Contact Information
2255 Beckman Institute, MC-251
405 N. Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Professor Romanova received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Belarusian State University (Minsk, Belarus) and her PhD in Chemistry from University of Illinois (with Jonathan Sweedler, 2005). She then joined a newly established, NIDA funded, Neuroproteomics & Neurometabolomics Center on Cell-Cell Signaling to lead the development and validation of customized cutting-edge technological solutions for investigation of neurochemical changes in the brain resulted from drug abuse and addiction. Currently, Professor Romanova continues supporting expanded national and international neuroscience communities of the Center by coordinating and overseeing multidisciplinary, collaborative user projects on intricacies of intercellular communication. She joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at UIUC as Research Assistant Professor in January 2019.
Research Description
Overall direction of research is bioanalytical chemistry with emphasis on microanalysis, mass spectrometry and liquid separation techniques for measurement and characterization of biomolecules and/or drugs in nervous and neuroendocrine systems. Specific approaches include but not limited to high throughput peptidomics, direct single cell and tissue chemical profiling by mass spectrometry, differential quantitative assessment of neurochemical changes under pathophysiological conditions or environmental challenges, and mass spectrometry imaging, all with the use of relevant bioinformatics tools. The overarching goal of research is to gain insights into molecular basis of complex physiological responses in various animal models that play critical roles in fundamental or translational research and, respectively, in advancement of human health.
Highlighted Publications
Romanova, E. V., Rubakhin, S. S., Ossyra, J. R., Zombeck, J. A., Nosek, M. R., Sweedler, J. V., & Rhodes, J. S. (2015). Differential peptidomics assessment of strain and age differences in mice in response to acute cocaine administration. Journal of Neurochemistry, 135(5), 1038-1048. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.13265
Romanova, E. V., & Sweedler, J. V. (2015). Peptidomics for the discovery and characterization of neuropeptides and hormones. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 36(9), 579-586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2015.05.009
Romanova, E. V., Aerts, J. T., Croushore, C. A., & Sweedler, J. V. (2014). Small-Volume Analysis of Cell-Cell Signaling Molecules in the Brain. Neuropsychopharmacology, 39(1), 50-64. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2013.145
Romanova, E. V., Dowd, S. E., & Sweedler, J. V. (2013). Quantitation of endogenous peptides using mass spectrometry based methods. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 17(5), 801-808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.05.030
Rubakhin, S. S., Romanova, E. V., Nemes, P., & Sweedler, J. V. (2011). Profiling metabolites and peptides in single cells. Nature Methods, 8(4), S20-S29. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1549
Collins, J. J., Hou, X., Romanova, E. V., Lambrus, B. G., Miller, C. M., Saberi, A., Sweedler, J. V., & Newmark, P. A. (2010). Genome-wide analyses reveal a role for peptide hormones in planarian germline development. PLoS biology, 8(10), [e1000509]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000509
Romanova, E. V., Rubakhin, S., & Sweedler, J. V. (2008). One-step sampling, extraction, and storage protocol for peptidomics using dihydroxybenzoic acid. Analytical Chemistry, 80(9), 3379-3386. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac7026047
Recent Publications
Wu, YF., Toba, E. A. D. L., Dvoretskiy, S., Jung, R., Kim, N., Daniels, L., Romanova, E. V., Drnevich, J., Sweedler, J. V., & Boppart, M. D. (Accepted/In press). Development of a cell‐free strategy to recover aged skeletal muscle after disuse. The Journal of Physiology. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP282867
Castro, D. C., Xie, Y. R., Rubakhin, S. S., Romanova, E. V., & Sweedler, J. V. (2021). Image-guided MALDI mass spectrometry for high-throughput single-organelle characterization. Nature Methods, 18(10), 1233-1238. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-021-01277-2
Lee, C. A., Romanova, E. V., Southey, B. R., Gillette, R., & Sweedler, J. V. (2021). Comparative Analysis of Neuropeptides in Homologous Interneurons and Prohormone Annotation in Nudipleuran Sea Slugs. Frontiers in Physiology, 12, [809529]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.809529
Mast, D. H., Liao, H. W., Romanova, E. V., & Sweedler, J. V. (2021). Analysis of Peptide Stereochemistry in Single Cells by Capillary Electrophoresis–Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry Mass Spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry, 93(15), 6205-6213. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c00445
Alim, F. Z. D., Romanova, E. V., Tay, Y. L., Rahman, A. Y. B. A., Chan, K. G., Hong, K. W., Rogers, M., Southey, B. R., Greenwood, M. P., Mecawi, A. S., Mustafa, M. R., Mahy, N., Campbell, C., Antunes-Rodrigues, J., Sweedler, J. V., Murphy, D., & Hindmarch, C. C. T. (2019). Seasonal adaptations of the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system of the dromedary camel. PloS one, 14(6), [e0216679]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216679