NIH VideoCast - ProtIG Seminar by Peter Nemes: Decoding Early Development and Neural Diversity with Single-Cell Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics and Proteomics

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ProtIG Seminar by Peter Nemes: Decoding Early Development and Neural Diversity with Single-Cell Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics and Proteomics

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Air date:	Thursday, December 11, 2025, 11:00:00 AM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 20 (15 Live, 5 On-demand)
Category:	Proteomics
Runtime:	01:15:14
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	Understanding how individual cells regulate their molecular composition during development and in the nervous system requires analytical methods with high chemical sensitivity and compatibility for living tissues. My laboratory develops capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE–MS) technologies that bring metabolomics and proteomics to the scale of single cells and small subcellular domains. Using microanalytical CE platforms engineered for high ionization efficiency and minimal analyte loss, we can quantify hundreds to thousands of proteins and metabolites from picogram-level inputs relevant to single early embryonic blastomeres, mammalian neurons, and their subcellular components. In the Xenopus laevis embryo, these approaches allow us to follow the emergence of developmental asymmetry at molecular resolution. Our newest workflows—including electrophoresis-correlative real-time acquisition with AI-based spectral deconvolution, fast data-independent acquisition enabling 15-minute CE–MS analyses, and ion-mobility–resolved Eco-IMS—report ~1,000–1,500 proteins from less than 5% of a single blastomere’s proteome. These proteomic and metabolomic measurements reveal previously unknown molecular heterogeneity among embryonic cells and led to the discovery of metabolites capable of altering early cell-fate decisions. In parallel, we have introduced Patch-Clamp Proteomics, extending these tools to single neurons in mouse brain tissue. After measuring the electrical activity of neurons in situ in acute brain sections, we obtain molecular signatures from their somas that reproducibly distinguish dopaminergic, serotonergic, and parvalbumin interneurons. Across models, these studies demonstrate that early developmental decisions and neuronal identities are encoded in subtle yet measurable shifts in proteins, metabolites, energy pathways, and biosynthetic machinery at the single-cell level. By integrating low-loss microsampling with high-resolution separations and modern MS data acquisition, we are establishing a unified, high-sensitivity framework for interrogating cell states in vivo. These approaches open opportunities to link molecular heterogeneity with fate, function, and behavior across vertebrate development and the nervous system.

Author:	Dr. Peter Nemes

CIT Live ID:	57151
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=57151

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