Academic Appointments
Visiting Associate Professor, The Uiniversity of Pittsburgh, US, 2022- present
Associate Research Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, US, (2020-2022)
Assistant Research Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, US, (2017-2020)
Research Associate, The Pennsylvania State University, US, (2015-2017)
Postdoctoral Researcher, The Pennsylvania State University, US, (2012-2015)
Assistant Research Associate, Xinjiang technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2007-2007)
Ph.D, Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, UK, 2012
MSc, Organic Chemistry and Polymer, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, 2004
BE, Fine Chemical Engineering, North University of China, China, 2001
Biomolecules and their interaction are the foundation of cell function at healthy and diseased state. However, high-resolution imaging of single cells with high chemical sensitivity remains challenging. My lab focuses on developing of a novel mass spectrometry imaging, gas cluster ion beams secondary ion mass spectrometry (GCIB-SIMS) for single cell imaging at the spatial resolution of 1 µm. It enables multiple biomolecules to be visualized simultaneously by detecting the m/z of unlabeled molecules. Another area of focuses is using the integrated omics approach to understand the biomolecular and cellular heterogeneity in tissue microenvironment (e.g., traumatic brain injury, various cancers and organ tissue) and metabolic pathways associated with the protein condensates in single cells.
Funded studies
- 09/10/20-8/31/24 Multi-omic at single-cell resolution imaging using multimodal 3-dimentional mass spectrometry. NIH-1UG3CA256962-01 (In collaboration with Columbia University).
- 07/01/18 -06/30/23 Lipid imaging in traumatic brain injury by high resolution GCIB-secondary ion mass spectrometry. NCI-2R01NS076511-06 (In collaboration with Pittsburgh University).
- 12/16/20-12/01/22 High resolution imaging of human skin using H2O cluster ion beam secondary ion mass spectrometry. Unilever-MA-2020-01900N.
- 11/01/19-10/31/22 Assessment of the SIMS for high resolution cell and tissue imaging. Novartis-187444.
A current listing of all publications can be found in the following link,
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VlBiJCwAAAAJ&hl=en
* denotes first or co-first author, # denotes corresponding author
- Hua Tian*#, Louis J Sparvero, Tamil Anthonymuthu, Wanyang Sun, Andrew Amoscato, Rongrong He, Hulya Bayir, Valerian Kagan, Nicholas Winograd. Successive high-resolution H2O-GCIB and C60-SIMS imaging integrates multi-omics in different cell types in breast cancer tissue. Analytical Chemistry, 93(23) 8143–8151, 2021. American Chemical Society ‘Editors’ Choice’. Being highlighted by Nature Methods https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-021-01333-x
- Hua Tian*#, Sadia Sheraz née Rabbani, John C. Vickerman, Nicholas Winograd. Multiomics imaging using high energy H2O gas cluster ion beam secondary ion mass spectrometry (GCIB-SIMS) of frozen-hydrated cells and tissue. Analytical Chemistry, 93(22):7808-7814, 2021.
- Louis J. Sparvero, Hua Tian*, Andrew A. Amoscato, Wan-Yang Sun, Tamil S. Anthonymuthu, Yulia Y. Tyurina, Oleksandr Kapralov, Sabzali Javadov, Rong-Rong He, Simon C. Watkins, Nicholas Winograd, Valerian E. Kagan, and Hülya Bayır. Direct Mapping of Phospholipid Ferroptotic Death Signals in Cells and Tissues by Gas Cluster Ion Beam Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (GCIB-SIMS). Angewandte Chemie, 60(21),11784-11788, 2021. *HT is co-first author. Being highlighted by Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-021-00811-9
- Vidhi Pareek, Hua Tian, Nicholas Winograd, and Stephen J. Benkovic. Metabolomics and mass spectrometry imaging reveal channeled de novo purine synthesis by purinosomes. Science, 368(6488), 283–290, 2020.
- Hua Tian*#, Louis J. Sparvero, Paul Blenkinsopp, Andrew A. Amoscato, Simon C. Watkins, Hülya Bayır, Valerian E. Kagan, and Nicholas Winograd. Secondary ion mass spectrometry images cardiolipins and phosphatidyl-ethanolamines at the subcellular level. Angewandta Chemie, 131(10), 3188–3193, 2019. Selected as Very Important Paper by the journal
- Sadia Sheraz, Hua Tian*#, John C. Vickerman, Paul Blenkinsopp, Nick Winograd, and Peter Cumpson. Enhanced ion yields using high-energy water cluster beams for secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis and imaging. Analytical Chemistry, 91(14), 9058–9068, 2019. *HT is co-first author.
- Hua Tian*#, Dawid Maciążek, Zbigniew Postawa, Barbara J. Garrison, and Nicholas Winograd. C-O bond dissociation and induced chemical ionization using high-energy (CO2)n+ gas cluster ion beam. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 30, 476–481, 2019.
- Hua Tian*#, David A. Six, Thomas Krucker, Jennifer A. Leeds, and Nicholas Winograd. Subcellular chemical imaging of antibiotics in single bacteria using C60-secondary ion mass spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 89(9), 5050–5057, 2017. American Chemical Society’ Editors’ Choice’.
- Hua Tian*#, Louis J. Sparvero, Andrew A. Amoscato, Anna Bloom, Hülya Bayır, Valerian E. Kagan, and Nicholas Winograd. Gas cluster ion beam time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry high-resolution imaging of cardiolipin speciation in the brain: Identification of molecular losses after traumatic injury. Analytical Chemistry, 89(8), 4611–4619, 2017.
- Anna Bloom, Hua Tian, and Nicholas Winograd. Label-free visualization of nilotinib-functionalized gold nanoparticles within single mammalian cells utilizing C60-SIMS imaging. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 409(12), 3067–3076, 2017. Featured on front cover.
- Hua Tian*#, Dawid Maciążek, Zbigniew Postawa, Barbara J. Garrison, and Nicholas Winograd. CO2 cluster ion beam, an alternative projectile for secondary ion mass spectrometry. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 27(9), 1476–1482, 2016.
- Hua Tian*#, Andreas Wucher, and Nicholas Winograd. Reduce the matrix effect in biological tissue imaging using dynamic reactive ionization and gas cluster ion beams. Biointerphases, 11, 02A320, 2016.
- Hua Tian*#, Andreas Wucher, and Nicholas Winograd. Dynamic reactive ionization with cluster secondary ion mass spectrometry. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 27(2), 285–292, 2016.
