
Dr. Lingjun Li
Lingjun received her BE degree in Environmental Analytical Chemistry from Beijing Polytechnic University and a PhD degree in Analytical Chemistry/Biomolecular Chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She did three-way postdoctoral research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brandeis University, and University of Illinois before joining the School of Pharmacy faculty in 2002. She currently holds joint appointments in the School of Pharmacy and Department of Chemistry at UW-Madison, as well as being named Charles Melbourne Johnson Distinguished Chair and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor.
Decoding Neuropeptide Complexity: Advancing Neurobiological Insights from Invertebrates to Vertebrates through Evolutionary Perspectives
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
Neuropeptides are vital signaling molecules involved in neural communication, hormonal regulation, and stress response across diverse taxa. Despite their critical roles, neuropeptide research remains challenging due to their low abundance, complex post-translational modifications (PTMs), and dynamic expression patterns. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based neuropeptidomics has revolutionized peptide identification and quantification, enabling the high-throughput characterization of neuropeptides and their PTMs. However, the complexity of vertebrate neural networks poses...
TEMI: tissue-expansion mass-spectrometryimaging
Nature Methods
The spatial distribution of diverse biomolecules in multicellular organismsis essential for their physiological functions. High-throughput in situmapping of biomolecules is crucial for both basic and medical research,and requires high scanning speed, spatial resolution, and chemicalsensitivity. Here we developed a tissue-expansion method compatible withmatrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass-spectrometry imaging(TEMI). TEMI reaches single-cell spatial resolution without sacrificingvoxel throughput and enables the profiling of hundreds of biomolecules,including lipids, metabolites, peptides (proteins), and N-glycans....
Single-cell lipidomics enabled by dual-polarity ionization and ion mobility-mass spectrometry imaging
Nature Communications
Single-cell (SC) analysis provides unique insight into individual cell dynamics and cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Here, we utilize trapped ion mobility separation coupled with dual-polarity ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to enable high-throughput in situ profiling of the SC lipidome. Multimodal SC imaging, in which dual-polarity-mode MSI is used to perform serial data acquisition runs on individual cells, significantly enhanced SC lipidome coverage. High-spatial resolution SC-MSI identifies both inter- and intracellular lipid heterogeneity; this heterogeneity is further explicated...