Timothy J Garrett

Dr. Garrett is an Associate Professor and Chief of Experimental Pathology in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine at the College of Medicine at The University of Florida. In addition to his role as chief, Dr. Garrett has served as PI or Co-PI on grants and contracts totaling over $39M of funding from institutions such as the NIH, JDRF and the ADA. As an associate professor, Dr. Garrett has supervised the research of 18 graduate students and 3 post-doctoral students during the past 15 years, and received the term professorship in 2018, an exemplary teacher award in 2019 and 2024, and the IFAS high impact publication in 2016. Research in the group has led to over 120 peer-reviewed publications with an h-index of 46 and an i10-index of 138. His publications have resulted in over 7000 citations and he has given over 100 lectures in 6 different countries related to his research.

Dr. Garrett received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Chemistry and his PHD in Chemistry from the University of Florida. As a graduate student, he worked on the development and design the first imaging mass spectrometry ion trap instrument through a partnership with ThermoFisher Scientific and studied the disposition and characterization of phospholipids in brain tissue. He joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 2006, where he has developed a research program in metabolomics, lipidomics, and small molecule quantitation for clinical and biological research using mass spectrometry approaches. He is also currently Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical lab.

I have a very broad research program because of my expertise in Analytical Chemistry. During the past 5 years, I have maintained a highly active research program at the University of Florida. As a PI, I have obtained a total of $2,490,408 in research funding and as a Co-I, I have obtained $1,339,670 in research funding. My h-index is 46, which is exceptional as the average for individuals in my discipline at the same stage of career is 20. My research has amassed over 7000 citations and nearly 5000 from 2020 – 2024. Since 2020, I have published 83 peer-review manuscripts with an average of close to 17 publications per year. My work has been published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology (IF 44.5), Diabetes Care (IF 14.8), Nature Communications (IF 14.7), Analytical Chemistry (IF 7.4), and Cell Reports (IF 7.5) just to name a few of the major journals. In 2020, my publication in the Journal for the American Society for Mass Spectrometry was recognized as the most accessed article of the year. I am particularly excited about the research we conducted to determine the stability of insulin in non-ideal conditions for which I published 4 manuscripts. Our work highlighted that insulin remains stable for a considerably longer period when stored at higher temperatures. This work is beginning to change policy on how insulin can be used, especially in times of crisis where the insulin supply is taxed. I am also excited about research in which we discovered novel metabolites associated with oxidative stress and cancer. This area of research involves what we named the ‘Tautomeric Metabolome’, and our work has involved developing methods to identify tautomer’s as well as new approaches to investigate enzyme activity. The marker that we identified as already been implicated as an oncometabolite, which could lead to new therapeutic targets. We also conducted research to identify a novel genetic defect in an adult female using profiling methods developed in my lab. That research led to a publication in which we identified the lipid pathway implicated by the patient’s novel defect and associated with a form of Fabry. Importantly, that research led to our successful grant application ($4 million) to the Centers for Disease Control to develop a National Center of Excellence in Newborn Screening in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health. In 2023, I filed a patent disclosure on the development of internal quantitative dried blood spots (iqDBS) and in 2024 it was submitted as a US Patent. This work enables standardization of dried blood spots using imprinted stable isotopes in the paper. Our work has shown improved quantitative capabilities and importantly, correction for any analyte degradation. The patent is currently licensed by Capitainer, a Swedish start-up. In 2024, we file a new patent disclosure on functionalized cellulose paper to prevent oxidation of metabolites in dried blood spots. This has been optioned by UF, and a provisional patent is currently in review. This patent disclosure enables rapid stabilization of metabolites in dried blood spots improving diagnostic capabilities for cancer screening. From 2020-2024, I gave 24 national and international lectures related to my research work. Most recently, I gave the plenary lecture for the Microsampling workshop at the Karolinska Institutet. I also spoke at the Food and Drug Administration on issues with biomarker discovery in science. I gave a plenary lecture for the Philippine Society for Cell Biology on rare diseases and a plenary for the King Abdulaziz University-Oxford Center for Artificial Intelligence.