Joint Appointees

Dr. Bobbie-Jo Webb-Robertson is an accomplished scientific leader and senior research executive with over 20 years of experience advancing research at the intersection of computational biology and biomedical science. She currently serves as the Director for the Biological Sciences Division at PNNL. She focuses on building multidisciplinary programs at the intersection of data science, AI, and complex systems, leading large, cross-institutional teams, and stewarding substantial R&D portfolios in health, the environment, and national security. She was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in 2024 and has an h-index of 54 with more than 180 publications.

Dr. Yehia M. Ibrahim joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2005 as a postdoctoral researcher and has worked on the development of multiple technologies to enhance the sensitivity of drift tube ion mobility and mass spectrometry. He focuses on developing new capabilities using mass spectrometry and ion mobility technologies to improve the sensitivity and specificity of multi-omics applications. As a postdoctoral fellow, he developed ion funnel and ion funnel trap technologies to enhance drift tube ion mobility sensitivity and mass spectrometry, creating an ultrasensitive platform for biomolecule analysis. This platform received a 2013 R&D 100 award and was later licensed and commercialized by Agilent Technologies. His work has continued pushing the frontiers of mass-spectrometry-based technology to solve multi-omics challenges. Together with a team of scientists from PNNL, he successfully developed a highly sensitive ion mobility-Orbitrap mass spectrometer that included new multiplexing approaches for improved sensitivity. He has contributed to 37 patents and coauthored over 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts in mass and ion mobility spectrometry. Currently, he is leading research efforts to develop the Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations technology, which received a 2017 R&D 100 award and was later licensed to MOBILion Systems Inc. through a 2018 Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. He has collaborated with leading industry vendors such as Agilent and ThermoFisher and successfully led many projects funded both internally and externally (e.g., from the National Institutes of Health).

Dr. Wei-Jun Qian is a bioanalytical chemist whose research centers primarily on the development and applications of mass spectrometry-based approaches to better quantify the dynamic changes in protein abundances and protein post-translational modifications in biological and clinical applications. Qian is currently a staff scientist in the Integrative Omics group in the Biological Sciences Division, where he has worked since 2002. Qian's current research involves the development of chemical proteomic approaches for site-specific quantification of cysteine-based redox modifications and more sensitive selected reaction monitoring-based targeted quantification techniques with applications in pancreatic islets, diabetes, and oxidative stress-related disease areas. In addition to research, he is actively involved in training and mentoring postdoctoral researchers and intern students.

Dr. Vladislav Petyuk

Dr. Thomas (Tom) Metz is a Laboratory Fellow and the Chief Science Officer of the Biological Sciences Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. His research has focused primarily on developing and applying high throughput metabolomics and lipidomics methods, in conjunction with proteomics, in studies of chronic and infectious diseases, resulting in over 200 publications to date. More recently, his research interests lie in development of next generation multi-dimensional mass spectrometry measurements coupled with computational prediction of molecular signatures for reference-free compound identification. Previously, he led the Metabolomics Core for the NIH Common Fund Undiagnosed Diseases Network, the Proteomics Laboratory for The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study, and the Pacific Northwest Advanced Compound Identification Core within the NIH Common Fund Metabolomics Program. From 2021-2023 he was President of the Metabolomics Association of North America. Currently, he is Lead of the PNNL m/q Initiative and Co-Lead of the ChemBio Analytical Sciences Hub of the Network of EXposomics in the United States (NEXUS) for Exposome Research Coordination

Dr. Tao Liuis a Senior Staff Scientist in the Integrative Omics group in the Biological Sciences Division at PNNL. His work at PNNL has centered on developing and applying innovative methods and technologies that enable high-throughput, sensitive, and quantitative liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based proteomic measurements of complex biological and clinical samples (e.g., tissues, proximal fluids, and blood plasma) in diseases such as cancer. He is currently the principal investigator of several large-scale cancer studies, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) Proteome Characterization Center, the NCI Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) Biomarker Reference and Resource Center, and the Department of Defense Framingham projects as part of the Cancer Moonshot efforts. His research includes development and application of advanced MS technologies for protein post-translational modifications, single-cell, and multiomic characterization of cancers, leading to improved understanding of aberrant regulatory and signal transduction networks underlying cancers, as well as cancer biomarker discovery and verification.

