2023 Young Investigator Travel Awards

The Washington-Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group (WBMSDG) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2023 Young Investigator Travel Awards. Awards will be granted to outstanding young investigators at the undergraduate or graduate student level to support travel to the 71st ASMS Conference. Undergraduate and graduate students in laboratories and institutions traditionally associated with the WBMSDG in the following geographic regions are encouraged to apply: from Richmond and Charlottesville, VA to the South and Newark, DE to the North.

Three awards will be given. 1st place: $650, 2nd place: $550, 3rd place: $450.

Complete applications consist of the following items:
1. Travel Grant 2023 Application form (includes a checklist)
2. Electronic copy of ASMS abstract
3. Evidence of abstract acceptance by ASMS indicating the presentation format (poster or oral)
4. Curriculum Vitae or Resume
5. Two-page summary of research project (figures can be included)
6. Letter of recommendation from advisor

Applicants should submit items 1-5 listed above as a single PDF file to Dr. Dapeng Chen. Item 6 must be sent directly by the applicant’s advisor to Dr. Dapeng Chen:

Dapeng Chen, PhD
WBMSDG co-chair
dapeng.chen@zeteotech.com

The deadline for applications is 5 PM EST on Friday, April 28th, 2023. A panel of WBMSDG members will act as reviewers. Please note, previous winners are encouraged to apply if the award application for the upcoming ASMS conference significantly differs from the previously successful application. In the event that ASMS is cancelled, awards will be given out as well as prize amounts up to the full award to cover any incurred costs associated with ASMS travel. Successful applicants will be expected to give a 10-minute oral presentation at the post-ASMS WBMSDG meeting on June 23rd, 2023 at Shimadzu Scientific in Columbia, MD.

One week left! 2022 Young Investigator Travel Awards

2022 Washington-Baltimore MSDG Young Investigator Travel Awards

The Washington-Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group (WBMSDG) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2022 Young Investigator Travel Awards. Awards will be granted to outstanding young investigators at the undergraduate or graduate student level to support travel to the 70th ASMS Conference in Minneapolis, MN. Undergraduate and graduate students in laboratories and institutions traditionally associated with the WBMSDG in the following geographic regions are encouraged to apply: from Richmond and Charlottesville, VA to the South and Newark, DE to the North. Three awards will be given. 1st place: $600, 2nd place: $500, 3rd place: $400.

Complete applications consist of the following items:
1. Travel Grant 2022 Application form (includes a checklist)
2. Electronic copy of ASMS abstract
3. Evidence of abstract acceptance by ASMS indicating the presentation format (poster or oral)
4. Curriculum Vitae or Resume
5. Two-page summary of research project (figures can be included)
6. Letter of recommendation from advisor

Applicants should submit Items 1-5 listed above as a single PDF file to Dr. Casey Daniels. Item 6 must be sent directly by the applicant’s advisor to Dr. Casey Daniels:

Dr. Casey Daniels
WBMSDG co-chair
Email: casey.daniels@astrazeneca.com

The deadline for applications is 5 PM EST on Friday, May 6th, 2022. A panel of WBMSDG members will act as reviewers. Please note, previous winners are encouraged to apply if the award application for the upcoming ASMS conference significantly differs from the previously successful application. In the event that ASMS is cancelled, awards will be given out as well as prize amounts up to the full award to cover any incurred costs associated with ASMS travel. Successful applicants will be expected to give a 10-minute oral presentation at the post-ASMS WBMSDG meeting on June 20th, 2022 at Shimadzu Scientific in Columbia, MD.

Sandy Markey, Ph.D.

Sanford P. Markey, Ph.D. 1942-2022.

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of Sandy Markey, loving husband of Carol, father of Amy (and Shane), Daniel (and Robyn), and grandfather of Ella, Zachary, and Chloe. Sandy lost his long battle with cancer on the morning of February 6, 2022.

