{"id":1177,"date":"2026-07-13T13:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/?page_id=1177"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:24:15","slug":"imsis-workshop-2026-speakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/?page_id=1177","title":{"rendered":"main speakers and session chairs – IMSIS Workshop 2026 –"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Plenary Speaker<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Prof. Ken lau<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Director of Center for Computational Systems Biology & Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Professor of Surgery<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Dr. Lau is internationally recognized in field of single-cell systems biology. His research focuses on gut biology, specifically the molecular events that occur at the intersection of mucosal damage, inflammation, and tumor initiation. His laboratory applies systems biology approaches to investigating interactions between cells and their microenvironment in modulating cellular identity, development, and the origins of cancer. Serving as co-chair of the NCI Human Tumor Atlas Network, he has led efforts to map human cancers at single-cell resolution, setting new standards for integrative cancer research. He is currently a full professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University, and the director of the Center for Computational Systems Biology.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Closing Plenary - The State of the Field<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Prof. Ken lau<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Peggi M. Angel, PhD<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Peggi Angel is tenured Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and Co-Director of Mass Spectrometry Imaging. Dr. Angel\u2019s work focuses on the contribution of spatial chemical biology to the external, endogenous environmental and mechanical forces in disease risk, progression, and therapeutic resistance. She has developed multiple mass spectrometry imaging approaches to spatial biology designed for use on clinically archived human specimens of tissues, cells and fluids. Notably, she pioneered a spatial method targeting the collagen proteome and other extracellular matrix glycoproteins from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, integrative with other spatial modalities. She has further developed this approach as a way to target the extracellular matrix in cell culture and in biofluids. Dr. Angel has over 14 years cumulative experience in 5 biotech startups including Glycopath, Inc., a company that leveraged glycosylation patterns as a prognostic or diagnostic tool; she currently serves on the board of N-Zyme Scientifics, a company that produces enzymes for targeted mass spectrometry imaging. Dr. Angel is committed to creating a collaborative mass spectrometry imaging community and serves as Past President for the Americas Region of the International Mass Spectrometry Imaging Society, as Scientific Advisor for the US Human Proteome Organization, and as scientific advisor for Mass Spectrometry & Advances in the Clinical Lab. Dr. Angel is devoted to coaching and mentoring serving on multiple committees to advise and mentor young scientists in entrepreneurship within multidisciplinary teams.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Session Chairs<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Oral session 1 - microscopy enhanced msi<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Kyle Duncan<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr. Kyle Duncan is a Michael Smith Health Research British Columbia Scholar, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Vancouver Island University, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Victoria. His research team works at the interface of analytical chemistry, engineering, and biochemistry to design, build, develop, and apply custom ambient mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) instrumentation. Specifically, his group specializes in spatial metabolomics using nano-DESI MSI to visualize and study the distributions of biomolecules directly within tissues at high spatial resolution. In addition to developing custom MSI hardware, Dr. Duncan\u2019s laboratory creates open-access software tools for the analysis and exploration of large ambient MSI datasets. Current research focuses on advancing spatial metabolomics workflows through improved throughput, quantitative capabilities, and integration with other spatial biology modalities. His group is actively involved in broad collaborative research projects spanning cancer biology, ecotoxicology, and environmental chemistry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Timothy J. Trinklein<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Timothy Trinklein received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Washington under Dr. Robert Synovec. There, he worked in instrumentation and computation for multidimensional gas chromatography, including the development of a three-dimensional gas chromatography instrument with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher working under Drs. Jonathan Sweedler and Fan Lam at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Broadly, his research develops new computational tools and instrumentation to enable new measurements of brain neurochemistry. In\u00a0the area of mass spectrometry imaging, his research interests include scaling up 3D imaging, acceleration strategies for high-throughput imaging, and multiscale integration of single cell and tissue imaging data. These tools are applied to achieve a better understanding of the brain metabolome and its dyregulation in disease, including metabolite remodeling in Alzheimer’s disease and the spatial organization of isomerized and epimerized neuropeptides.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Oral session 2 - Advances in Multimodal Imaging Workflows<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Caitlin Tressler<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr. Caitlin Tressler is an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as the Assistant Director of the Applied Imaging Mass Spectrometry (AIMS) Core. Their research focuses on organophosphate poisoning and MALDI imaging sample preparation.