Jody C. May

 orcid.org/0000-0003-4871-5024

University of Central Arkansas – B.S. in Chemistry
Texas A&M University – Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry

EDUCATION
Prof. May received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Central Arkansas in 2001. He pursued an undergraduate research thesis under the guidance of Prof. Bill Taylor studying the state specific reactivity of transition metals in the gas phase.

Prof. May completed his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 2009 under the direction of Prof. David Russell at Texas A&M University. His graduate projects included the design of novel ion trap geometries for the ion cyclotron resonance experiment and developing ion mobility instrumentation based on surface induced dissociation and time-of-flight mass analysis. His final dissertation project focused on the development and characterization of a cryogenic ion mobility-mass spectrometer designed for high resolution ion mobility analysis.

After this, Prof. May began his postdoctoral work with Prof. John McLean in 2009 where he began implementing a development program in ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) instrumentation. He was appointed to the title of Research Professor in 2011 and continues to evaluate next-generation instrumentation for structural mass spectrometry research. Currently, his interests focus on fundamentals of ion mobility measurements and developing IM-MS for broad-class analytical applications, specifically in the areas of metabolomics, lipidomics, and isomeric differentiation.

SPECIALTIES & FOCUS
Prof. May is experienced in mass spectrometry-based analytical instrument development (design, construction, and operation), analytical instrument architecture, scientific communication and graphical design of fundamental scientific concepts, bridging collaborative efforts, and dissemination of research via presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

Having constructed two variable temperature drift tube ion mobility spectrometers and two hybrid ion mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometers that utilized novel surface-induced ion fragmentation configurations at Texas A&M, he initiated an instrumentation development program at Vanderbilt to develop and evaluate the next generation of high-content mass spectrometers based on hybrid, multi-stage separation technologies.

He later worked with Agilent Technologies to develop their ion mobility-mass spectrometer focused on high-precision ion mobility measurements and worked with Agilent to develop their high resolution demultiplexing (HRdm) technique. These technologies are now being offered commercially by several vendors, which has shifted his current focus to applying advanced analytical technologies towards comprehensive and untargeted molecular characterizations, as well as the integration of ion mobility measurements into high-throughput multi-omic workflows. Prof. May continues to work with IM-MS instrument vendors, including Agilent, Waters, Bruker, and MOBILion, and is particularly interested in developing ion mobility calibration and alignment strategies that allow ion mobility to serve as a reliable molecular descriptor that supports complete and unambiguous characterization of unknown compounds at the isomer and stereochemical annotation levels. Small molecule annotation, such as metabolomics and lipidomics are particularly challenging, given the high degree of isomeric complexity experienced with these class of molecules, yet their limited m/z range offers an opportunity to address the isomer challenge with contemporary techniques.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS FROM EACH YEAR OF ACTIVITY:

• BR Kimmel, K Arora, NC Chada, V Bharti, AJ Kwiatkowski, JE Finkelstein, A Hanna, EN Arner, TL Sheehy, LE Pastora, J Yang, HM Pagendarm, PT Stone, E Hargrove-Wiley, BC Taylor, LA Hubert, BM Fingleton, KN Gibson-Corley, JC May, JA McLean, JC Rathmell, A Richmond, WK Rathmell, JM Balko, JT Wilson “Potentiating Cancer Immunotherapies with Modular Albumin-hitchhiking Nanobody–STING Agonist Conjugates” Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1-21 (2025).
• AR Reardon, JC May, KL Leaptrot, JA McLean “High-Resolution Ion Mobility Based on Traveling Wave Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation Resolves Hidden Lipid Features” Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 1-11 (2024).

• VV Gadkari, BR Juliano, CS Mallis, JC May, RT Kurulugama, JC Fjeldsted, JA McLean, DH Russell, and BT Ruotolo “Performance Evaluation of In-Source Ion Activation Hardware for Collision-Induced Unfolding of Proteins and Protein Complexes on a Drift Tube Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometer” Analyst, 148(2), 391-401 (2023).

