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Department of Chemistry College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Picture of a current graduate student in the Prentice Lab

Jacob Samuel


Analytical Chemistry Graduate Student

Hometown
Acton, Massachusetts

Education
B.A. in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University (2016) M. S. Biomedical Forensic Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine (2018)

Contact
jacob.samuel@ufl.edu

LinkedIn

Jacob completed his undergraduate degree in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University in 2016. Then he went to the Boston University School of Medicine to complete a master’s degree in Biomedical Forensic Sciences in 2018. After that, he spent four years as a Postmortem Toxicologist at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner (2018-2022). Jacob joined the Prentice Group in the fall of 2022. His research focuses on using hydrogels to physically expand tissue sections as a means of increasing imaging mass spectrometry spatial resolution.

Awards

  • Eastman Summer Fellowship
  • Grinter Fellowship
  • Dean’s List (6 semesters)
  • Peter R. De Forest Student Research Presentation – Best Scientific Poster – Graduate – November 9, 2017 (NEAFS)
  • Delta Delta Epsilon – Honor Society member
  • Young Scientist Meeting Award – October 16th, 2019 – SOFT

Publications

  1. Cozzi, G. D.;  Samuel, J. M.;  Fromal, J. T.;  Keene, S.;  Crispens, M. A.;  Khabele, D.; Beeghly-Fadiel, A., Thresholds and timing of pre-operative thrombocytosis and ovarian cancer survival: analysis of laboratory measures from electronic medical records. BMC Cancer 2016, 16, 612.
  2. Samuel, J. M.;  Kahl, J. H.;  Zaney, M. E.;  Hime, G. W.; Boland, D. M., Comparison of Spectrophotometric Methods for the Determination of Carboxyhemoglobin in Postmortem Blood. J Anal Toxicol 2021, 45 (8), 885-891.
  3. Vedam-Mai, V.;  Samuel, J. M.; Prentice, B. M., Imaging mass spectrometry: a molecular microscope for studying the role of lipids in Parkinson’s disease. Neural Regen Res 2024, 19 (6), 1179-1180.
  4. Samuel, J. M.;  Baby, N. M.;  Mayo, E. D.;  Yan, T.;  Liang, Z.; Prentice, B. M., Examination of lipid distributions in hydrogel-expanded mouse brain tissue using imaging mass spectrometry. Analytica Chimica Acta 2025, 1377, 344629.
  5. Elijah D. Mayo, Jacob M. Samuel, Yingchan Guo, Audrey Ciccone, Zhongling Liang, Boone M. Prentice, bioRxiv, Iterative spatial resolution enhancement in imaging mass spectrometry via hydrogel tissue expansion and multimodal image fusion

Teaching Experience

  • TA- CHM2046 – General Chemistry 2 (UF, Fall 2022)
  • TA- CHM 2046L – General Chemistry 2 Lab (UF, Spring 2023)
  • TA- CHM 4130L – Instrumental Analysis Lab (UF, Fall 2023)

Presentations

  1. Samuel, J., Hime, G., & Boland, D. (2019, October). Comparison of Methods to Determine %COHb in Post-Mortem Blood. Speaker session presented at the 49th meeting of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT), October 16th, 2019.
  2. Samuel, J., Yan, T., & Boone, P. (2024, June). Expansion Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Workshop session presented at the 72nd meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), June 5th, 2024.
  3. Samuel, J., & Boone, P. (2025, June). Measuring Small Foci. Webinar presented by US HUPO, June 26, 2025.

Posters

  1. Samuel, J., Stapleton, E., & D’aloise, P. (2017, November). LC-MS/MS Analysis of Ketamine and its Metabolites in Urine. Poster session presented at the 43rd meeting of the North East Association of Forensic Scientists (NEAFS), November 9th, 2017.
  2. Samuel, J., Yan, T., & Boone, P. (2023, April). Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Method Development for the Analysis of Triacylglycerols via Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Poster session presented at the University of Florida Graduate Student Research Day, April 4th, 2023.
  3. Murphy, S., Samuel, J., & Boone, P. (2024, June). High Spatial Resolution lipid Imaging Mass Spectrometry Analysis Enabled by Hydrogel Expansion. Poster session presented at the Spring 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium at University of Florida, April 1st 2024.
  4. Murphy, S., Samuel, J., & Boone, P. (2024, June). Modified hydrogel tissue expansion protocol to enable high spatial resolution lipid imaging mass spectrometry. Poster session presented at the Fall 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium at University of Florida, November 13th, 2024.
  5. Samuel, J., Yan, T., & Boone, P. (2024, June). Expansion Imaging Mass Spectrometry for High Spatial Resolution Lipid Analysis using a Superabsorbent Hydrogel. Poster session presented at the 72nd meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), June 6th, 2024.
  6. Samuel, J., Murphy, S., Mayo, E., Baby, N., & Boone, P. (2025, June). Assessing Lipid Spatial Fidelity in Expansion Imaging Mass Spectrometry. Poster session presented at the 73rd meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), June 3rd, 2025.
  7. Mayo, E., Samuel, J., Guo, Y., Liang, Z., & Boone, P. (2025, June). Iterative Spatial Resolution Enhancement in Imaging Mass Spectrometry via Hydrogel Tissue Expansion and Multimodal Image Fusion. Poster session presented at the 73rd meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), June 3rd, 2025.