Brandon M. Kenwood

Leads a CLIA-accredited analytical laboratory supporting national exposure surveillance programs, including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Population Assessment for Tobacco and Health (PATH), analyzing ~15,000 biological specimens annually and reporting >300,000 results/year Developed and validated LC-MS/MS assays quantifying urinary biomarkers of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from tobacco smoke and e-cigarette aerosol Directed population-level analyses of VOC biomarkers to evaluate associations with tobacco use behaviors Discovered and validated novel VOC biomarkers through in-vitro metabolic assays Recruited, trained, and mentored research fellows and technical staff

Validated and optimized LC-MS/MS methods for measuring VOC exposure biomarkers in support of national biomonitoring programs Developed an LC-MS/MS method which measured sulfatides and lysophosphatidylcholines in dried blood spots for newborn screening Synthesized and characterized dried blood spot proficiency testing and quality control materials distributed to over 500 domestic and international newborn screening laboratories Designed a method to produce disorder-specific “carbon copy” dried blood spots to strengthen global newborn screening quality assurance efforts Authored ISO 17043–compliant SOPs and communicated with ISO auditors to maintain accreditation Trained U.S. and international laboratory professionals in newborn screening assay performance

Principal investigator: Alfred H. Merrill Jr. Performed extraction and quantitative analysis of sphingolipids and sphingolipid analogues using LC-MS/MS Discovered novel sphingolipid analogue metabolism pathways using sphingolipid-deficient cell models Quantified sphingolipids in mouse models of Gaucher’s disease and Niemann-Pick disease to advance understanding of lysosomal storage disorders Authored a book chapter detailing mass spectrometry methodologies for lipid analysis

Principal Investigator: Kyle L. Hoehn Identified and characterized a novel drug candidate using techniques in mitochondrial electrophysiology Co-authored a pharmaceutical patent contributing to early-stage therapeutic discovery and development Performed cellular respiration profiling with metabolic inhibitors to support studies for lab members and external collaborators Extracted polar lipids and processed LC-MS/MS data sets for the laboratory and external collaborators

Principal Investigator: Andreas Hoenger Investigated structural requirements of a microtubule binding protein using transmission electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography

Cultured cells and performed immunoassays used to develop a novel vaccine platform

Performed quality control for ER patient tracking software