Laura Herring

Laura Herring is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She serves as Director of the UNC Metabolomics and Proteomics (MAP) Core, a comprehensive facility offering mass-spectrometry based metabolomics and proteomics analyses to both UNC researchers and external customers worldwide.

Dr. Herring is a North Carolina native who earned her BS in Biochemistry and BA in Chemistry from North Carolina State University. After three years in industry, she returned to North Carolina State University where she received her PhD in Biochemistry in 2015. Her doctoral research focused on mass spectrometry-based proteomics method optimization and application to study signal transduction pathways dysregulated in cancer under Drs. Michael Goshe and Jason Haugh.

Her research interests center around biomarker discovery, phosphoproteomics, and chemoproteomics. Under her leadership, the MAP Core offers comprehensive services including global proteome profiling, phosphoproteomics, affinity purification-MS analysis, post-translational modification profiling, and metabolite analysis using seven state-of-the-art mass spectrometry systems and multiple liquid chromatography platforms.

As Director of the MAP Core, Dr. Herring oversees all administrative aspects of the facility, facilitates and designs projects with collaborators, and leads proteomics/metabolomics initiatives. She assists in grant and manuscript writing, organizes the campus-wide Mass Spectrometry Seminar Series, and teaches PHCO750: Methods in Proteomics. The core serves as an essential resource for researchers from experimental design through publication, with a strong focus on education in these analytical techniques.