I am interested in understanding the role of neurological peptides and hormones in crustacean limb regeneration. Specifically, I am working to characterize the changes in levels of these important signaling molecules in crustaceans as they regenerate their limb using both ESI- and MALDI-mass spectrometry. Because endogenous levels of these molecules are low and their signal often masked by interfering signals from more abundant molecules such as lipids and proteins, I am developing new sample preparation methods to enhance our detection of these peptides for analysis by mass spectrometry imaging.