Sam Allen

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Photo: Sam Allen and his son Leo posing with custom-built ion mobility mass spectrometry instrumentation. No instruments were harmed in the making of this photo.

Contact: sjallen@uw.edu | LinkedIn

Bio

  • Sam Allen grew up in Bakersfield, CA which is famous for its oil industry, agricultural production, and awful air quality. In Bakersfield, Sam was a forklift-certified employee at his father’s farrier supply and feed store and still holds the record for the 110 m hurdles at his high school. After graduating high school, Sam attended CSU Chico and earned a B.S. in Honors Chemistry with a minor in Physics and Mathematics while working as a student supervisor at the Meriam Library. While at CSU Chico, Sam spent his free time eating mexican food, running through Bidwell Park, and playing air guitar to Third Eye Blind with his roommates. After meeting his future-wife Sonja, Sam promptly graduated, got married, and moved to Seattle where he is pursuing his PhD in Prof. Matthew Bush’s lab at the University of Washington. Sam spends his free time jogging on the Burke-Gilman trail and exploring Seattle restaurants with his wife Sonja and son Leo.

 

Research Interests

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  • Development of New Ion Mobility Devices. A new RF-confining drift tube was developed to study the structure of biomolecular species. This device was implemented in a Waters Synapt G2 HDMS which controls all voltages and regulates gas flow. The RF-confining drift tube can be used to directly determine collision cross section values of unknown species, without the use of drift time calibration. Recently, I developed a new ion mobility instrument based on Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM) that was implemented onto the front end of an existing Waters Q-ToF Premier. This device enables higher resolution measurements of native-like protein and protein complex ions.
  • Ion Transport Fundamentals. Using the ion optics package SIMION, I am investigating ion transport in the gas phase. Current work has been focused on the effects of radial confinement on the mobility and effective temperature of ions.
  • Native-Like Ion Structure. Analysis of intact proteins electrosprayed from buffered solutions at pH 7 generates “native-like” gas-phase ions that retain shapes similar to those observed in solution. Ion mobility analysis of these ions often yields arrival-time distributions that are much broader than expected from the diffusion of a single conformer; likely, observed arrival-time distributions are composed of an ensemble of protein conformers. Using higher resolution ion mobility measurements, I am investigating the contributions of ensembles of conformers to measured arrival-time distributions, and evaluating the results of these experiments for future gas-phase structural biology approaches.

Awards

  • Graduate Student Merit Fellowship, UW Department of Chemistry, 2015.
  • ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Graduate Fellowship, 2014.
  • Graduate Student Merit Fellowship, UW Department of Chemistry, 2013.
  • 1st Prize, Poster Competition, Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/16/2013.
  • Richard A. Schaeffer Memorial Fund Travel Award, 61st American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, 2013.
  • Gordon Research Conference Chair Travel Award, Gaseous Ions: Structures, Energetics & Reactions, 2013.
  • 2nd Prize, Poster Competition, Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/21/2012. Award Info

Publications (Google Scholar) 

Oral Presentations

  • Allen, S. J. “Advances in Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry: A Graduate’s Investigation in the Flight of Molecular Elephants” CSU Chico Department of Chemistry Seminar Series – Invited Talk, Chico, CA, 4/2016.
  • Allen, S. J.; Stachl, C. N.; Bush, M. F. “Supercharging of Native Protein Complexes: Effects of Polarity and Evidence for Multiple Mechanisms” 62nd American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, Baltimore, MD, 6/2014.
  • Allen, S. J.; Schwartz, A. M.; Stachl, C. N.; Bush, M. F. “Manipulating the Charge States of Native-Like Proteins and Protein Complexes: Charge Reduction, Supercharging, and Insights into Electrospray Mechanisms” US HUPO, Seattle, WA , 4/8/2014 (Lightning Talk).
  • Allen, S. J.; Schwartz, A. M.; Bush, M. F. “Investigation of Protein Charging and Structure using a New Ion Mobility Device” Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/16/2013.
  • Allen, S. J.; Marionni, S. T.; Giles, K.; Gilbert, T.; Bush, M. F. “Design and Characterization of a New Ion Mobility Cell for Protein Complexes” Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/21/2012.

Poster Presentations

  • Allen, S. J.; Eaton, R. M.; Bush, M. F. “Analysis of Native-Like Protein and Protein Complex Ions using Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM)” 64th American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, San Antonio, TX, 6/2016.
  • Allen, S. J.; Schwartz, A. M.; Bush, M. F. “Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry of Native Protein Complex Anions” 61st American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 6/2013.
  • Allen, S. J.; Schwartz, A. M.; Bush, M. F. “Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry of Native Protein Complex Anions” Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/16/2013.
  • Allen, S. J.; Schwartz, A. M.; Bush, M. F. “Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry of Native Protein Complex Anions” 61st American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 6/2013.
  • Allen, S. J.; Bush, M. F. “The Effects of Radial Confinement on the Apparent Mobility of Ions in Gases” GRC: Gaseous Ions: Structures, Energetics & Reactions, Galveston, TX, 2/27/2013.
  • Allen, S. J.; Marionni, S. T.; Giles, K.; Gilbert, T.; Bush, M. F. “Design and Characterization of a New Ion Mobility Cell for Protein Complexes” PACMASS Members’ Night, Seattle, WA, 10/29/2012.
  • Allen, S. J.; Marionni, S. T.; Giles, K.; Gilbert, T.; Bush, M. F. “Design and Characterization of a New Ion Mobility Cell for Protein Complexes” Cascadia Proteomics Symposium, Seattle, WA, 7/19/2012.
  • Allen, S. J.; Marionni, S. T.; Giles, K.; Gilbert, T.; Bush, M. F. “Design and Characterization of a New Ion Mobility Cell for Protein Complexes” 60th American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, Vancouver, BC, 5/2012.
  • Marionni, S. T.; Allen, S. J.; Bush, M. F. “Gas-Phase Structural Biology of Proteins and their Complexes” Biological Physics, Structure and Design Retreat, Seattle, WA, 11/28/11.
  • Marionni, S. T.;* Allen, S. J.; Bush, M. F. “Gas-Phase Structural Biology of Proteins and their Complexes” PACMASS Members’ Night, Seattle, WA, 11/8/11.