Dr. Villalta appointed Director of the Analytical Biochemistry Shared Resource

Peter Villalta, PhD, has been appointed as the Director of the Analytical Biochemistry Shared Resource at the Masonic Cancer Center. After spending over 20 years as the coordinator of the mass spectrometry facility (part of the Analytical Biochemistry Shared Resource) under the leadership and guidance of Drs. Stephen Hecht and Robert Turesky, Villalta will take over leadership of this centralized resource on September 1, 2019. Dr. Turesky is stepping down as the current Director to focus on his research.

“Dr. Villalta helped establish the mass spectrometry facility with its very first instrument and served as the coordinator ever since,” said Turesky. “Pete has been the foundation of this core facility, and his skills in analytical mass spectrometry have greatly advanced the research projects of many researchers at the Masonic Cancer Center, many of whom require biomarkers and sophisticated mass spectrometric analyses.”

Dr. Villalta, who is nationally and internationally recognized for his expertise in analytical mass spectrometry, helped turn the simple idea of a centralized facility into a scientific powerhouse that gives researchers access to 17 mass spectrometers.

“I am excited to take on this leadership role after spending the last 20 years as the coordinator of this facility,” said Villalta. “It has grown dramatically over its 20 plus year history, both in terms of analytical capabilities and the number of assays performed. I look forward to leading its continued growth by expanding and broadening our portfolio of services available to cancer researchers at the University of Minnesota.”

Dr. Villalta was recently been promoted to Research Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. He is also an NCI Research Specialist, having been awarded an R50 research grant from the National Cancer Institute.

The Analytical Biochemistry Shared Resource offers centralized access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and advanced mass spectrometric analyses, and provides training to Masonic Cancer Center members on sample preparation, instrumentation usage, and analytical rigor through extensive guidance and advising.