemistry, I decided to pursue my master’s degree in the same research group. During my studying in M.S., my research concentrate on developing and validating a method for the determination of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). After receiving my M.S. degree, I worked as a resident assistant in Clinical Proteomics Center at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. During the period as I was a resident assistant in Professor Sen-Yung Hsieh group, my research was focused on accurately and rapidly identifying pathogenic bacteria by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). I joined Dr. Li’s group in 2009.
Yiman Wu , B.Sc.
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When I was in Hong Kong Baptist University, I joined Prof. Raymond Wong’s group to do both my summer research project and my honors project. The research was focused on the preparation and characterization of metal nanoparticles from metallopolymer precursors. In this project I have synthesized and studied some FePt nanoparticles with intriguing magnetic properties. I joined Dr. Li’s group in Sep. 2009 and I’m looking forward to starting my new research project.
Mingguo Xu, B.Sc.
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Shotgun proteomics is one of the most powerful means to analyse proteins from complex proteomic samples on a massive scale. It often involves PTMs (Post Translational Modifications) and digestion of protein mixtures to even more complicated peptide mixtures, multidimensional separation of the mixtures, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) identification of peptide sequences, and automated database searching algorithms. In order to receive satisfactory peptide/protein coverage, it often requires a relatively large quantity of sample to start with, which becomes a real concern when the real clinical specimens are involved. I am now trying to develop micro- and nano-scale sample preparation methods for mass spectrometry based shotgun proteomics. The aim of this work is to facilitate the extraction efficiency of proteins from clinical specimens (e.g. tissues, cells and etc.), to decrease the sample loss during the prep steps, as well as to improve mass spectrometric detection sensitivity for characterizing low abundance proteins and analyzing very small amounts of samples.
Xiaoxia Ye, B.Sc.
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As a sophomore, I did a research program to re-synthesis a kind of zeolite in order to improve its CEC (cation exchange capacity) of NH4+ in industrial waste water. I took the hydrothermal method to do re-synthesis, determined it’s CEC of NH4+, did XRD to know the structure of zeolites, and tried to find the relationship between the conditions of re-synthesis and the experimental results, so that I could find a right way to do it. Then working with Dr. Feng Lin, we did some study on the determination of the aging years of yellow wine in my undergraduate project. HPLC and other analyzing methods are employed to detect the content of several important components of the wine with different aging years. Thus, we could explain the aging mechanism of the yellow wine and found a reliable aging standard. I am a new student in Dr Liang Li's group now.
Jiamin Zheng, B.Sc.
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The undergraduate curriculum in Pharmacy at China Pharmaceutical University introduced me to a wide gamut of subjects, both in and outside the field. As a sophomore, I attended and completed the program “Fabrication and Photoluminescence Investigation of CdS Quantum Dots” which was directed by Dr. Zhengyu Yan. From the third year of my undergraduate study, under the direction of Dr. Yu Liu, I successfully applied for the Undergraduate Student National Creative Research Project “Preparation Technology Optimization Of Recombinant Human Stellate Cell Activation-Associated Protein (rhSTAP) and Its Effect on Rats’ Liver Fibrosis Model Induced by TAA” and spent approximate two years to carry out the whole project and get the results as I had expected. During the last four months of my undergraduate years, I finished my dissertation in Suzhou Institute of Drug Control. It focused on detection of the chemical substances adding illegally into Fuyankang Capsules, for which IR, HPLC and UPLC-MS/MS were used as the detection methods, and finally I determined that the capsule under detection was a bogus drug. In September of 2009, I joined Dr. Liang Li’s group.
Ruokun Zhou, M.Sc.
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I obtained my M.Sc. degree in organic chemistry from University of Albert in 2008. In the past three years, my research work is focused on the synthesis of new anti-TB inhibitors. Now I join Dr. Li's group to start my PhD program.
Azeret Zuniga, B.Sc.
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It was after being offered the International Leader of Tomorrow Award from UBC that I decided to venture northbound to explore colder climates. Moving from Mexico City to Vancouver was a great experience that introduced me to what I thought were “real” Canadian winters. Upon graduation, I joined ALS Laboratory Group, where I had the opportunity to perform research involving the analysis of halogenic species in diverse geological samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). It was during that time that I realized I wanted to pursue a career in mass spectrometry, and Alberta-bound I went. I joined Dr. Li's group in the fall of 2006, and that's how I ended up experiencing winters as real as they get. My research project involves the analysis of acylcarnitines and their phase I metabolites in human urine by UPLC-MS/MS. Acylcarnitines have become important biomarkers of inborn errors of metabolism such as fatty acid oxidation disorders and organic acidurias. I am particularly interested in the separation and identification of isomeric species since we anticipate that the accurate identification and quantification of specific isomers of acylcarnitines may provide an improved diagnosis of these disorders in the future.