• JC May, JA McLean “Integrating Ion Mobility into Comprehensive Multidimensional Metabolomics Workflows: Critical Considerations” Metabolomics 18 (12), 1-12 (2022).

• JC May, KL Leaptrot, BS Rose, KLW Moser, L Deng, L Maxon, D DeBord, and JA McLean “Resolving Power and Collision Cross Section Measurement Accuracy of a Prototype High-Resolution Ion Mobility Platform Incorporating Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation” Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 32 (4), 1126-1137 (2021).

• JC May, R Knochenmuss, JC Fjeldsted, JA McLean “Resolution of Isomeric Mixtures in Ion Mobility Using a Combined Demultiplexing and Peak Deconvolution Technique” Analytical Chemistry 92 (14), 9482-9492 (2020).

• JAA Picache, BS Rose, A Balinski, KL Leaptrot, SD Sherrod, JC May, and JA McLean “Collision Cross Section Compendium to Annotate and Predict Multi-omic Compound Identities” Chemical Science 10, 983-993 (2019).

• J.C. May, E. Jurneczko, S.M. Stow, I. Kratochvil, S. Kalkhof, and J.A. McLean, “Conformational Landscapes of Ubiquitin, Cytochrome c, and Myoglobin: Uniform Field Ion Mobility Measurements in Helium and Nitrogen Drift Gas” International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 427, 79-90 (2018).

• SM Stow, TJ Causon, X Zheng, RT Kurulugama, T Mairinger, JC May, EE Rennie, ES Baker, RD Smith, JA McLean, S Hann, and JC Fjeldsted “An Interlaboratory Evaluation of Drift Tube Ion Mobility–Mass Spectrometry Collision Cross Section Measurements” Analytical Chemistry 89 (17), 9048-9055 (2017).

• J.C. May, and J.A. McLean, “Advanced Multidimensional Separations in Mass Spectrometry: Navigating the Big Data Deluge” Annual Reviews of Analytical Chemistry 9(1), 387-409, (2016).

• J.C. May and J.A. McLean, “Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry: Time-Dispersive Instrumentation” Analytical Chemistry 87(3), 1422-1436 (2015)

• J. C. May, C. R. Goodwin, N. M. Lareau, K. L. Leaptrot, C. B. Morris, R. T. Kurulugama, A. Mordehai, C. Klein, W. Barry, E. Darland, G. Overney, K. Imatani, G. C. Stafford, J. C. Fjeldsted, and J. A. McLean, “Conformational Ordering of Biomolecules in the Gas-Phase: Nitrogen Collision Cross Sections Measured on a Prototype High Resolution Drift Tube Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometer” Analytical Chemistry 86(4), 2107-2116 (2014).

• DJ Alcendor, FE Block III, DE Cliffel, JS Daniels, KL Ellacott, CR Goodwin, LH Hofmeister, D Li, DA Markov, “Neurovascular Unit on a Chip: Implications for Translational Applications” Stem Cell Research & Therapy 4 (Suppl 1), S18 (2013).

• JC May, CR Goodwin, JA McLean “Gas‐Phase Ion Mobility‐Mass Spectrometry (IM‐MS) and Tandem IM‐MS/MS Strategies for Metabolism Studies and Metabolomics” Encyclopedia of Drug Metabolism and Interactions 1-29 (2012).

• M Kliman, JC May, JA McLean “Lipid Analysis and Lipidomics by Structurally Selective Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids 1811(11):935-45 (2011).

• S Sundarapandian, JC May, JA McLean “Dual Source Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometer for Direct Comparison of Electrospray Ionization and MALDI Collision Cross Section Measurements” Analytical Chemistry 82 (8), 3247-3254 (2010).

• W Sun, JC May, KJ Gillig, DH Russell “A Dual Time-of-Flight Apparatus for an Ion Mobility-Surface-Induced Dissociation-Mass Spectrometer for High-Throughput Peptide Sequencing” International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 287 (1), 39-45 (2009).

• W Sun, JC May, DH Russell “A Novel Surface-Induced Dissociation Instrument for Ion Mobility-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry” International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 259 (1), 79-86 (2007).