Description
A post-doctoral researcher position is available at Laser Bioanalytics, a startup company located in Gunbarrel business district in northeast Boulder, Colorado.
The position is part of a NIH-funded SBIR project aimed at photochemical tissue pre-processing for imaging mass spectrometry. Candidates with experience in lasers and optics, LabView programming, mass spectrometry, and instrument design and construction are sought. A Ph.D. in physics, chemistry, engineering, or related fields is required and salary is commensurate with experience based on the NIH NRSA scale.
Interested candidates should contact Dr. Kermit Murray at kkmurray@laserbioanalytics.com. Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a statement of research accomplishments and goals, and a list of three references.
Laser Bioanalytics LLC was founded in 2017 by Kermit Murray to develop laser-based technologies for tissue sampling and imaging based on technology developed at Louisiana State University. The company moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2026.
Requirements
The position entails construction and testing of a laser photochemical tissue processing system for MALDI mass spectrometry. The postdoctoral associate will assist in construction of the system, developing and testing control software, processing samples for MALDI imaging analysis, and interpretation of the results.
The overall goal of the project is to develop a prototype instrument and techniques for photochemical patterning of lipids in tissue sections for mass spectrometry structural analysis and imaging. The proposed instrument uses focused laser beams to drive photochemical reactions in the tissue that tag lipid double bond locations. The tissue is then analyzed using a commercial matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometer. Fragmentation of the lipids by tandem mass spectrometry produces diagnostic ions that reveal the lipid double bond location that is otherwise indiscernible.
Lipids are important cellular components and important in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. Mass spectrometry is a powerful method for identifying and quantifying lipids in tissue and mass spectrometry imaging can localize lipids in tissue at spatial resolution approaching cellular precision. One of the greatest challenges in mass spectrometry of lipids is determining the structure of these structurally and biochemically diverse compounds. Determining the location of double bonds in unsaturated lipids can be accomplished using photochemical reactions such as the Paterno-Buchi carbonyl cycloaddition reaction which forms products that readily fragment in mass spectrometry experiments to reveal lipid structure. The device to be developed in this project allows photochemical reactions to be performed on tissue sections with selected patterns that facilitate identification and distribution of lipids.
This project will develop new technology for patterned tissue photochemistry for mass spectrometry imaging. The process is general and applicable not only to lipid identification but can also be applied to protein photochemistry and structural analysis, lipid and protein photo-crosslinking, and photochemical cage release reactions. The target commercial potential for this technology is clinical and research laboratories using MALDI mass spectrometry imaging. This technology provides capabilities that are not commercially available in any device and the system can be directly integrated into current mass spectrometry imaging workflows.
