Nathalie Y. R. Agar, PhD
Principal Investigator
Founding Director of the Surgical Molecular Imaging Laboratory (SMIL)
Daniel E. Ponton Distinguished Chair in the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Radiology at Harvard Medical School
Bio
- Postdoctoral fellowship in Neurosurgery from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (2007)
- Postdoctoral fellowship in Neurosurgery from McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2005)
- PhD in Chemistry from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada (2002)
- BSc in Biochemistry from Laval University, Quebec, Canada (1997)
Over the course of her research career, Dr. Agar has developed distinct skills to address unmet analytical needs in the clinical environment. Her research focuses on the development and implementation of integrated biomolecular and drug imaging of tissue specimens through mass spectrometry.
(coming soon)
Sylwia A. Stopka, PhD
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- NIH Research Training Grant (T32) , Department of Radiology/Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (2019)
- PhD in Analytical Chemistry from George Washington University (2018)
- BSc in Biochemistry from State University of New York at Oswego (2012)
Sylwia’s research interest entails bridging mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) with translational medicine by developing analytical tools for drug development and uncovering cancer metabolism to improve patient outcomes.
Sylwia received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at the George Washington University and joined Professor Nathalie Agar’s laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2019. A core value of hers is teaching and training the next generation of scientists and non-mass spectrometrists to have the opportunity to progress their science without limitations.
Gerard Baquer, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- PhD in Technologies for Nanosystems, Bioengineering and Energy from the University of Rovira I Virgili (2023)
- Msc in Electrical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology (2018)
- Bsc in Electronics Engineering from the University of Rovira I Virgili (2016)
Gerard is interested in multimodal image registration and integration, single-cell MSI, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, statistical methods for hypothesis testing, automatic molecular annotation, and machine learning.
Gerard is a postdoctoral fellow who joined the Agar Lab in October 2021. He develops computational methods for targeted and untargeted metabolomics in MSI. One of his main focuses is the registration and integration of complementary imaging modalities such as MSI, MRI, multiplexed tissue immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemistry. Additionally, he devises computational approaches to enable and analyze single-cell MSI studies. He also develops machine-learning cheminformatic models to understand the link between the molecular structure of metabolites or drugs and complex properties such as MALDI ionization or blood-brain barrier permeability. Ultimately, his computational tools are aimed at better understanding brain tumors and their heterogeneity.
Clément Bodineau, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Bio
- PhD (International EU mention) in Biochemistry from the University of Bordeaux, France (2020)
- Thesis title: Biochemical characterization of mTORC1 regulation by glutamine metabolism
- MSc in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology from the University of Bordeaux, France (2016)
- BSc in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Nantes, France (2014)
Affiliated to the laboratory of Prof. Oliver Pourquié, PhD (Department of Pathology), Clément is interested in the development of the vertebrate musculo-skeletal axis. Using chicken and mouse embryos as well as human embryonic or reprogrammed stem cells that recapitulate early development processes, he is deciphering the metabolism of the paraxial mesoderm using mass-spectrometry imaging and liquid-chromatography coupled with mass-spectrometry. He is in addition pursuing his interest in understanding cancer metabolism in DIPG, a devastating type of pediatric brain cancer.
Clément is currently a postdoctoral fellow who co-joined the laboratories of Prof. Pourquié and Prof. Agar in June 2021 after obtaining a PhD focusing on the interplay between cell signaling and metabolism in cancer, under the supervision of Dr. Raul V. Duran first at the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology Bordeaux, France and then at the Andalusian Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Centre, Seville, Spain. He is now interested in understanding the similarities between cancer metabolism and early embryos and whether this knowledge of early embryo metabolism can help us to understand metabolic regulation in cancer cells.
Jennifer Gantchev, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- PhD in Experimental Medicine in the ectopic expression and function of meiosis genes in cutaneous malignancies from McGill University, Québec, Canada (2022)
- MSc in Neuroscience in stroke and behavioral rehabilitation or forelimb fine motor movements in mice from Carleton University, Canada (2013)
- BSc Honors in Neuroscience in neurodevelopmental loss of cytokine signaling in mice from Carleton University, Canada (2010)
Jenn is interested in pursuing research that enables her to utilize her biological expertise, to gain analytical chemistry skills through mass spectrometry and answer research questions that can have an impact on patients. She is enthusiastically interested in investigating the relationship between genomic instability (DNA damage) and metabolism in glioblastomas.
