There are four critically important team members in Peter Meikle's Metabolomics lab — Ada, Cleo and Rosa — and one who shall remain nameless, at least for now!
Ada, Cleo and Rosa are three of the four mass spectrometers located on Level 5 of the Baker Tower, each of which is as integral to the functioning of the Metabolomics team as any other lab member.
To help distinguish between the mass specs, and to assist with functions including booking the machines and identifying them, Metabolomics lab Research Assistant Nat Mellett said the high-functioning 6495 triple quad machines have been named after equally high-functioning, historically significantly women — mathematician Ada Lovelace, considered to be the world's first computer programmer; Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt for more than three decades; and Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist.
"The newest addition to the mass spec team is currently nameless, though, and that's where you all come in," Nat said. "We're running a poll to name our new mass spec. Some of our team have already come up with great names, each one a significant female scientific figure, but we're definitely open to other suggestions.
"We've named our mass specs after women because, historically, female scientists have too often fallen under the radar. You ask anyone on the street to name three or four famous scientists and more often than not, they'll reference the likes of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur or Stephen Hawking.
"Women are so often overlooked in science history. We feel like this is our little way of paying homage to some incredible women."
Corey Giles and Yow Keat Tham from the Metabolomics Lab have come up with the short-listed suggestions, leaning towards short, unique names. They are:
- Nettie: after Nettie Stevens the geneticist who discovered sex chromosomes in 1905.
- Vera: after Vera Rubin, an astronomer who provided groundbreaking evidence for the existence of dark matter.
- Flossie: after Flossie Wong-Staal who was the first scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes, which was a major step in proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS.
- Gerty: after Gerty Cori, a biochemist who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her role in the discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen.
Having a name helps with managing the operations of the machines, Nat said, as well as being a tribute to some pioneering females, and interestingly, the machines have rather unique personalities, too.
"Because I manage these machines, I might get an email saying 'I'm working on Rosa this weekend, or can you finish running the samples that I put on Ada the other week?', " Nat said. We use their names conversationally like we would talk about another team member.
"And each of them has their own personality. Some of them are more finicky than others while Cleo is very steadfast and only likes running small sets. Ada is very problematic — rather dramatic actually, and more likely to cause trouble."
"We're really looking forward to seeing what you can come up with for the newest member of our team."
Among other things, the industrious and impressive Ada, Cleo and Rosa are used to measure lipids. In the same way that you can determine your genetic profile by having your genes measured, we can measure your lipidomic profile from the lipids in your blood using the mass specs. Our technology has the capacity to measure 800 lipids in 13 minutes using less than a drop of human blood.
Vote for your preferred name for our mass spectrometer now via our social media channels or suggest one of your own in the comments.
