Xiangjun Liao
Xiangjun Liao obtained his PhD from McGill University, his MSc from Nankai University, and his BSc from China West Normal University. He has been working at Federal labs as of 2002 including Environment Canada (2002-2004), Health Canada (2005-2009, 2013-2019) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2009-2013, 2019-current). His research interests include studies on contaminants and their metabolites from food, human and environments, hormone and marine toxin, metals, method development and validation and the application with various instruments and techniques, data interpretation and modelling. Instruments cover LC-MS/MS, LC-ICP-MS, GC-MS/MS, GC-HR-MS, APGC-MS/MS while sample preparation techniques applied are SPE, ASE, microwave assisted digestion and extraction. In the past, Xiangjun Liao has developed various methods and applied them to analyze up to 500 compounds and metals in different matrices.
Xiangjun rejoined Fisheries and Oceans Canada in May 2019 to support work under DFO’s Whale Contaminant Program, led by Dr. Brown. He has developed and validated methods to detect and quantify hormones and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in whale feces. Samples are currently being analyzed and results will be used to assess the health of Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). He is currently validating methods to detect and quantify hormones, PPCPs, targeted metabolites, biotoxins and metals in samples from ringed seals (blubber, liver, plasma) , beluga whales (blubber, liver, plasma), killer whales (feces, breath condensate, plasma, urine), Chinook salmon (whole fish, liver and blood) and their associated environment such as water. These methods will be used to support research aimed at assessing the health of these keystone species in the context of both contaminants and other environmental stressors (e.g., climate change). Future work will be focusing on developing methods to measure 6PPD-Quinone in different matrices in support of a number of studies that are underway in the lab.