Roberto A. Ribas Zunino / Research / Running a spatial biology core facility
Lead Center Scientist & Team Lead · UF Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research (CASBR) · 2026
Running a spatial biology core facility
Nearly three years as Lead Center Scientist and Team Lead of a MALDI imaging core serving internal labs and outside collaborators.
The job
CASBR is UF’s spatial biomolecule core, directed by Dr. Ramon Sun and co-directed by Dr. Craig Vander Kooi. From July 2023 to March 2026 I was its Lead Center Scientist and Team Lead: the person who took a project from intake to delivered data.
By the numbers
250+ research projects coordinated from intake, scheduling and execution to data delivery, for internal teams and external collaborators. 6,000+ biological samples tracked with full labeling and traceability. 10+ standardized protocols written and maintained. 8 researchers trained and supervised.
The operations side
I operated and maintained the Bruker timsTOF and coordinated service with Bruker and HTX, placed orders and tracked lab spending, handled vendor quotes and service contracts, and managed material transfer agreements and sample shipping with collaborating labs worldwide.
What came out of it
Data for collaborative studies in cancer, neurodegeneration and rare metabolic disease with groups around the world, contributing to 19 publications and preprints, including papers in Nature Metabolism, Cancer Cell and Nature Communications.