Prior to joining PNNL, Liu was a postdoc at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Washington. He received his BS in chemistry from Nanchang University, China, in 1996 and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology in 2001 from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Jason McDermott, a senior research scientist, has extensive experience in molecular and structural virology and data resource design, data integration and prediction of biological networks, and bridging experimental and computational biology. Currently, his research interests include data integration of high-throughput omics data for biomarker discovery, developing systems biology models in a number of systems focusing on host-pathogen interactions, characterizing phylogenetic and functional relationships in complex eukaryotic microbial communities, and using network inference and topology to characterize organism-level phenotypes.

Dr. Josh Adkins is a biochemist whose research centers primarily on applying cutting-edge mass spectrometry capabilities to nationally important biological research. Josh is an Associate Division Director in the Biological Sciences Division, leading the Integrative Omics group. He has 20 years of experience at PNNL where his research has centered on the comprehensive characterization of proteins through space (associated proteins, structural determinants and localization) and time (before and after treatment, cell cycle, day-night cycle, and evolutionary changes) to better understand biological systems. Josh has used different biological models to highlight the capabilities of PNNL, these models have ranged from host-pathogen interactions to human exercise/physical activity to environmental microbes. Currently, Josh is leading an NIH Common Fund Project within the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) and the PI of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute - Lung Map Research Center. He has previously led among other projects a Center for Systems Biology of EnteroPathogens and a Protein Structure Initiative Biology Center. In these roles, he works with leads talented and multidisciplinary teams comprised of scientists from PNNL, universities, and other research organizations.

Dr. Ernesto Nakayasu is a senior research scientist focused on understanding molecular mechanisms of diseases. Nakayasu has been applying systems biology and mass spectrometry-based omics measurements to study how pathogens and metabolic alterations cause human diseases; the goal is to identify diagnostic and therapeutic targets. He has been integrating multi-omics approaches to develop biomarkers of diseases and to study signaling and metabolic pathways that are altered or targeted in infectious and metabolic diseases.

Dr. Chris Oehmen received his B.A. in physics and mathematics from Saint Louis University in 1995. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biomedical engineering from the University of Memphis/University of Tennessee, HSC Joint program in 1999 and 2003, respectively where he was a DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellow. He joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a research scientist in 2003 focusing on computational biology, bio-inspired cybersecurity, high performance computing (HPC), AI/ML, and laboratory automation to support the Genesis mission. Oehmen has over 22 years of experience developing, leading, and executing research programs for a variety of sponsors. Among other activities, Oehmen led the Asymmetric Resilient Cybersecurity Initiative; ExaSGD, a DOE exascale computing project application in nonlinear optimization for power grid optimization; and OPAL FAMOUS, a multi lab effort to develop and orchestrate agentic AI workflows to drive autonomous bio experimentation. He currently also leads PNNL's Computational Biology group.

Beginning with ScalaBLAST, an open-source high performance biosequence analysis application developed by his team at PNNL, Oehmen has led efforts applying HPC and AI in multiple science and technology domains. His work leverages exascale and other leadership class computing systems, the American Scientific Computing platform, cloud systems, advanced data management infrastructure, and orchestration to create impactful agentic AI-driven workflow applications. In addition to biosequence analysis, Oehmen has led the development of tools and algorithms in diverse areas such as cybersecurity (MLSTONES, R&D 100 recipient) and power grid optimization/operation (ExaSGD), among others. He currently leads OPAL FAMOUS, a Genesis project model seedling focused on scaling the biotechnology revolution by combining HPC, AI, and laboratory automation.