Lab Members
Paul R. Langlais
- Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Arizona College of Medicine
- Director Quantitative Proteomics Laboratory, Center for Disparities in Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, University of Arizona College of Medicine
I was born French Canadian, Montreal to be exact, in 1975. My family moved to San Antonio in '78, so I grew up in the good old Texas public school system while spending my summers as a kid back in Quebec (which I still do when I can). I graduated from Texas Tech University in 1997 and realized that I liked Cell Biology, so I got lucky and ended up as a Research Assistant in an insulin signalling lab that Fall, all of which led me to a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. I met my boss, Larry Mandarino, when he interviewed me for grad school and we both left UTHSCSA for Arizona State University together in 2005, him as the Chair of Kinesiology (a department that went bye-bye), me as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Spent too long there before taking an Assistant Professor position at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona in 2012. Realized pretty quickly that Mayo held no future for me, so we all ended up at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in the Fall of 2016, which turned out to be where we should have started in Arizona in the first place. Love the UA, so good to be back at a health science center and an institution that has a passion for basic biomedical research.
I started my career as a scientist in an era where radiation was the main approach to study protein phosphorylation (this was '97, the internet had just come out and I don't even know if I had an email address, I don't think so). Luckily for me, I met the right people and got an early introduction to mass spectrometry. As a result, my training incorporated basic molecular biology, traditional signaling techniques, microscopy, and eventually mass spectrometry and proteomics. During this scientific journey, I became self-proficient as an end user capable of running mass spectrometers to study proteins. This led to a lot of collaboration, so much so, that we developed numerous proteomics facilities, all of which cumulated to the creation of the University of Arizona College of Medicine Quantitative Proteomics Laboratory, a resource we have designed to offer UA investigators a chance to use quantitative proteomics to answer their own personal research questions.
I am fortunate enough to have a very loving family, a power trio, with my wife Leah, and our daughter Sophia. I enjoy spending time with the girls and watching Sophia turn into a beautiful little maniac. I also get my kicks playing music, SH*TLOADS OF GOLF, listening to music, reading, fishing, snorkeling, exercising, being outdoors, watching movies, barbequing, eating cheeseburges and french fries and chocolate, drinking whatever is being offered to me, and laughing at my idiot friends while I too act like a 14-year old moron. I also like winning money from said friends, the holidays with my family, October, and decorating my house during Halloween in a way that scares little kids so much they end up too afraid to grab the candy and I get all the chocolate.
Madi Gackle - 2022 - ????Undergraduate Thesis Honors Student
Spring 2022 - One day Atley came to me and said "I have an idea, i'm a preceptor for a class that has a bunch of smart people in it. What if at the end of a lecture about microtubules, I go up to the front of the class and talk about the lab and the work we do? Maybe we can recruit some new members?" Welcome Madi! Madi hails from the mecca that is the Phoenix suburb of Happy Valley. Madi has a 12.0 GPA and joins our lab as a sophmore. She came to the lab with practically no experience, but, it quickly became apparent that Madi posesses the coveted "golden hands" skillset, as in, anything she touches turns to gold. Madi went from zero to hero in a matter of months, deciding early on to go ahead and choose the Langlais Lab as the lab for her Honor's Thesis. With the loss of Atley and Skylar, Madi's arrival was perfect timing. In her spare time Madi is an amatuer professional bartender who likes to pour garbage into a fishbowl, stick two straws in it, and call it a masterpiece. Cheers to scientific progress and saying HELL NO to Blue Curacao! |
Macie Goodmanson - 2022 - ????Undergraduate Thesis Honors Student
Fall 2022 - Macie, another poor soul snared in Atley's trap, even worse, she got caught as a Freshman, completely unsuspecting, so full of eagerness and hope. Macie spent some time shadowing here and there in the Spring of 2022, but mostly she marveled at my ability to come up with excuses for why I couldn't meet up. Luckily for Macie, things eased up and now, the Fall of her sophomore year, she's officially enrolled in her Honor's college thesis right here in the old Langlais Lab. We'll be teaching her stuff like making sure she completely avoids learning how to do a BCA assay from Noah, and that she needs to steer very clear of learning glucose uptake assays from Jake, and that she absolutely cannot listen to anything Kaelie says about tissue culture. As a result, Macie has pretty much just walked around in circles since she's been here, pondering why anyone would ever do this for a living. Things are gearing up though, so, rest assured, Macie will soon be incessently failing just like the rest of us! LET'S DO THIS. |
