# Promoting Diversity via Single-cell Metabolomics and Proteomics: The Missing Link to Understanding Vertebrate Embryonic Patterning

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2020 · $72,156

## Abstract

Abstract
The goal of this project is to enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce by training a PhD
Graduate Student from underrepresented backgrounds to enable their original research and career
development at the frontiers of chemistry and biology. The student will learn advanced bioanalytical chemistry
and vertebrate embryology while elucidating the mechanism of action underlying cell fate changes by small
molecules called metabolites, which the Nemes Research Laboratory has recently discovered. Understanding
embryogenesis requires knowledge of all the molecules produced as the zygote differentiates into the three
primary germ layers of the embryo. Four decades of innovative embryological manipulations, testing of gene
functions one gene at a time, and recently, Next-Generation Sequencing have identified multiple transcripts
and abundant proteins that are essential to the patterning of the vertebrate embryo. However, very little is
known about the contribution of small molecules called metabolites to the formation of the germ layers and the
long-term development and functioning of the embryo. The proposed training–research program fills this
knowledge gap in technology and biology by empowering the PhD Graduate Student to conduct original
research at the chemistry-biology interface. The student will develop skills in bioanalytical chemistry,
specifically quantitative metabolomics by capillary electrophoresis and ultrasensitive electrospray ionization
mass spectrometry to enable the characterization of the metabolomic states of cells and tissues. Further, the
student will also develop the required biomedical–biological skills to study the developmental and cognitive
implications of cell fate decisions, including classical embryological manipulations, cell fate tracking, Xenopus
laevis biology, and behavioral assays. The outcomes of this interdisciplinary approach will help illuminate the
role of the metabolome for the establishment of these important precursor cells and tissues. Because these
molecular processes are highly conserved across vertebrates, the data collected from Xenopus are likely to
have high relevance to human structural birth defects. The new biochemical information that will be obtained in
individual embryonic cells and their progeny (cell lineage) at several critical developmental time points will also
advance other research fields that involve cell differentiation (e.g., of stem cells) and the developmental origins
of adult disease. This project will provide immersive cross-disciplinary training–research experience to enable
the student to pursue an independent career while diversifying the biomedical research workforce.
Nemes-Abstract-1|1

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10170538
- **Project number:** 3R35GM124755-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter Nemes
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $72,156
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10170538

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10170538, Promoting Diversity via Single-cell Metabolomics and Proteomics: The Missing Link to Understanding Vertebrate Embryonic Patterning (3R35GM124755-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10170538. Licensed CC0.

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