Jeffrey M. Spraggins
Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology; Chemistry; Biochemistry; and Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology Director, Mass Spectrometry Research Center
Dr. Spraggins will be accepting graduate students for Fall 2025.
The primary focus of our research group is the development of next-generation imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) technologies to elucidate the molecular basis of health and disease. Modern instrumentation and computing capabilities have enabled researchers to move beyond reductionist biology and, instead, probe how the components of biological entities (e.g. molecules, cells, and tissues) interact to reveal the underlying biology of disease. This systems biology approach has been accelerated by advancements in high-throughput ‘omics’ technologies, however, genetic and molecular information are only part of the story. The challenge lies in understanding how these parts interact and how perturbations to the system relate to disease.
Molecular imaging effectively offers a ‘blueprint’ as to how biological components work together by providing spatial context to molecular information. From the advent of the complex microscope in the late 1600s to modern modalities such as magnetic resonance, positron emission tomography, and advanced microscopy, imaging technologies have always been at the forefront of our understanding of biochemistry and biology. However, relative to the new -omics technologies, these classical biomedical imaging technologies have limited molecular specificity. Mass spectrometry-based imaging now finds itself uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the information rich genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics approaches and biomedical imaging technologies. IMS combines the molecular specificity of mass spectrometry with the spatial fidelity of classical histology to create molecular maps of tissues. Broadly, my research falls into two categories: (1) Developing novel mass spectrometry technologies to maximize imaging performance enabling molecular histology at cellular resolution and (2) combining imaging mass spectrometry with a variety of other biomedical imaging technologies to create new integrated modalities capable of providing a systems biology view of tissue at cellular resolution. We are applying these advanced technologies to better understand critical biomedical research areas such as infectious disease and diabetes.
Specializations
Analytical Chemistry
Bioanalytical Chemistry
Biochemistry & Chemical Biology
Representative Publications
In situ lipidomics of Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis using imaging mass spectrometry. Good CJ, Butrico CE, Colley ME, Gibson-Corley KN, Cassat JE, Spraggins JM., and Caprioli RM. Cell Chemical Biology (2024), Accepted.
MALDI TIMS IMS Reveals Ganglioside Molecular Diversity within Murine S. aureus Soft Tissue Abscesses. Djambazzova KV, Gibson-Corley KN, Freiberg JA, Caprioli RM, Skaar EP and Spraggins JM. J. of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry (2024), 35, 8, 1692-1701.
Imaging Mass Spectrometry of Isotopically-Resolved Intact Proteins on a Trapped Ion-Mobility Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer. Klein DR, Rivera ES, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2024), 96, 13, 5065-5070.
High Specificity Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Colley M, Esselman A, Scott C, and Spraggins JM. Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry (2024), 17 doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anchem-083023-024546
Clostridioides difficile Ferrosome Organelles Resist Nutritional Immunity. Pi H, Sun R, McBride JR, Kruse ARS, Gigson-Corley KN, Krystofiak ES, Nicholson MR, Spraggins JM, Zhou Q, and Skaar EP, Nature (2023), 623, 1009-1016.
Advances in Imaging Mass Spectrometry for Biomedical and Clinical Research. Djambazova K, Van Ardenne J, and Spraggins JM. Trends in Analytical Chemistry (2023), 117344.
Advances and Perspectives for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP). Jain S, Pei L, Spraggins JM, Borner K, Snyder MS, HuBMAP Consortium. Nature Cell Biology (2023), 25, 1089–1100.
Microscopy-Directed Imaging Mass Spectrometry for Rapid High Spatial Resolution Molecular Imaging of Glomeruli. Esselman AB, Patterson NH, Migas LG, Dufresne M, Djambazova KV, Colley ME, Van de Plas R, and Spraggins JM. J. of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry (2023), 34, 7, 1305-1314.
MALDI TIMS IMS of Disialoganglioside Isomers – GD1a and GD1b in Murine Brain Tissue. Djambazova K, Dufresne M, Migas L, Kruse A, Van de Plas R, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2022), 95, 2, 1176-1183.
