| Jane Thomas-Oates | |
| Birth Date: | 16 May 1960 |
| Workplaces: | University of York University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology University of Dundee Imperial College London University of Colorado Boulder |
| Alma Mater: | Imperial College London |
| Thesis Title: | Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides |
| Thesis Url: | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/37270 |
| Thesis Year: | 1984 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Anne Dell |
Jane E. Thomas-Oates (born 16 May 1960) is a British chemist who is an emeritus professor at the University of York. Her research has considered the development of mass spectrometry for biological applications including proteomics, metabolomics, and glycomics.
Thomas-Oates' parents were both teachers. Her father was a physical chemist before teaching science and her mother was also a botanist.[1] She has said that she can remember being excited by mass spectrometry during her chemistry lessons. Thomas-Oates studied biochemistry at Imperial College London, where she remained for a doctorate with Anne Dell. Her doctoral research considered atom bombardment mass spectrometry of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides. She then moved to the United States as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. She worked in the University of Colorado Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and the University of Georgia.
In 1986, Thomas-Oates returned to Imperial College London. Her research considered the development of mass spectrometry for biological applications. She was appointed a Beit Memorial Research Fellow at the University of Dundee in 1989, where she spent two years before joining Utrecht University as a lecturer in mass spectrometry.[2] In Dundee, she studied the structures of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors, and in Utrecht she developed the first mass spectrometry technique to determine glycan attachment to glycoproteins. In 1996, Thomas-Oates moved to University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology as a Senior Lecturer. She moved to the University of York as a Research Chair in 2002.
Thomas-Oates was made the British Mass Spectrometry Society lecturer in 2019.[3]