Research Lab of Dwight Matthews, Ph.D.
Overview
Areas of interest: stable isotopes.
We use mass spectrometry to measure stable isotopically labeled compounds. With these compounds we study metabolism in humans.We also use mass spectrometry to measure peptides and proteins in the area of proteomics.
Lab Team| Name | Title | Phone | Information |
|---|
| Bin Deng, Ph.D. | Research Associate | (802) 656-9722 | Email |
| David Ebenstein | Senior Research Technician | (802) 656-9647 | Email |
| Lei Hu | Graduate Assistant | (802) 656-5065 | Email |
| Yue Luo | Graduate Assistant | (802) 656-5065 | Email |
| Margo Mertz | Administrative Assistant | (802) 656-2667 | Email |
| Bruce O'Rourke | Researcher/Analyst | (802) 656-9648 | Email |
| Chris Potter | Senior Research Technician | (802) 656-0775 | Email |
| Micheal Previs | Graduate Assistant | (802) 656-8654 | Email |
Programs & Projects
Much of our research is focused upon amino acid and protein metabolism in humans. Students are encouraged as part of their thesis work to apply methods developed to clinical studies of metabolism in humans. Many simple metabolic questions have never been answered in humans. We do not know which pathways regulate the metabolism of several important amino acids in humans.
We do not know how protein and amino acid metabolism is regulated in the body to maintain protein stores or why the body accelerates oxidation of amino acids in states of stress, trauma, or sepsis using protein stores to the point of being life threatening.
Mass spectrometry has been widely applied for compound identification, but precise measurement of isotopes in biological compounds has received less attention. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and isotope ratio mass spectrometry instrumentation are all available and are used for research in our group to measure stable isotope ratio tracers in biological samples.