Kym Faull, Ph.D.

Kym Francis Faull was born, raised and educated at The University of Adelaide, South Australia. He completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree in 1968, an Honours degree in Agricultural Biochemistry (nitrogen metabolism of soil-borne bacteria) in 1969 and a Ph.D. degree in Plant Physiology in 1974 (gibberellin biosynthesis). After a post-doctoral fellowship (74-76) at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales (human metabolic diseases), he joined the research staff at Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (76-90) where he rose through the ranks of staff and senior staff scientific officers. He joined the faculty at UCLA in 1990 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and the Neuropsychiatric Institute. With an unusual combination of interests and experience encompassing biochemistry, and in particular brain biochemistry, and with expertise in mass spectrometry, his objective was to develop a multifaceted program in analytical neurochemistry addressing the biochemical substrates of psychiatric diseases. As a consequence of his extensive research collaborations, the scope of Dr. Faull's responsibilities expanded in 1992 to embrace teaching and research missions across Departments within the Medical School and the College of Letters and Sciences. This change came with his appointment as Director of the newly-created Center for Molecular and Medical Sciences Mass Spectrometry, subsequently re-named The Pasarow Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. Located in the then recently completed Molecular Life Sciences Building, the mission of this interdepartmental facility was to broadly develop a mass spectrometry research and service facility for the entire campus.

In order to properly fulfill their missions, contemporary teaching and research institutions must maintain their basic core technologies at a state-of-the-art level. In all areas of the chemical sciences - environmental, biological, biotechnological and biomedical - mass spectrometry has become a crucial core technology. The power of this technique is its uniquely precise measurement of molecular mass of a vast range of compound types presented in virtually any form. Equipment in the Laboratory can perform these measurements with extraordinary accuracy on minuscule amounts of material. For example, molecular weight measurements with parts-per-million accuracy can be performed on one ten-billionth of an ounce, or 10-10 grams, of material. These measurements can be performed on molecules as small as cocaine (molecular mass 303.1471 Da) and as large as serum albumen (molecular mass 66430.3 Da). The measurements can be made on dried solid material, on gases and on solutions of material. Most importantly, the measurements can often be made with uncompromised precision on impure preparations. This attribute can be enormously important for the structural characterization of precious unstable samples which have often been laboriously isolated from biological sources. An important aspiration in his program is the training of the future generation of researchers in the use and application of this technology to problems facing today's society. Because this technique is being used in ever increasing areas of the national research and development enterprise, employment prospects are excellent for those trained in contemporary mass spectrometry. The laboratory supports up to 5 SRP undergraduate and additional graduate students per quarter, and many return for subsequent quarters. In an era of reduced budgets and declining resources, pride is taken in the quality of the research and teaching accomplishments The Laboratory has forged strong ties with many campus research programs including those in the the Neuropsychiatric Institute, the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, the Department of Biological Chemistry, the Mental Retardation Research Center, the Center for the Study of Opioid Receptors and Drugs of Abuse, the Center for Ulcer Research and Education (CURE), the Jules Stein Eye Research Institute, the Brain Research Institute, the Molecular Biology Institute and the Cotsen Institute for Archeology.

Publications: