Hi, Reddit! I am Dr. Ian Blair, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania. Ask me anything about the use of stable isotopes in toxicology, mass spectrometry in drug development, or the role of mitochondria in diseases.

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ACS AMA

Hi Reddit! My name is Dr. Ian Blair, and I have had a rich and varied career in scientific appointments on five continents. I started this journey with thesis research in organic chemistry from 1968-1971 under the mentorship of Professor Sir Derek H.R. Barton at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, UK. While conducting this research, Professor Barton was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on conformational analysis. After finishing my Ph.D.: I went to Africa for a Lectureship in Organic Chemistry at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; then had a Research Fellowship at Adelaide University in Adelaide, South Australia; next I went back to the UK for a Senior Lectureship in Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School back in London; found myself at a Professorship in Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN; and landed a Visiting Professorship in Kanazawa, Japan.

In 1997 I was appointed as the A.N. Richards Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania and Vice-Chair of the Department in 2002. I became Director of the NIEHS-funded Penn Superfund Research and Training Program Center in 2014.

I am an expert in the use of mass spectrometric methods for the structural elucidation and quantification of endogenous biomolecules such as lipids, proteins, and DNA-adducts. My current research regards the development of serum biomarkers for asbestos exposure, mesothelioma and the orphan disease Friedreich’s ataxia.

Professionally, I am a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. I received the 2011 Eastern Analytical Award for Outstanding Achievements in Mass Spectrometry and will receive the Founders Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Toxicology for his biomarker studies later this month (August 2017). I am also a Senior Editor of the Future Science OA and is on the editorial boards of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Steroids. I have published over 380 refereed manuscripts that have been cited over 17,000 times.

For today’s AMA, I will be delighted to answer questions on potential careers in pharmacology/toxicology, the use of mass spectrometry in biomedical analysis and drug development, the use of stable isotopes in mechanistic toxicology, and the role of mitochondria in disease.

I will be back at 12pm EDT (9am PDT, 4pm UTC) to start answering your questions.

">Hi, Reddit! I am Dr. Ian Blair, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania. Ask me anything about the use of stable isotopes in toxicology, mass spectrometry in drug development, or the role of mitochondria in diseases.