Austin Lipinski - 2019-????Research Specialist
Austin comes to us straight outta college! Austin is now the go-to person for the proteomics lab we run across the hall. Austin realized in his mid 20s that he should get a degree cause hard labor is hard. He realized he liked science so he got some kind of scientific double major and while doing that met Mack. Once Natalie and James had to move to North Carolina, the Langlais Lab was fortunate to get a lead on Austin through Mack who recommended Austin as a replacement for Natalie. Since showing up in the late Fall of 2019 Austin has had no choice but to get with the program. Let's just see if he can survive the science gauntlet, he's done pretty damn good so far. GOOD LUCK AUSTIN. UPDATE! Austin is awesome. |
Mac McGraw - 2022 - ????Undergraduate Thesis Honors Student
Spring 2022 - Ah yes, Mac McGraw. In his spare time, when he's not volunteering to help feed the homeless, or running a Physiology Student Group, or participating in a Student Diabetes Club, or doing 512 things for the early entrance program (HEAP) for UA Medical School, he dabbles in a little bit of Langlais Lab. Mac comes to us from the Mandarino Lab, where he helped out on some of the Center for Disparities in Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism BioBank biz. Seeking a more bench-centric lab for his Phyiology Honors Thesis, Dr. Mandarino recommended Mac consider an experience with us. Mac has been such a fantastic addition to the lab because he already has an in-depth understand of type 2 diabetes, being type 1 himself. I'm pretty sure Mac has taught me more than I have taught him. When I grow up, I want to be like Mac. |
Jake Nash - 2022 - ????Undergraduate Student
Spring 2022 - The Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP) here at the UA offers undergraduates the opportunity to intern in research labs (see Skylar and Atley on over in the Langlais Lab Alumni page). Who knows why, but, Jake Nash, upon getting accepted to UBRP, reached out with an interest in performing his UBRP summer internship in the Langlais Lab. I can only assume all the other labs were full. Jake, a junior, hails from near Fountain Hills up in Phoenix where he grew up dreaming of playing in the NBA, only to realize that he had reached his peak on his middle school junior varsity basketball team. Jake is the first student in the Langlais Lab to get detention from blowing off the basics. After four days of D-Hall, Jake emerged with a better understanding of the Langlais Lab, so he took that newfound knowledge and parlayed it into performing the worst glucose uptake assay that I have ever seen. In true underdog form, Jake, determined to succeed, stayed on the grind and through his hard work, earned himself a spot in the Langlais Lab. In his spare time, Jake, who never gave up playing basketball, enjoys swatting jabronis' garbage deep into the bleachers over at the Rec Center. Jake, let's go discover something before I get fired. |
Kaelie Zelms - 2021 - ????Undergraduate Thesis Honors Student
2021 - Once I realized Atley was going to leave us to become the President of the United States of America pretty soon, I had the epiphany that she probably knows other highly functional, up-and-coming, academic elites. In typical take-care-of-business Atley form, she simply said "ya, i'm puting out the call". 10 MINUTES LATER WELCOME KAELIE ROSE ZELMS! Kaeaeaelie comes to us from NORTH Scottsdale OK, not South Scottsdale, NORTH Scottsdale, like Kierland, not Taco Bell on McDowell and Hayden. Like Atley, Kaelie is also in the sorority comprised of over-acheivers that make me regret the time I wasted skateboarding when I was in college, although Kaelie is just a Freshman, so she is involved in only 36 extra-cirrucular activites, not 608 like Atley. Kaelie has joined the lab with zero scientific experience, although she passed the scientific vetting process like a pro. Kaelie will only be able to train with Atley for just a few weeks before she heads home for the summer. Once she returns, she will apply to the UBRP program and we will make her work 80 hours a week in the lab to prove her worth. Funny thing is, because of the stupid pandemic, I've never actually met Kaelie, our entire experience has been through the internet. Alright, let's all wish Kaelie good luck during her transformation from booger-pickin' Freshman rookie to Sophomore Like A Boss. 2022 - UPDATE - Kaelie is now a sophomore and is doing not that bad here in the Langlais Lab. College has her split between many commitments, although, it is obvious she should drop them all and only work in the lab 80 hours a week. C'mon Kaelie, get my priorities straight. |