Ben Bowen

Specializing in mass spectrometry-centered projects, Dr. Bowen’s work focuses on developing high-performance computing workflows and integrating mathematics and chemistry for advanced analysis, modeling, and data integration. Dr. Bowen’s expertise in spectral alignment, molecular networking, chemoinformatics, and bioinformatics facilitates impactful scientific discoveries, supporting the DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research user community in their bioenergy and environmental objectives.

Education

• 1994-1998 BS – University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Chemical Engineering
• 1998-2003 Ph. D. – Arizona State University, Tempe, Chemical Engineering
• 2003-2008 Post-doctoral positions – Arizona State University, Bioengineering & Metabolic Biology

Awards and Honors

• 1997: NSF Interdisciplinary research experience for undergraduates fellowship
• 1998-2003: NSF Graduate research training fellowship in biomolecular and optical devices
• 2005-2009: NIH K25 Mentored Career Development awardee
• 2012 UC Berkeley, Leadership and Development Program Awardee
• 2014 Berkeley Lab Director’s Award for Exceptional Achievement
• 2016 R&D 100 Winner
• 2024 Berkeley Lab Recognition of Excellence Award

Selected Publications

A complete publications list is available at Google Scholar.

1. Bowen, B., & Northen, T. (2010). Dealing with the unknown: metabolomics and metabolite atlases. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 21, 1471–1476.
2. Hwang, H., Bowen, B., Lefort, N., Flynn, C., De Filippis, E., Roberts, C., Smoke, C., Meyer, C., Højlund, K., Yi, Z., & others (2010). Proteomics analysis of human skeletal muscle reveals novel abnormalities in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 59(1), 33–42.
3. Storm, P., Aits, S., Puthia, M., Urbano, A., Northen, T., Powers, S., Bowen, B., Chao, Y., Reindl, W., Lee, D., & others (2011). Conserved features of cancer cells define their sensitivity to HAMLET-induced death; c-Myc and glycolysis. Oncogene, 30(48), 4765–4779.
4. Rübel, O., Greiner, A., Cholia, S., Louie, K., Bethel, E., Northen, T., & Bowen, B. (2013). OpenMSI: a high-performance web-based platform for mass spectrometry imaging. Analytical chemistry, 85(21), 10354–10361.
5. Louie, K., Bowen, B., McAlhany, S., Huang, Y., Price, J., Mao, J.h., Hellerstein, M., & Northen, T. (2013). Mass spectrometry imaging for in situ kinetic histochemistry. Scientific reports, 3(1), 1656.
6. Wang, Y., Kora, G., Bowen, B., & Pan, C. (2014). MIDAS: a database-searching algorithm for metabolite identification in metabolomics. Analytical chemistry, 86(19), 9496–9503.
7. Yang, J., Rubel, O., Prabhat, Mahoney, M., & Bowen, B. (2015). Identifying important ions and positions in mass spectrometry imaging data using CUR matrix decompositions. Analytical chemistry, 87(9), 4658–4666.
8. Yao, Y., Sun, T., Wang, T., Ruebel, O., Northen, T., & Bowen, B. (2015). Analysis of metabolomics datasets with high-performance computing and metabolite atlases. Metabolites, 5(3), 431–442.
9. Baran, R., Brodie, E., Mayberry-Lewis, J., Hummel, E., Da Rocha, U., Chakraborty, R., Bowen, B., Karaoz, U., Cadillo-Quiroz, H., Garcia-Pichel, F., & others (2015). Exometabolite niche partitioning among sympatric soil bacteria. Nature communications, 6(1), 8289.
10. Raad, M., Rond, T., Rübel, O., Keasling, J., Northen, T., & Bowen, B. (2017). OpenMSI Arrayed Analysis Toolkit: analyzing spatially defined samples using mass spectrometry imaging. Analytical chemistry, 89(11), 5818–5823.