Visualization of Staphylococcus aureus Pathogenic Membrane Modification within the Infection Environment by Multimodal Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Perry WJ, Grunenwald CM, Van de Plas R, Witten JC, Martin DR, Apte SS, Cassat JE, Pettersson GB, Caprioli RM, Skaar EP and Spraggins JM. Cell Chemical Biology (2022), 29(7), 1209-1217.e4.
High Spatial Resolution MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry of Fresh-Frozen Bone.
Good CJ, Neumann EK, Butrico CE, Cassat JE, Caprioli RM, Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2022). 94(7), 3165-3172.
Highly Multiplexed Immunofluorescence of the Human Kidney using Co-Detection by Indexing. Neumann EK, Rivera ES, Patterson NH, Allen JL, de Caestecker MP, Fogo AB, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Kidney International (2021), 101(1), 137-143.
α-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic Acid and Tri-Potassium Citrate Salt Pre-Coated Silicon Nanopost Array Provides Enhanced Lipid Detection for High Spatial Resolution MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Dufresne M, Fincher JA, Patterson NH, Schey KL, Norris JL, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2021), 93(36), 12243-12249.
Molecular Mapping of Neutral Lipids using Silicon Nanopost Arrays and TIMS Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Fincher JA, Djambazova KV, Klein DR, Dufresne M, Migas LG, Van de Plas R, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. J. of American Soc. of Mass Spectrometry (2021), 32(10), 2519-2527.
Protocol for multimodal analysis of human kidney tissue by imaging mass spectrometry and CODEX multiplexed immunofluorescence. Neumann EK, Patterson NH, Allen JL, Yang H, Brewer M, Anderson DM, Gutierrez DB, Harris RC, deCaestecker MP, Fogo AB, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. STAR Protocols (2021), 2(3), 100747.
Automated Biomarker Candidate Discovery in Imaging Mass Spectrometry Data Through Spatially Localized Shapley Additive Explanations. Tideman LEM, Migas LG, Djambazova KV, Patterson NH, Caprioli RM, Spraggins JM, and Van de Plas R. Analytica Chimica Acta (2021), 338522.
Spatially-targeted Proteomics of the Host-Pathogen Interface during Staphylococcal Abscess Formation. Guiberson ER, Weiss A, Ryan DJ, Monteith AJ, Sharman K, Gutierrez DB, Perry WJ, Caprioli RM, Skaar EP and Spraggins JM. ACS Infectious Diseases (2020), 7(1), 101-113.
Resolving the Complexity of Spatial Lipidomics Using MALDI TIMS Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Djambazova KV, Klein DR, Migas LG, Neumann EK, Rivera ES, Van de Plas R, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2020), 92 (19), 13290-13297.
Dynamic Range Expansion by Gas-Phase Ion Fractionation and Enrichment for Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Prentice BM, Ryan DJ, Grove KJ, Cornette DS, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry (2020), 92 (19), 13092-13100.
High Performance Molecular Imaging with MALDI Trapped Ion Mobility Time-of-Flight (timsTOF) Mass Spectrometry. Spraggins JM, Djambazova KV, Rivera ES, Migas LG, Neumann EK, Fuetterer A, Suetering J, Goedecke N, Ly A, Van de Plas R, and Caprioli RM. Analytical Chemistry. (2019), 91(22), 14552-14560.
Integrated Molecular Imaging Reveals Tissue Heterogeneity Driving Host-Pathogen Interactions. Cassat JE, Moore JL, Wilson KJ, Stark Z, Prentice BM, Van de Plas R, Perry WJ, Zhang Y, Virostko J, Colvin DC, Rose KL, Judd AM, Reyzer ML, Spraggins JM, Grunenwald CM, Gore JC, Caprioli RM and Skaar EP. Science Translational Medicine. (2018), 10 (432), eaan6361.
Enhanced Ion Transmission Efficiency of Proteins up to m/z 24,000 for MALDI Protein Imaging Mass Spectrometry.Prentice BM, Ryan DJ, Van de Plas R, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Analytical Chemistry. (2018), DOI: 10.102/acs.analchem.7b05105.
Protein Identification in Imaging Mass Spectrometry through Spatially Targeted Liquid Micro-Extractions. Ryan DR., Nei D, Prentice BM, Rose KL, Caprioli RM, and Spraggins JM. Rap Comm Mass Spec.(2018), 32 (5), 442-450.
