Felix Grün, PhDDirector, Mass Spectrometry Facility
Felix Grün has served as Director of the UCI's Mass Spectrometry Facility since 2016.
He oversees facility staff, daily facility operations, user/instrument training and has primary responsibility for small molecule analyses (LC and GC-MS), including quantitative metabolomics (targeted and untargeted) and imaging mass spectrometry applications.
He received his BA/MA (Cantab) degree in Biochemistry from Cambridge University, UK and his PhD in Immunology from Cornell University/Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, NY. He conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Pharmocology at the Weill Cornell Medical School/New York Hospital, the Nara Institute of Science & Technology (NAIST) and the Virus Research Institute, Kyoto University before joining the Department of Developmental & Cell Biology at the University of California Irvine in 1999. He has been a research scientist, lecturer and academic coordinator at UCI for the past 23 years.
Ben KatzProteomics Specialist
Ben provides advanced core proteomics services, user/instrument training for the MALDI and HRMS instruments and is avaliable for project consultation.
He received his B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, GA in 2006 and gained research experience at several biotechnology companies (Protein Discovery Inc, TN; Nacelle Therapeutics Inc, KS; Alteca Lts Food Forensics, KS) before moving to the Department of Biochemistry at Kansas State University in 2010. From 2013-2017 he served as the acting Associate Director for the Biotechnology Core Facility (Proteomics Section) at Kansas State University.
Chris DicksionMSF Fellow
Chris Dicksion is a 3rd year graduate student in Chemistry and was recruited as the current MSF Fellow in 2022. Chris provides facility services on the LCT and GCT for accurate mass molecular formula validation of small molecules, as well as ion mobility separation and peptide analyses and contributes to general instrument maintenance.
Chris received his B.A. degree in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz in 2004.
While roaming through the old orange groves of El Toro, Chris found a pathway that led to the redwoods of Santa Cruz. After earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, he was fortunate to learn the art and science of tending a small vineyard. Deep engagement with the soil and the plants allowed him to glimpse the complex, synergistic spirals of chemistry, biology, and physics that drive all forms of life to survive and thrive. Having always been attracted to natural science, he felt compelled by his experiences at the vineyard to take the next step in his education toward a graduate degree in chemical biology. Alas, his pathway back to Orange County has been long and convoluted, often rerouted by fallen trees but nourished by bountiful streams. His pathway has allowed him to become an educator, a farmer, a small business owner, a spouse, and a parent. Now, he is fortunate to be part of the Nowick Lab in the Chemistry Department at UCI, where he has met many wonderful, inspiring, funny, smart, dedicated, and genuinely-caring people. He is excited to learn from them as he explores the environs of advanced chemical biology, to which he hopes to contribute something meaningful to the scientific understanding of oligomeric amyloid beta.