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Susan Sumner
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Susan J. Sumner

Senior Research Scientist

Susan Sumner, PhD, directs the proteomics and metabolomics programs in the Discovery Sciences Division at RTI, and is a senior scientist in the nanosafety program in RTI's Center of Pharmacology and Toxicology. As director of proteomics and metabolomics, she leads projects to identify biomarkers for the early detection of disease, to monitor disease progression or therapeutic intervention, and to gain insights into mechanisms of response. In September 2012, Dr. Sumner received a $9.3 million NIH award to establish an RTI Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Core (RCMRC). She also recently received a $3.5 million RO1 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to determine the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic profiles of C60 fullerene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Before joining RTI, Dr. Sumner was head of the Biochemical Profiling Group at Paradigm Genetics, Inc., where she oversaw the development and application of liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry metabolomics platforms for mammalian studies. Dr. Sumner also served as a PI and good laboratory practice study director at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. She has developed analytical approaches that enable rapid and effective cross-species comparisons of metabolism and has contributed to the development of PBPK and PBPD models.

She currently serves on the editorial boards for Metabolomics, the Journal of Applied Toxicology, the Journal of Toxicology, and the RTI Press, and is an adjunct faculty member in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

Education

PhD, Physical Chemistry, North Carolina State University; BS, Chemistry (Biology minor), North Carolina State University.

Latest Publications

Integrating metabolomic signatures and psychosocial parameters in responsivity to an immersion treatment model for adolescent obesity — Metabolomics
Pathmasiri, W., Pratt, K.J., Collier, D.N., Lutes, L.D., McRitchie, S., & Sumner, S.C.J. (Dec 2012)
Metabolomics of brain and reproductive organs: Characterizing the impact of gestational exposure to butylbenzyl phthalate on dams and resultant offspring — Metabolomics
Banerjee, R., Pathmasiri, W., Snyder, R., McRitchie, S., & Sumner, S. (Dec 2012)
Multi-walled carbon nanotube directed gene and protein expression in cultured human aortic endothelial cells is influenced by suspension medium — Toxicology
Vidanapathirana, A.K., Lai, X.Y., Hilderbrand, S.C., Pitzer, J.E., Podila, R., Sumner, S.J., Fennell, T.R., et al. (Dec 2012)
Personalized medicine and environmental OMICS. Session E2
Sumner, S., & Zhang, Y. (Nov 2011)
Metabolomic analysis of serum after treatment with the emerging pop flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD): Commercial mixture, alpha and gamma stereoisomers elicit differential effects in infantile mice — Toxicologist
Szabo, D.T., Pathmasiri, W., Diliberto, J.J., Sumner, S., & Birnbaum, L.S. (Mar 2011)
View all publications by Susan J. Sumner

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