Dr Rebecca Edwards PhD

Dr Rebecca Edwards

School of Biosciences
Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
School of Biosciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Rebecca Edwards is a postdoctoral research fellow in mass spectrometry. Currently developing Native Ambient Mass Spectrometry techniques, including Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis and top-down mass spectrometry, for the in-situ analysis of proteins and their complexes from tissue.

Qualifications

PhD in Mass Spectrometry, University of Birmingham, 2013

BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 2009

Biography

Dr Rebecca Edwards is a research fellow in The Cooper group developing Native Ambient Mass Spectrometry techniques, including Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis (LESA) and top-down mass spectrometry, for the in-situ analysis of proteins and their complexes.

During her PhD (University of Birmingham, 2013) under Prof. Cooper’s supervision, she developed a sample-prep free direct surface sampling top-down mass spectrometry approach to identify haemoglobin variants, including sickle cell disease, directly from neonatal dried blood spots. She has previously held research positions at Vanderbilt University, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Thermo Fisher Scientific before rejoining the Cooper group in her current role since October 2024.

Teaching

MSc Bioinformatics: Module 29784 Metabolomics and Advanced (Omics) Technologies

MSc Bioinformatics: Module 37238 Metabolomics and Advanced (Omics) Technologies, (Dubai online)

Research

Development of native ambient mass spectrometry techniques, including Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis (LESA) and top-down mass spectrometry, for the in-situ analysis of proteins and their complexes.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Edwards, RL, Takach, JE, McAndrew, MJ, Menteer, J, Lestz, RM, Whitman, D & Baxter-Lowe, LA 2023, 'Next generation multiplexing for digital PCR using a novel melt-based hairpin probe design', Frontiers in Genetics, vol. 14, 1272964. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1272964

Edwards, RL, Luis, PB, Nakashima, F, Kunihiro, AG, Presley, S-H, Funk, JL & Schneider, C 2020, 'Mechanistic Differences in the Inhibition of NF-κB by Turmeric and Its Curcuminoid Constituents', Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol. 68, no. 22, pp. 6154-6160. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.0c02607

Joseph, AI, Edwards, RL, Luis, PB, Presley, SH, Porter, NA & Schneider, C 2018, 'Stability and anti-inflammatory activity of the reduction-resistant curcumin analog, 2,6-dimethyl-curcumin', Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, vol. 16, no. 17, pp. 3273-3281. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ob00639c

Edwards, RL, Luis, PB, Varuzza, PV, Joseph, AI, Presley, SH, Chaturvedi, R & Schneider, C 2017, 'The anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin is mediated by its oxidative metabolites', The Journal of biological chemistry, vol. 292, no. 52, pp. 21243-21252. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA117.000123

Martin, NJ, Griffiths, RL, Edwards, RL & Cooper, HJ 2015, 'Native liquid extraction surface analysis mass spectrometry: analysis of noncovalent protein complexes directly from dried substrates', Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 1320-1327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-015-1152-8

Edwards, RL, Griffiths, P, Bunch, J & Cooper, HJ 2014, 'Compound heterozygotes and beta-thalassemia: top-down mass spectrometry for detection of hemoglobinopathies', Proteomics, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 1232–1238. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.201300316

Edwards, RL, Griffiths, P, Bunch, J & Cooper, HJ 2012, 'Top-down proteomics and direct surface sampling of neonatal dried blood spots: diagnosis of unknown hemoglobin variants', Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 1921-1930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13361-012-0477-9

Edwards, R, Creese, A, Baumert, M, Griffiths, P, Bunch, J & Cooper, H 2011, 'Hemoglobin Variant Analysis via Direct Surface Sampling of Dried Blood Spots Coupled with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry', Analytical Chemistry, vol. 83, no. 6, pp. 2265-2270. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac1030804

Review article

Edwards, RL, Menteer, J, Lestz, RM & Baxter-Lowe, LA 2022, 'Cell-free DNA as a solid-organ transplant biomarker: technologies and approaches', Biomarkers in Medicine, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 401-415. https://doi.org/10.2217/bmm-2021-0968

Schneider, C, Gordon, ON, Edwards, RL & Luis, PB 2015, 'Degradation of Curcumin: From Mechanism to Biological Implications', Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol. 63, no. 35, pp. 7606-7614. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5b00244

Edwards, RL, Martin, NJ & Cooper, HJ 2013, 'Hemoglobin variant analysis of whole blood and dried blood spots by MS', Bioanalysis, vol. 5, no. 16, pp. 2043-52. https://doi.org/10.4155/bio.13.168

View all publications in research portal