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MaST3

A forward-thinking program focusing on teamwork and adaptability training for students in mass spectrometry

About Us

The Mass Spectrometry Team Training and Transition (MaST3) Program is a forward-thinking initiative designed to enhance graduate training in mass spectrometry (MS) through a team-based and interdisciplinary approach. The program received 6 years of funding from NSERC/CREAT in addition to support from several universities, research institutes, and hospitals across British Columbia (BC). The core mission of MaST3 is to equip graduate students with advanced technical proficiency in MS and essential professional skills for careers in biotechnology, academia and the public sector.

Past Trainees' Testimonies

"The program successfully balanced technical learning with professional development. Leading the project allowed me to practice valuable soft skills like coordination and communication in a real research team setting. Scientifically, working hands-on with mass spectrometry workflows greatly enhanced my technical confidence and research capabilities, contributing substantially to my overall growth as a scientist."

"It is really a good opportunity to learn new MS knowledge and share research with colleagues."

"Just being exposed to teamwork helps to gain teamwork skills in general. In our case, we discussed our schedules beyond MaST3 and made sure everyone in our group had time for their duties during this process. We were also good at dividing and allocating tasks. I work in the microbiome field, and I have always wanted to learn more about MS and other omics such as proteomics. The project gave me the chance to learn about it not only in theory but also in practice. With practical exposure, theoretical knowledge is way easier to understand."

News

Application for 2026-2027 MaST3 Enrollment and Team Projects & Scholarship is Now Opened!

We are accepting applications for the 2026-2027 MaST3 program enrollment and team project + scholarship right now!

Incoming and Year 1 graduate students interested in expanding their research skills, building professional networks, and exploring new career opportunities are encouraged to apply to be enroll into the MaST3 program. The junior trainees enrolled in the program (the first year) will attend workshops for profession skills, EDA, mentorship, outreaching, and MS technical skills in order to build up the foundation for participating in team projects.

MaST3 trainees enrolled in 2025 and other senior graduate students that are equipped with sufficient MS & professional skills are encourage to apply for the 2026 team projects and the 20k scholarship.

For eligibility requirements, application instructions, and important deadlines, please see the "Registration" tab under the "Program" session on this website or contact the program coordinator at nancy.fang@ubc.ca.

We look forward to welcoming the next generation of MaST3 trainees in 2026!

Program

MaST3 aims to equip students with advanced MS expertise alongside job-ready, transferable skills, with a strong emphasis on teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration.

A cornerstone of MaST3 is its collaborative, problem-solving model: graduate students from diverse backgrounds will come together—away from their home institutions—to work on a team project focused on developing novel MS applications. The program promotes mobility and cross-pollination of ideas within BC’s vibrant MS research ecosystem.MaST3 also places strong emphasis on outreach to underrepresented groups in STEM and engagement with the private sector through networking events and industry-focused activities. While selected trainees will receive a short-term scholarship of $20,000 during the team project period at host labs, all applicants will benefit from continuous support throughout their graduate studies. This includes mentorship, hands-on workshops, lab visits, industry seminars, networking opportunities, and more—designed to help students grow into highly skilled professionals with adaptable career paths.

Overall, MaST3represents a pioneering initiative to reshape graduate training in mass spectrometry—preparing students for impactful careers in both academia and industry, while fostering collaboration and innovation across BC.

Region	Initial Incubator Space

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Vancouver General Hospital (Breathomics)
BC Children’s Hospital (High-throughput Sampling)
St. Paul’s Hospital (Clinical Chemistry)
UBC Okanagan (Plant Signaling)

Lower Mainland

Chemistry (Computational MS)
Michael Smith Labs (Single-cell proteomics)
Land & Food Systems (Food & Safety)
Life Sciences Institute (Metabolomics)

UBC Point Grey

Simon Fraser University

SFU (Post-translational modifications)

University of Victoria (Metabolomics)
Vancouver Island University (Opioids & Environmental Sciences)
BC Cancer Victoria (Immunoengineering)
Genome BC Proteomic Centre (Tissue Imaging)

Vancouver Island

MaST3 redefines graduate training by integrating team-based learning into the curriculum, moving beyond traditional, siloed thesis projects. The program is structured in three phases:

Phase 1

Mentorship: Each enrolled student is assigned a faculty and senior trainee mentor to guide their curriculum and career development.
Lab Visits: Students visit two MaST3 labs (2-5 days each) to learn diverse techniques, present their work, and network with host labs.
Technical Workshops: Annual hybrid workshops cover advanced applications, instrument design, experimental design of MS for proteomics/metabolomics, and data analysis, led by senior trainees and external experts.
Professional Skills: Training modules focus on teamwork, leadership, communication, and EDI, developed in collaboration with the UBC Sauder School and Entrepreneurship@UBC.
Annual Symposium: A trainee pre-meeting with presentations, hackathon-like sessions for Phase 2 project development, and EDI-focused discussions will be integrated into our annual BCPN Symposium

Phase 2

Project development: Projects are initiated through hackathon-like sessions, guided by principal investigators, and supported by MaST3 scholarships.
Team project: Students form interdisciplinary teams of 2-4 to work on capstone projects at incubator spaces (host labs) outside their home campus for 2-4 months. MaSt3 program covers necessary travel and accommodation costs.
Teamwork outcome: Project outcomes could contribute to research excellence, including publications and theses, thereby enhancing job market readiness.
Team-based outreach: A built-in EDI educational element involves having program trainees participate in scientific outreach events designed for youth and underrepresented groups, such as indigenous students.

