Spatially-Resolved Proteomics & Imaging Mass Spectrometry

Spatial localization of biomolecules, down to single cell expression, impacts the function of the cell, tissue, and organ. Thus, the ability to spatially-resolve molecular composition is critically important to understand the function of healthy tissue and the dysfunction in disease. The Schey lab has incorporated laser capture microdissection and imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) into its arsenal of tools for spatially-resolved proteomics and lipidomics. The major applications of these tools in on lens protein (and lipid) aging and retina changes in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We have developed methods for imaging lens crystallin proteins as well as for imaging integral membrane proteins. Tissues that have been imaged in the Schey lab to date include: lens, retina, cornea, optic nerve, heart, skin, brain, lung, kidney and whole shrimp.

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Cover from Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, September 2009, showing an array of human lens crystallin images acquired by MALDI imaging mass spectrometry.
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Imaging MS of human eye anterior chamber lipids.
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Collage of tissue images acquired in the Schey lab from various projects.
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Lipid IMS image showing retina layers containing unique lipid compositions.
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IMS images of human lens proteins (left) and lipids (right) showing regions of distinct molecular composition.