List of Publications

Mertz, K. L., Jordahl, Hemme, C. A., Probasco, M. D., Forbes, D. S., Ducos, P. L., Salome, A. Z., Westphall, M. S., Quarmby, S. T., Grant, T., & Coon, J. J. (2025). Laser-Induced Rehydration of Cryo-Landed Proteins Restores Native Structure. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 100987. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MCPRO.2025.100987
Mertz, K. M.; Serrano, L. S.; Coon, J. J.; Sinitcyn, P. (2025). Dynamic Quadrupole Selection to Associate Precursor Masses with MS/MS Fragments in Data-Independent Acquisition. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, In Review
Peters-Clarke, T. M., Liang, Y., Mertz, K. L., Lee, K. W., Westphall, M. S., Hinkle, J. D., McAlister, G. C., Syka, J. E. P., Kelly, R. T., Coon, J. J. (2024). Boosting the Sensitivity of Quantitative Single-Cell Proteomics with Infrared-Tandem Mass Tags. Journal of Proteome Research. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00076
Westphall, M. S., Lee, K. W., Hemme, C., Salome, A. Z., Mertz, K., Grant, T.; Coon, J. J. (2023). Cryogenic Soft Landing Improves Structural Preservation of Protein Complexes. Analytical Chemistry, 95 (40), 15094–15101. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03228
Lee, K. W., Peters-Clarke, T. M., Mertz, K. L., McAlister, G. C., Syka, J. E. P., Westphall, M. S., & Coon, J. J. (2022). Infrared Photoactivation Boosts Reporter Ion Yield in Isobaric Tagging. Analytical Chemistry, 94(7), 3328–3334. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c05398
Takeshita, Y., Mertz, K. L., Norgaard, A., Gray, S., Verburg, M. H., & Bockmon, E. E. (2022). Accurate spectrophotometric pH measurements made directly in the sample bottle using an aggregated dye perturbation approach. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 20(5), 281–287. https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10486
Mucciarone, D. A., DeJong, H. B., Dunbar, R. B., Takeshita, Y., Albright, R., & Mertz, K. (2021). Autonomous submersible multiport water sampler. HardwareX, 9, e00197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2021.e00197
Takeshita, Y., Jones, B. D., Johnson, K. S., Chavez, F. P., Rudnick, D. L., Blum, M., Conner, K., Jensen, S., Long, J. S., Maughan, T., Mertz, K. L., Sherman, J. T., & Warren, J. K. (2021). Accurate pH and O2 Measurements from Spray Underwater Gliders, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 38(2), 181-195. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0095.1
Bresnahan, P.J., Takeshita, Y., Wirth, T., Martz, T.R., Cyronak, T., Albright, R., Wolfe, K., Warren, J.K. and Mertz, K. (2021), Autonomous in situ calibration of ion-sensitive field effect transistor pH sensors. Limnol Oceanogr Methods, 19: 132-144. https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10410

US20230096779A1

Toilet, testing, and monitoring systems

Systems for monitoring metabolites may include a sample collection system and a urinalysis system of or for a toilet. The sample collection system may be automated to collect sample urine from a toilet or toilet area, transport the sample to the urinalysis system, and/or the sample urine for analysis at a later time or after analysis by the urinalysis system. The urinalysis system may be automated by proactively providing test material on which a subject may provide a urine sample. Once the urine sample has been provided the urinalysis system may provide the test material to an analyzer for analysis. Results of the analysis of the test material and sample urine may be provided to a mobile device of the subject and/or a remote server. The urinalysis system may provide a urine sample to a mass spectrometry unit for analysis.

WO/2025/019812

Cryogenic Soft Landing Improves Structural Presercation of Protein Complexes

Mass spectrometry technologies have been used in combination with cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) to obtain complete structural characterization. Fully integrating mass spectrometry with cryoEM would greatly improve sample preparation and accelerate the structural analysis. To that end, the present invention examines the use of soft-landing mass spectrometry to produce improved samples for cryoEM under vacuum or low pressures, including partially reheating samples to rehydrate landed particles to improve resolution of the cryoEM images.

Sam the SEM

I have purchased and repaired two JEOL 6400 electron microscope that were manufactured in the late 80s. This project included integrating a live stream and control of the microscope into this website.

Macroscopic Ion Trap

I have designed a linear ion trap that works at atmospheric pressure with high mass particles. The device uses a laser stroboscope to allow ion trajectories to be seen by eye and by a dedicated digital microscope. There is a project page about this ion trap.

Switch (Smart Home Tech)

Start-up idea to integrate IoT microcontrollers behind light switch face-plates. This allows full use of existing infrastructure and design while upgrading functionality. Awarded second place while being a late entry in the Carleton College Start-up Competition.

Faribault Middle School Science Club

Program Director of an after school science club, Faribault, MN. Prepare and provide lessons and labs for Faribault Middle School's after-school programs

Circuits and Schematics Society

Founder and President of the Circuits and Schematics Club, Northfield, MN. The club aimed to make a 3D persistence of vision display from scratch.