Phase 3

This phase reinforces learning, fosters leadership, and promotes knowledge sharing within the MaST3 community.
Teaching workshops: Senior trainees teach both technical and professional skills workshops independently or in teams.
Mentorship: Senior trainees mentor new students recruited in Phases 1 & 2.
Work presentation and networking: Trainees who completed Phase 2 present their project outcomes at the annual BCPN symposium.
The program also supports senior trainees in attending other relevant conferences, such as CNPN and the Post-ASMS Symposium.

For Perspective Students

Interested in Graduate Studies Involving Mass Spectrometry?

Are you planning to pursue graduate studies and use mass spectrometry in your research? The MaST3 program provides comprehensive support for new students, including mentorship, skills workshops, networking opportunities, and scholarships to complete short team-based projects. Our program focuses on enhancing your graduate experience and preparing you for diverse career paths, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and teamwork.

How to Apply
Prospective students should first contact potential supervisors within our network (listed below) and apply to their affiliated graduate program. Once you have joined a research lab and been accepted into a graduate program, you can apply to MaST3 using the form below.

MaST3-associated research laboratories

The Burke Lab The Lum Lab

The Castellarin Lab The Mayor Lab

The Chen Lab The Measday Lab

The Cohen Freue Lab The Morin Lab

The Duncan Lab The Murch Lab

The Foster Lab The Myers Lab

The Gill Lab The Overall Lab

The Goodlett Lab The Parker Lab

The Hill Lab The Peter Lab

The Huan Lab The Soma Lab

The King Lab The Sun Lab

The Lamers Lab The Velenosi Lab

The Lange Lab The Vu Lab

The Linington Lab

For Graduate Students

More senior students are also welcome to join the program to participate in selected activities, provide mentorship, or help lead some of our workshops. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

2027 - 2027 Program Information Sheet (upcoming)
2026 - 2027 MaST3 Program Enrollment Application Form

Priority Application Deadline: July 15th, 2026

Regular Application Deadline: August 15th, 2026

2026 - 2027 Phase II information sheet (upcoming)
2026 - 2027 Scholarship & Team Project Application Form

Priority Application Deadline: July 15th, 2026

Regular Application Deadline: August 3rd, 2026

Please email your application and other required documents to nancy.fang@ubc.ca

Activites

Activities

Discover workshops and activities MaST3 offers and MS symposiums, conferences, and seminars

MaST3 Program Welcome Session - Introduction and Q&A

Presented by Dr. Thibault Mayor (Program Director) and Dr. Nancy Fang (Program Coordinator)

When: Wednesday, September 2nd, 1-2pm

Where: Zoom (https://ubc.zoom.us/j/69550431048?pwd=XCk7kQ7jFJh9eYs3Y1II7OaaSZc6hX.1)

2026- 2027 Workshops on technical skills

Special Topics in Organic Chemistry – (SFU-CHEM459/759, 3-credit course, 1/3 lectures are on MS)

Instructor: Dr. Roger Linington

Course description: Learn More...

When: September 9th - December, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 - 11:20 am (dates & times for MS

lectures are available upon request)

Where: SFU campus, Rm: TBD

Modern MS for Biological and Environmental Research (UBC-CHEM588H, 1-credit course)

Instructor: Dr. Tao Huan

Course description: Learn More...

When: September 11th - November 27th, 2026, every Friday 12-1pm

Where: UBC Chemistry Building, Rm: D215 / Zoom (will be provided by the MaST3 Program Coordinator)

Advanced Topics in Biochemistry (UBC-BIOC557, 1.5-credit course)

Instructor: Dr. Leonard Foster

Course description: Learn More...

When: October 13th - November 24th, every Tuesday & Thursday 10 - 11:20 am

Where: UBC Michael Smith Laboratories, Rm 337

Basic Theory and Practice of Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry in
Pharmaceutical Research (UBC-PHAR522, 1.5-credit course)

Instructor: Dr. Thomas Velenosi

Course description: Learn More...

