People_
Our staff
Meet the team
Our experts help you get the most from our state–of-the-art tools for proteomic, metabolomic and mass spectrometry imaging.
Director
Professor Stuart Cordwell
Stuart has been involved in proteomics research throughout his career. He was an author on the manuscript that defined the term ‘proteome’ and established the first laboratory-based undergraduate Proteomics course in Australia.
He has been awarded the Selby Research Award for work on bacterial membrane proteins and a Villum Kann Rasmussen VELUX Professorship for his work on post-translational modification of proteins, and was the President of the Australasian Proteomics Society (2016-2020).
Technical Staff
Dr Ben Crossett, Associate Director
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Ben began his scientific career at the University of Manchester, gaining a BSc(Hons) in Biochemistry, followed by a PhD at the University of Cambridge. It was while he was a post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College London that he developed his interested in proteomics, applying the methods to investigate novel anti-microbial and vaccine targets in Burkholderia pseudomallei. In 2004, he moved to Sydney to help establish the forerunner of Sydney Mass Spectrometry. Since then the facility has grown from one mass spectrometer and a narrow proteomics focus to one of the largest providers of LCMS services to the life sciences in Australia.
As the Associate Director of Sydney Mass Spec he utilises proteomic and metabolomic techniques to study biological systems from species ranging from alpacas to zooxanthellae.
Dr Atul Bhatnagar, Senior Technical Officer
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Atul has over 8 years of experience in the field of life sciences mass spectrometry with a focus on metabolomics and small molecule absolute quantification. He obtained his PhD from Macquarie University in therapeutic drug quantification studies in cancer patients. Prior to joining SydneyMS, Atul has worked in various pharmaceutical industries and most recently was a senior scientist at APAF. His role there involved developing and validating LC-MS methods, managing commercial and research projects, instrument maintenance and imparting training to students and researchers.
Atul has extensive instrument experience for LC-MS (Orbitrap, QqQ) and UHPLC. He has a strong background in method development and validation in the areas of small molecules, metabolomics and therapeutic drug quantification. His expertise lies with validating bioanalytical methods for pharmacokinetic studies as per the regulatory guidelines (US-FDA, EMA, etc.). Atul is responsible for providing technical and analytical support to researchers using our facility especially in the areas of targeted and untargeted metabolomics, lipidomics and xenobiotic molecules.
Angela Connolly, Senior Technical Officer
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Angela has over 20 years’ experience working in the field of proteomics. Before joining Sydney University, Angela worked for several years at the Australian Proteomics Analysis Facility (APAF) as a Senior Mass Spectrometry Analyst, conducting projects for collaborating researchers, commercial customers and internal research groups.
Angela has extensive experience in operating mass spectrometers and HPLC systems. Additionally, she is skilled in data analysis for TMT analysis, shotgun proteomics, PMF and PTM analysis. She is responsible for much of the contract research conducted at Sydney Mass Spec as well as providing technical support to researchers accessing proteomic workflows at Sydney Mass Spec to ensure effective and efficient collaborative outcomes.
Dr Denise Tran, Senior Technical Officer
Denise has been an advocate for mass spectrometry (MS) and proteomics since her undergraduate days at the University of Adelaide where she majored in Chemistry and Pharmacology. She stayed on at the University of Adelaide and completed her PhD in the Pukala lab, characterising a molecular chaperonin using MS and complementary techniques. In 2018, she joined the Loo lab at UCLA and identified binding pockets of spermatogenesis proteins, naked mole rat apolipoproteins, and developed native MS techniques for lipid associated proteins. Following that position, Denise joined the Kelleher lab at Northwestern University in 2020 and helped develop native immunoprecipitation workflows for Amyloid beta oligomers and helped push the forefront of top-down MS analysis software before joining the team here at SydneyMS.
She will continue pushing the boundaries of mass spectrometry and enabling the scientific community to excel, especially in the areas of proteomics and MS based protein characterisation.
Dr Kang-Yu Peng, Senior Technical Officer
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Kang-Yu started his career as a biomedical research scientist at Chang Gung University, Taiwan, where he obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees and worked briefly as a research assistant. He undertook his PhD at the University of Melbourne and Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute focused on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease lipidomics, during which he used both patient samples and in vitro models and carried out lipid profiling and flux analysis to explore the involvement of lipid in this disease.
In 2017 Kang-Yu started work at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, where he developed a targeted lipidomic assay covering more than 350 lipid species before moving on to the Heart Research Institute, where he was able to further develop the lipid assay so it could cover nearly double the number of species in almost half the instrument time. In late 2021 he brought his lipidomics skills to Sydney Mass Spectrometry.
Kang-Yu is an expert in LC/MS-based targeted and untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics. He has worked on a wide range of projects which involved quantitative lipidomics of complex biological and/or clinical matrices (e.g., mammalian milk, plasma, platelet). He is also interested in metabolomics/lipidomics data analysis and the application and development of relevant computer tools for this purpose.
Jacquie Kufner, Senior Administration Officer
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Skilled in navigating the University's bureaucracy, Jacquie provides invaluable administrative support to Sydney Mass Spec and will guide users through the on-boarding process and handle any billing inquires.
