Robert Kennedy
Hobart Willard Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, USA
An exciting frontier in human health? Something that I feel is still barely tapped is developing analytical methods for better understanding the brain. The brain has many layers of organization so that single cell, small regions, circuits and the whole brain all represent interesting analytical challenges. We are seeing important advances in many aspects including imaging of neurotransmitters (via receptor interactions) and direct measurements by sensors and sampling. Also, single cell analysis is especially useful in neural systems where heterogeneity is built into the function. And, looking for biomarkers of brain function is very active. Nevertheless, relating the chemistry to other measurables (anatomy and electrical activity) and then to things like psychological and mental functions is a fascinating area.
Making personalized medicine a reality… I don't think personalized medicine will happen without analytical measurements at multiple levels. First, you need better analytics to identify the biomarkers of interest. Then, you need routine assays to determine what personalized medicine is needed. Then, you need assays to track the performance of the assay. Making all of this faster and cheaper (to avoid runaway healthcare costs) is required to make it a reality.
How would you spend a $1 billion research grant? If I had a billion dollars I would share it with many colleagues to focus on brain studies with an eye towards diseases of the brain and fundamentals of brain science. Basically, this is similar to the Brain Initiative. Diseases related to brain function are highly costly because they often result in long term care and debilitation. Think about traumatic brain injury, addictions including alcoholism, and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s). Also, many health related issues end up being related to the brain. The remarkable effects of ozempic and related drugs are great examples of altering brain chemistry to affect a behavior and ultimately a health concern (obesity). Finally, the brain remains the most mysterious organ, e.g. understanding how consciousness arises would be a huge scientific breakthrough. All of this requires better measurements.
Most exciting development or emerging trend… I'm impressed with the continued improvements in mass spectrometry in terms of speed, resolution, and sensitivity. Allowing the merging of this with microscale methods (microfluidics, nano LC etc.) is creating lots of opportunities in analysis including high-throughput, ultrasmall samples (single cells).
What’s missing from the analytical toolbox? I'd love to see an ionization method that is as general as ESI but not limited by ionization suppression effects… That would be quite useful. I also think we need better compound identification tools for small molecules. NMR is the gold standard but requires too much material and time for many projects. MS is not there yet in terms of quickly providing unequivocal identifications for many compounds.