When: Starts on October 2026, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 3 weeks, time - TBD

Where: UBC Pharmaceutical Science Building, Rm: TBD / Zoom (Only for the lectures)

Computational approaches to study protein and nucleic acids. (MS-related lecture modules, UBC-BIOC560B)

Instructor: Dr. Seth Parker

Course description: Learn More...(coming soon)

When: Term 2, January 2027

Where: TBD / Lecture recordings are available from the MaST3 program coordinator upon request

AI in Metabolomics

Instructor: Dr. Tao Huan

When: TBD

Where: TBD

Tutorial on AI and Bioinformatics Tools in MS (SaintQ, AlphaFold & Metabolomics tools)

Instructor: TBD

When: TBD

Where: TBD

2026- 2027 Workshops/activities on professional skills

Workshop on Project Management, Mentorship, and EDI

Instructor: Dr. Lindsay Rogers, Dr. Sandra Spencer, and Shriya Kamat

Workshop description: Learn More...(coming soon)

When: October 2026 16th, 2026, 11am - 2pm (lunch provided)

Where: Michael Smith Laboratories, Rm 101 (UBC Point-Grey campus)

Workshop on Team-Building

Instructor: Prof. Jonathan Evans (UBC Sauder School of Business)

Workshop description: Learn More...

When: October 28th 2026, 9am - 4:30pm (lunch provided)

Where: Michael Smith Laboratories, Rm 101 (UBC Point-Grey campus)

Symposiums and other activities

14th Vancouver Post-ASMS Symposium

A free-to-attend Mass Spec Users' Meeting.

When: Thursday October 22, 2026

Where: Hilton Vancouver Metrotown

2026-2027 Outreach Planning Session I - Introduction to Outreach & Designing Team Activities MaST3 students will be introduced to the concepts and importance of outreach and guided to design MS-related outreach activities to be run at events such as the 2027 Science Rendezvous

Instructor: Dr. David Ng

When: Monday, November 23rd (tentative date), 10 am - 3 pm (lunch provided)

Where: UBC Michael Smith Laboratories, 2185 East Mall, Rm101

2027 BCPM Symposium

When: Late April / Early May, 2027

Where: UBC Point Grey Campus

2027 Science Rendezvous

When: May 2027

Where: UBC

2026 Science Rendezvous MaST3 students ran an activity booth at MSL to introduce MS-related knowledge to the public in 2026 Science Rendezvous -UBC on May 9th, 2026

2026 BCPM Annual Symposium The MaST3 program participated in the 2026 BCPM Annual Symposium held on April 27th-28th, 2026 at the BC Children's Research Institute.

Career Pathways for Life Science PhD Trainees: Opportunities in Clinical Chemistry, Diagnostics, and Academic Medicine Dr. Huan has invited Dr. Fang Wu from Harvard Medical School to give a talk on career pathways for PhD trainees in life science disciplines on May 1st, 2026 at Chemistry Building Rm D215 on UBC Point Gray campus.

Outreach planning for 2026 Science Rendezvous - team project design and planning day. MaST3 program organized an activity planning day for the MaST3 students to design MS-related outreach activities to be ran at the 2026 Science Rendezvous on February 17th, 2026 from 10:00am-2:00pm at Michael Smith Laboratories Rm101.

Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry for High-Throughput Drug Discovery. Hosted by Dr. Huan Tao, Dr.Chang Liu from SCIEX is giving a talk on an AEMS platform for high-throughput drug discovery on January 8th, 2026 from 14:30pm - 15:30pm at CHEM-D215.

Development and Application of Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Separations for Metabolomics. Dr. Ryland Giebelhaus from the University of Victoria offered a seminar on comprehensive two-dimensional chromatography (GC x GC or LC x LC) for the separation of analytes along two unique stationary phases on November 26th, 2025 from 3:30pm - 4:30pm at UBC CHEM-D200 and on Zoom.

MS workshop series: Dr. Huan Tao from the Department of Chemistry at UBC offers a hybrid workshop series "Modern MS for Biological and Environmental Research" every Friday from September- November 2025 at UBC Chemistry Building, room D215 or over Zoom.

Workshop on team-building: Professor Jonathan Evans from UBC Sauder School of Business offered to the MaST3 trainees a full-day, in-person workshop on Essential skills and abilities to excel in team-working environments. The workshop was held on October 16th, 2025, from 8am-4:30pm at UBC Life Science Institute Faculty Lounge.

Dissect Biological Interactions - From Molecular to Cellular Levels: Invited by Dr. Tao Huan, Dr. Liang Zhang from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at City University of Hong Kong gave a hybrid talk on November 7th, 2025 from 2-3pm, at UBC Chemistry Building room D300 and over zoom.

VAMS-PPI workshop: In collaboration with MaST3, VAMS offered a workshop on interactome analysis of MS data. It was held at the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre, room DHCC 1-020 on October 8th, 2025 6pm-8pm.

Mentorship workshop: In collaboration with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UBC, MaST3 offered a workshop on mentorship in research labs on August 27th, 2025 from 11:30am-1pm.

Contact Us

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2185 East Mall,

Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4

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MaST3

About Us

Scientific Advisory Commitee

NEWS

Director

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Associate Directors

Program Advisors

News

Application for 2026-2027 MaST3 Enrollment and Team Projects & Scholarship is Now Opened!

Program

For Graduate Students

More senior students are also welcome to join the program to participate in selected activities, provide mentorship, or help lead some of our workshops. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Activities

Contact