Organic Chemistry I/II Supplemental Instructor

Supplemental instructor for the Organic Chemistry of Dr. Joseph Chihade and Dr. David Alberg. I scheduled and ran supplemental sessions with original practice worksheets, assisted professors in answering questions during in-class group worksheets, and worked with professors and the students to identify difficult concepts and worked to clarify them.

Carleton Summer Science Institute (CSSI) Program

CSSI is an extension of Summer Academic Programs allowing high school students the opportunity to explore university level research and concepts. Worked closely as a research assistant with Professor Steven Drew to develop demos and labs for high school participants on photovoltaics. I taught simplified lessons on quantum dots and proper lab techniques to the CSSI participants. I helped each CSSI lab group produce a poster to explain their results.

Course Work

In the Chemistry Department, I have completed the advanced ACS certified chemistry major. I have also taken a significant portion of the computer science curriculum including Data Structures, Software Design, Computer Organization and Architecture, and Networking.

Graduate Researcher

PhD student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin - Madison under the advisement of Professor Joshua Coon. My research focused on advancing mass spectrometry instrumentation and methods for proteomic applications, working at the interface of instrument development and biological analysis. I contributed to projects that involved writing instrument control code and implementing hardware modifications to enable more advanced studies of proteomics.

Consultant for Steam Instruments, Inc.

Worked under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Kelly, President and CEO. Modeled XHV vacuum chamber designs in CERN's MolFlow+. Conducted a literature review of XHV technology to inform vacuum chamber design criteria

Thermo Fisher Scientific Lead Intern Scientist

Worked in the Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry Division of the Analytical Instruments Group. Performed software and hardware modifications to create an linear ion trap MS internal ionization source. Created embedded unit tests to assess the temporal efficiency of a new product line.

MBARI Chemical Sensor Research Technician

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is an oceanographic institute that is privately funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Dr. Ken Johnson's chemical sensors lab designs autonomous sensors for the biogeochemical oceanographic community. These sensors by-pass the spatial and temporal resolution limitation that come with traditional ship-board discrete sampling. My research in Dr. Johnson's lab focuses on taking the lab-in-a-box optical ammonium sensor previously developed by the lab and modifying it to measure dissolved inorganic carbon by a conductometric method. The sensor acidifies a sample of seawater. This drives the dissolved inorganic carbon equilibrium in favor of carbon dioxide evolution. The gas diffuses across a hydrophobic membrane into a basic solution where the equilibrium favors carbonate(aq). The conductivity of the basic solution changes due to the introduction and reaction of carbon dioxide. The project involves the full development of the sensor from the electronics and coding of the microcontrollers to the data processing and interpretation of the results. A paper is soon to come on the autonomous in-situ sensor which will be linked here.

Carleton College Photovoltaics

For two summers and five terms, I worked with a research peer, Alex Battiste, in Dr. Steven Drew's research lab at Carlton College. The lab aimed to create an undergraduate accessible approach to photovoltaics from chemical methods to analytical characterization instrumentation. We synthesized metal oxide semiconductors, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC), quantum dots for application in quantum dot solar cells (QDSC), and perovskite solar cells. We made a programmable profile spin coater for thin film deposition, 2D photocurrent scanning station with an optical chopper and lock-in amplifier, and a series of simple tripodal devices to achieve trinary combinatorial gradients of three colloidal solutions. We presented our work to colleagues at University of Wyoming and several symposiums including presenting two posters at the ACS Spring 2018 National Meeting in Louisiana.

Carleton College Quantum Tunneling Review

A primary literature review on the topic of heavy-atom tunneling was conducted over two terms at Carleton College with peers -- Carl Thomas, Ellie Frank, and Sarina Chaiken. The review started by researching the large body of computational and experimental work on recent heavy atom tunneling. The focus then transitioned to the tunneling research of Dr. Robert McMahon from the University of Wisconsin. Our general research informed a critical review Dr. McMahon's works. The review culminated with two days of discussions with Dr. McMahon as we presented our review. Dr. McMahon provided our group further insight into the field of heavy-atom tunneling in our discussions. In the end, the review covered experimental methods used to monitor and probe tunneling reactions such as cryogenic matrix isolation and kinetic isotope effects on tunneling. The conclusion we arrived upon from the review process is well represented by a quote from Peter Schreiner, "It is highly likely that tunneling control is a common phenomenon and that we will learn to appreciate it as the third paradigm next to kinetic and thermodynamic control."

UCSD Biochemistry Lab Intern

Dr. Kamil Godula's lab does research on cell tissue engineering, particularly the cellular glycocalyx, to analyze, modulate, and rewrite its existence. As a summer intern, I worked with then graduate student, Dr. Chris Fischer, on the host-pathogen interaction that occur on glycogen binding sites in the glycocalyx. I worked on inserting a synthetic fluorescently labeled glycogen into the glycocalyx of Chinese hamster ovary cells. The internship culminated in a research symposium where I presented a poster on my work.

Keaton Mertz

Furthering instrumentation in mass spectrometry with Prof. Joshua Coon (Coon Lab)

Allotropic Project Site

Http, Https, Git, and SQL Server hosted by me.