Jenn is a postdoctoral fellow from Canada who joined the Agar lab in September 2022. She has a profound interest in the unknown and is one to ask questions about the world around her. She is often indulging in information about behavior, parenting, ecology, cancer, signaling pathways…. When she is not working on her research, she likes coaching her two children in soccer and hockey, she enjoys cycling, interacting with animals, and going on family outings.
Elisa York, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Bio
- PhD in Neuroscience from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (2019)
- BSc in Physiology and Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada (2012)
Elisa is interested in how the brain regulates its dynamic energy demands, and specifically how cellular metabolism can change the function of neurons and glia.
Elisa is a postdoctoral fellow, co-supervised between Dr. Agar and Dr. Yellen. In this collaborative role, she performs physiological experiments on metabolically-active acute brain slices, including stable isotope tracing of glucose and other carbon sources. She has established a novel thermal preservation technique to rapidly fix the metabolic activity, and can now analyze the metabolic profile of this tissue by MALDI-MSI. Using this method, she is investigating which fuels are metabolized by neurons at rest and to support the energetic demands of activation. She is also exploring the neurometabolic differences across weaning, when mice switch from a milk diet to carbohydrate-rich solid foods.
Md Amin Hossain, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Northeastern University, Boston (2023)
- MS in Pharmacology and Drug Development from Tufts University, Boston (2016)
- MS in Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy from North South University (2014)
- BS in Pharmacy from North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2012)
Amin is interested in developing new analytical methods (both for small and large molecules) for pre-clinical drug development. He has been utilizing LC-MS/MS (Bruker, Thermo, Agilent, Waters, ABSciex) to analyze both in vitro/in vivo/clinical samples for native protein analysis using (protein-ligand and protein-protein interaction via nano- and micro-flow ESI) both bottom-up and top-down approaches, off-target interactions, metabolomics, proteomics, antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) analysis, identifying posttranslational modifications (PTMs) on biologics, quantitative drug analysis, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) profiling, drug-drug interaction (DDI), stability and clearance, protein purification/stabilization and metabolite identifications via hepatocytes.
Amin is a postdoctoral fellow who joined the SMIL in February 2023. He has been developing multiple LC and ion mobility separation methods coupled with mass spectrometry for metabolomics and proteomics applications. He loves to take new analytical challenges and scientifically solve it for given projects. He enjoys traveling with friends and family, making new friends, and loves to cook.
Michael S. Regan, MSc
Senior Research Technician, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from Northeastern University (present)
- MSc of Biomedical Science from Northeastern University (2021)
- BSc in Neuroscience from the University of Vermont (2016)
Michael is interested in clinical translational medicine, surgical applications of mass spectrometry, and chemical neurobiology.
Michael has a profound interest in bridging the gap between research and clinical medicine through surgical applications using mass spectrometry. Michael is also interested in how chemical neurobiology and neurokinesiology complement each other in relation to physical activity and sports medicine.
JC Magnotto, BA
Research Administrative Assistant II, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Bio
- BA in Biology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Colby College (2020)
JC is interested in translational research and the role of molecular signaling in health and disease.
JC is a research admin assistant who joined the Agar lab in September 2022. His previous experience as a lab tech in reproductive neuroendocrinology, specifically in studying pituitary adenomas, introduced him to neurosurgery’s role in treating Cushing’s Disease. He now supports Dr. Agar and the SMIL, and enjoys cycling and cooking.
Naia Tan
Research Trainee, CaNCURE Program, Northeastern University
Bio
Naia is an undergraduate student at Northeastern University who joined the Agar Lab in January of 2023 as a CaNCURE Research Trainee. She will graduate in May of 2025 with a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience. After graduation, she will be applying to medical school.
Naia is interested in learning laboratory techniques in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology in addition to using MALDI mass spectrometry to understand drug distribution and cancer metabolism
(coming soon)
Alumni
Anne Miller, PhD
Sankha (Bobby) Basu, MD, PhD
Elizabeth Randall, PhD
Begoña Gimenez-Cassina, PhD
Walid M. Abdelmoula, PhD
Amanda R. Clark, PhD
