UC San Diego

It would be next to impossible to list the many people who have supported and helped me get to where I am today. My trajectory from birth to graduate school has not been linear. I have always had a natural curiosity about the world around me; starting from my time growing up as an illegal immigrant in the city of Los Angeles, to my time served as rifleman in the United State Marine Corps, and my current position as a scientist. The richness of these experiences has had a profound influence on the way I approach life. Through it all, Patricia, my mother, sacrificed everything and made this possible. Cristina, my younger sister, has been a constant reminder that I have an obligation as an older brother to make her proud. Arpa, my love and joy, has walked this crucible called graduate school next to me, and has been a constant source of love and encouragement. To the three most important people in my life, thank you for everything.

My success as a scientist can be attributed to the various scientist I can call mentors and friends. Professor Jamil Momand, my undergraduate advisor and research mentor, introduced me to the field of biochemistry and encourage me to pursue my Ph.D.. Thank you for your guidance and support. Professor Pieter C. Dorrestein, my Ph.D mentor, provided me with a once in a life time experience graduate education in mass spectrometry and its application in life sciences. I cannot express how thankful I am for your mentorship, guidance, and support. The environment that you have cultivated in the Dorrestein lab provided me with the tools and opportunities to grow and succeed as a researcher. I will always appreciate everything that you have done for me. I would also like to thank my committee members for their role in my graduate education, thank you Professor Rob Knight, Professor Rachel Dutton, Professor Susan S. Golden, and Professor Jose Pruneda-Paz.

Chapter 2, in full, is a reprint of the material as it appears in Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2019. da Silva, R. R; Vargas, F; Ernst, M; Nguyen, N. H; Bolleddu, S; del Rosario, K. K; Tsunoda, S. M; Dorrestein, P. C; Jarmusch, A. K.; Springer US, 2018. The dissertation author was a primary investigator and author of this paper.

Chapter 3, in full, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may appear in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2019, Vargas, F; Weldon, K. C; Sikora, N; Wang, M; Zhang, Z; Gentry, E. C; Panitchpakdi, M. W; Caraballo, M; Dorrestein, P. C; Jarmusch, A. K.; John Wiley & Sons, 2019. The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this paper.

Chapter 4, in full, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may appear in Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2019, Vargas, F; Dethloff, F; Emmanuel, E; Quinn, R; Park, D. I; Herzog, D. P, Müller, M. B; Gentry, E. C; Knight, R; Gonzalez, A; Dorrestein, P. C; Turck, C. W.; Frontiers Media, 2019. The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this paper.

Chapter 5, in full, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may appear in Scientific Reports, 2019, Thompson, R. S; Vargas, F; Dorrestein, P. C; Chichlowski, M; Berg, B. M; Fleshner, M.; Nature Publishing Group, 2019. The dissertation author was a primary investigator and author of this paper.

Chapter 6, in full, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may appear in Sleep, 2019, Bowers, S. J; Vargas, F; Gonzalez, A; He, S; Jiang, P; Dorrestein, P. C; Knight, R; Wright, K. P; Lowry, C. A; Fleshner, M; Vitaerna, M. H; Turek, F. W.; Oxford University Press, 2019. The dissertation author was a primary investigator and author of this paper.