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Martin Dufresne<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr. Dufresne did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Universite de Montreal in the laboratory of Pierre Chaurand with an emphasis on neutral lipid ionization by MALDI imaging mass spectrometry using metal cation formation for increased specificity and sensitivity. After obtaining his Ph.D. in chemistry, Dr. Dufresne joined Vanderbilt University Mass Spectrometry Research Center to pursue his post-doctoral research in the Department of Biochemistry under Richard Caprioli optimizing sample preparation for high spatial resolution imaging of lipids as part of the Human Biomolecular Atlas Project. Dr. Dufresne then moved to a new research faculty appointment with the Cell and Developmental Biology department under Jeffrey Spraggins. His work in the Spraggins\u2019 lab continues to focus on high spatial resolution lipid imaging but with a new emphasis on multimodal integration of imaging mass spectrometry with various microscopy techniques all performed on the same tissue section. This new multimodal aim lead to the development and discovery of new MALDI matrix candidate which significantly reduces the amount of laser energy needed for high spatial resolution MALDI image acquisition allowing same section highly multiplex immunofluorescence (CODEX) to be performed imaging with little to no performance loss on the microscopy after MALDI IMS.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Oral session 3 - multimodal imaging of complex microenvironments<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Angela Kruse<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Angela R.S. Kruse, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Angela earned her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and Biochemistry from Cornell University before joining the Vanderbilt University Mass Spectrometry Research Center as a postdoctoral research fellow and research assistant professor. The Kruse Laboratory is dedicated to understanding infectious and metabolic disease via the development and integration of spatial technologies including mass spectrometry and microscopy. Current projects center on 1) the host-pathogen interface during\u00a0Clostridioides difficile<\/i>\u00a0infection in the intestine, and 2) the molecular basis of islet and exocrine dysfunction in the diabetic pancreas.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Tialfi bergamin de castro<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr. Tialfi Bergamin de Castro is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. His research focuses on the development and application of mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) and spatial multi-omics to investigate host\u2013pathogen interactions, inflammation, neurodegeneration, and cancer. He combines lipidomics, metabolomics, glycomics, and proteomics to characterize the spatial organization of molecular processes in complex biological tissues, with a particular emphasis on infectious diseases and translational biomedical research. Dr. Bergamin de Castro has contributed to the advancement of quantitative MSI methodologies, including approaches for high-containment pathogen research and multimodal imaging workflows.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Oral session 4 - spatial multi-omics from single tissue sections<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Jade macdonald<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jade Macdonald is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University. Jade received a BS in Chemistry and a BS in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019 and completed her PhD in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2025 under Dr. Peggi Angel. Jade\u2019s doctoral work focused on developing liquid chromatography-trapped ion mobility spectrometry-tandem mass spectrometry-based and matrix-assisted laser\/desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging-based proteomic techniques to target the extracellular matrix in hepatocellular carcinoma patient tissues. She has since brought these techniques to Vanderbilt University and is applying them to her current project which focuses on immune-extracellular matrix crosstalk in early and average onset colorectal precancer.\u00a0 This project involves multimodal imaging of formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue using spatial transcriptomics, multiplexed immunofluorescence, chemical stains, N-glycan mass spectrometry imaging and extracellular matrix mass spectrometry imaging.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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erin seeley<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr. Erin Seeley is the Director of the Mass Spectrometry Imaging Core at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University where she studied phosphoproteomics. She then moved to Vanderbilt University as a postdoc in the lab of Professor Richard Caprioli where she was quickly promoted to Associate Director of the Tissue Profiling and Imaging Core, spending a total of 9 years there. Dr. Seeley then spent about 6 years in Contract Research Organizations performing MSI with a focus on the development of diagnostic tests.\u00a0 In 2020, she moved to the University of Texas at Austin to start up the CPRIT funded Mass Spectrometry Imaging Core.\u00a0 In the summer of 2025, she was recruited to MD Anderson to start a new MSI Core in support of their world-class cancer research.\u00a0 Throughout her career, she has been passionate about developing new sample preparation strategies for advancing the depth of coverage of MSI experiments and moving MSI to clinical applications that can be used to improve patient care.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Plenary Speaker Prof. Ken lau Director of Center for Computational Systems Biology & Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Professor of Surgery Dr. Lau is internationally recognized in field of single-cell systems biology. His research focuses on gut biology, specifically the molecular events that occur at the intersection of mucosal damage, inflammation, and tumor initiation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1177","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1221,"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1177\/revisions\/1221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsisamericas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}