Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Chemistry
The George Washington University

As a graduate student in the Vertes Research Group, my focus is on developing novel ionization techniques for the analysis of biomolecules and pharmaceuticals using mass spectrometry. One project aims to understand the fundamental physical and chemical processes involved in the desorption and ionization of ions and molecules from nanophotonic ion sources developed in our laboratory, e.g. nanopost arrays (NAPA) and laser induced silicon microcolumn arrays (LISMA). Another research area is the analysis of small cell populations and single cells using ambient methods, such as laser ablation electrospray ionization (LAESI), to gain insight into cell heterogeneity. I am interested in using these cutting-edge techniques to study the metabolites that play a role in disease, such as autism, with the hope of discovering biomarkers that can be used to detect the disease.

J.A. Stolee, B.N. Walker, Y. Chen, and A. Vertes, “Nanophotonic Ion Sources,” International Symposium on High Power Laser Ablation 2010, C.R. Phipps (ed), AIP Conf. Proc. 1278, 2010, 98-110

B.N. Walker, J.A. Stolee, D.L. Pickel, S.T. Retterer, and A. Vertes, “Assessment of Laser-Induced Thermal Load on Silicon Nanostructures Based on Ion Desorption Yields,” Appl. Phys. A, 2010, 110, 539-544

B.N. Walker, J.A. Stolee, D.L. Pickel, S.T. Retterer, and A. Vertes, “Tailored Silicon Nanopost Arrays for Resonant Nanophotonic Ion Production,” J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 114, 4835-4840

J.A. Stolee, Y. Chen, and A. Vertes, “High-Energy Fragmentation in Nanophotonic Ion Production by Laser-Induced Silicon Microcolumn Arrays,” J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 114, 5574-5581