All who met Sandy immediately felt his warmth, sincerely, and empathy and shortly afterwards discovered his clarity of thought. These qualities had a major effect on our programs at NIST both before and after his retirement from NIH nearly ten years ago. We develop reference mass spectral libraries here, but even before such a library existed, in the earliest days of the ASMS Sandy lobbied for that that organization to lead a community-based effort to construct such a resource. This reflected his long-held commitment to service and his view of science as a community-based endeavor. This idea of a library was pursued through Hank Fales at NIH, eventually leading to our program – now the NIST/EPA/NIH library, for which he played a role in throughout his career, submitting some of its earliest entries. When I visited Sandy about 20 years ago, he suggested that we build a library of peptide spectra. “Interesting idea” I said, “but what is a peptide?”. He told me and after further instruction we now have a highly developed peptide ion fragmentation library and major involvement in the field of proteomics – including current studies on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and our long involvement with the NIH/NCI Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium program, in which Sandy played a major role. In the meantime, he co-founded the US HUPO organization using creative financing to get it started which he never divulged to me. While at NIH he sent two colleagues to NIST, Jeri Roth and Sara Yang, one of whom managed our initial proteomics program and another who still leads our tandem library software development work. With retirement from NIH in view, they convinced him to accept a 3-days-a-week appointment at NIST. Since then, Sandy has been a central figure in our quality control program and was well known here for his ready assistance to all, especially junior staff, in introducing them to the ways of doing and publishing research. He even advised us of a major animal milk resource at the National Zoo, leading to new libraries and an article in the Washington Post. I am pleased also that we linked him to one of our external evaluators, with whom his enjoyed sailing just a few years ago in, of all places, Tennessee. He was always deeply supportive of members of our group, ready to help them make the best decision. Many members of our group and in the community sorely miss him. His presence here was also a major factor in our recent recruitment of two senior NIH staff who knew him well, Lewis Geer and Douglas Slotta who had hoped to work with him for a much longer time. Sandy has left a deep imprint on the work on many at NIST and in our memories. It is great fortune to have known him. – Stephen Stein, NIST

When I think of Sandy, I think of someone who was always drawing people in. And Sandy was involved in lots of things and knew lots of people. Most recently, we have him to thank for being the motivating force behind incorporating the WBMSDG as a non-profit entity. Sandy drew on his experience and connections in founding and incorporating US HUPO to help us and guide us through the process. Even though that was recent, it feels like it was ages ago. Sandy always made it a point to be very approachable and to know everyone and to be very encouraging. – Jim Kelley, NIH

Sandy was a great mentor for the mass spectrometry community at NIH over many decades. I personally had the benefit of his presence by consulting with him at almost every step of my career advancement. He was very respected and loved by colleagues at NIH. He organized proteomics symposium at NIH in 2001 to stimulate the interest of NIH on the then emerging field. He always promoted the collaborative spirit in the community. At the 2016 symposium held in honor of his retirement from NIH, Sandy urged us to continue the symposium at a regular basis as a new collaborative avenue among mass spectrometry community in the area. He was a warm and caring person, always thinking of the community ahead of his own interest. We will miss him greatly. – Hee-Yong Kim, NIH
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Sandy co-organized the WBMSDG in the late 1970s was a speaker in 2013, 2012, 2011, 1990, 1985, and 1982.

2021 Washington-Baltimore MSDG Young Investigator Travel Award Recipients

Congratulations to the following recipients of the WBMSDG Young Investigator Travel Awards:

Anh Tran, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (Advisor: Jace Jones), 1st place: “High Resolution Ion Mobility of Sphingolipids: a Multi-Adduct Perspective”

Aparna Baxi & Jie Li, University of Maryland (Advisor: Peter Nemes), 2nd place: “In “Proteo-Metabolomics of Spemann’s Organizer in the Vertebrate (Frog) Embryo” and “In Vivo Subcellular Mass Spectrometry Enables Systems Biology in Single Embryonic Cells”

Amanda Belunis, University of Maryland Baltimore County (Advisor: William R. LaCourse), 3rd place: “EPA 537.1 method validation for the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water sources”