TEAM
Director
Michael La Frano
Dr. La Frano is the Director of Metabolomics & Proteomics at the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His initial work will focus primarily on the expansion of untargeted and targeted LC-MS methods, as well as creation of new data processing, QA/QC, and analysis programs. His independent research focuses on biomarkers of disease, as well as nutritional metabolomics. He is an Affiliate of the Personalized Nutrition Initiative at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Affiliate Member of the metabolomics Quality Assurance and Quality Control Consortium (mQACC).
Dr. La Frano earned a Ph.D. in Nutrition Biology at the University of California, Davis in 2012. Subsequently, his postdoctoral fellowship role was as a pilot project scientist for West Coast Metabolomics Center (WCMC) NIH Pilot & Feasibility Project studies where he performed targeted metabolomics analysis as part of the Newman Laboratory for Lipid Mediators. These data were combined with WCMC untargeted analyses to support various biomedical studies. In 2016, he joined the faculty at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and was later promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. He also served as Director of the Cal Poly Metabolomics Service Center, which he founded in 2019.
Email: mlafrano@illinois.edu
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-La-Frano
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2cx2G_QAAAAJ
Assistant Director
Alexander Ulanov
Dr. Ulanov is currently serving as the Assistant Director of this facility. He has over 20 years experience in metabolomics and has developed dozens of LC-MS and GC-MS methods, both for targeted and untargeted metabolomics. His research interests include clinical biomarkers, personal metabolomics, and metabolome imaging. Dr. Ulanov earned a Ph.D. in Biology at the Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences and a M.Sc. in Plant Physiology at Kazan State University, Kazan, Russia prior to that. He was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining the Metabolomics Core of Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center of University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as a Metabolomics Bioinformatics Specialist in 2007.
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander-Ulanov-5
Research Specialist
Wei Liu
Wei Liu has been a research specialist in the Metabolomics Core Facility since 2019. She is experienced in chromatography (HPLC, TLC, LC-MS, GC-MS), has developed methods for and extracted a variety of sample matrices including those derived from animals, humans, and plants, is proficient in processing MS data, and has performed programming with R and Python. Her background includes earning a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tongji University. She has been a laboratory scientist at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign since 2008, beginning in the Food and Bioprocess Engineering Division of the Department of Agricultural Biological Engineering.
Research Specialist
Anna Taylor
Dr. Taylor started as a research specialist in the Metabolomics Core Facility in 2023. Her previous experience was in developing MS/MS dissociation methods to distinguish isomeric carbohydrates and in using LC-MS for quantification of small molecules (e.g., vitamins, amino acids, antibiotics) extracted from consumer nutraceutical products. She also has experience with characterization of small molecules by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, in addition to LC-MS analysis of large molecules such as proteins. Dr. Taylor earned her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from and her and M.S. in Organic Chemistry both from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to joining the team in the Metabolomics Core Facility, she worked in nutraceutical and supplement testing industry. Dr. Taylor earned a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and M.S. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She also earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the College of the Ozarks.
Graduate Researcher
Ketaki Gujar
M.S. Information Management student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Key contributions: Bioinformatics
Student Researcher
Carolina Seone
B.S. Bioengineering student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Key contributions: Sample and data processing
Student Researcher
Manita Akhlak
B.S. Biochemistry student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Key contributions: Sample and data processing
Student Researcher
Varenya Jain
B.S. Integrative Biology student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Key contributions: Bioinformatics