Connecting Imaging Mass Spectrometry and Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based Anatomical Atlases for Automated Anatomical Interpretation and Differential Analysis. Verbeeck N, Spraggins JM, Murphy MJM, Wang H, Deutch AY, Caprioli RM, and Van de Plas R. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Proteins and Proteomcs. (2017), 1865 (7), 967-977.
Next-generation technologies for spatial proteomics: Integrating ultra-high speed MALDI-TOF and high mass resolution MALDI FTICR imaging mass spectrometry for protein analysis. Spraggins JM, Rizzo DG, Moore JL, Noto MJ, Skaar EP, Caprioli RM. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. (2016), doi: 10.1002/pmic.201600003.
Phospholipid Profiling Identifies Acyl Chain Elongation as a Ubiquitous Trait and Potential Target for the Treatment of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Marien E, Meister M, Muley T, Gomez Del Pulgar T, Derua R, Spraggins JM, Van de Plas R, Vanderhoydonc F, Machiels J, Binda MM, Dehairs J, Willette Brown J, Hu Y, Dienemann H, Thomas M, Schnabel PA, Caprioli RM, Waelkens E, Swinnen JV. Oncotarget. (2016), 7(11), 12582-12597.
MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry Spatially Maps Age-Related Deamidation and Truncation of Human Lens Aquaporin-0. Wenke JL, Rose KL, Spraggins JM, Schey KL. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. (2015), 56(12), 7398-7405.
MALDI FTICR IMS of Intact Proteins: Using Mass Accuracy to Link Protein Images with Proteomics Data. Spraggins JM, Rizzo DG, Moore JL, Rose KL, Hammer ND, Skaar EP, Caprioli RM. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. (2015), 26(6), 974-85.
High Spatial Resolution Imaging Mass Spectrometry of Human Optic Nerve Lipids and Proteins. Anderson DM, Spraggins JM, Rose KL, Schey KL. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. (2015), 26(6), 940-7.
Non-small Cell Lung Cancer is Characterized by Dramatic Changes in Phospholipid Profiles. Marien E, Meister M, Muley T, Fieuws S, Bordel S, Derua R, Spraggins J, Van de Plas R, Dehairs J, Wouters J, Bagadi M, Dienemann H, Thomas M, Schnabel PA, Caprioli RM, Waelkens E, Swinnen JV. Int J Cancer. (2015), 137(7), 1539-48.
Image Fusion of Mass Spectrometry and Microscopy: a New Multi-Modality Paradigm for Molecular Mapping of Tissue. Van De Plas R, Yang J, Spraggins JM and Caprioli RM; Nature Methods, (2015), 12(4), 366-372.
Diabetic Nephropathy Induces Alterations in the Glomerular and Tubule Lipid Profiles. Grove KJ, Voziyan PA, Spraggins JM, Want S, Paueksakon P, Harris RC, Hudson BG and Caprioli RM; Journal of Lipid Research, (2014), 55(7), 1375-1385.
High-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-imaging mass spectrometry of lipids in rodent optic nerve tissue. Anderson DM, Mills D, Spraggins JM, Lambert WS, Calkins DJ and Schey KL; Molecular Vision. (2013), 19, 581-592.
Targeted Multiplex Imaging Mass Spectrometry with Single Chain Fragment Variable (scfv) Recombinant Antibodies. Thiery G, Mernaugh RL, Yan H, Spraggins JM, Yang J, Parl FF and Caprioli RM. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. (2012), 23(10), 1689-1696.
Enhanced Sensitivity for High Spatial Resolution Lipid Analysis by Negative Ion Mode Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Imaging Mass Spectrometry.Angel PM, Spraggins JM, Chen Y, Baldwin HS and Caprioli RM; Analytical Chemistry, (2012), 84(3), 1557-1564.
MALDI Imaging of Lipid Biochemistry in Tissues by Mass Spectrometry. Zemski Berry KA, Hankin JA, Barkley RM, Spraggins JM, Caprioli RM and Murphy RC. Chemical Reviews. (2011), 111(10), 6491-6512.
High-Speed MALDI-TOF Imaging Mass Spectrometry: Rapid Ion Image Acquisition and Considerations for Next Generation Instrumentation. Jeffrey Spraggins and Richard Caprioli. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. (2011), 22(6), 1022-1031.