With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Carolyn Cassady and Professor David Dixon and their groups will study the gas-phase reactive and dissociative chemistry of deprotonated amino acids, their amides, and peptides by mass spectrometry and computational techniques. The primary focus will be on acidic residues that readily deprotonate, such as phosphorylated serine, tyrosine, and threonine, as well as aspartic acid and glutamic acid. An overall goal is to increase the knowledge of deprotonated peptide fragmentation mechanisms, ion structures, and acid/base properties so that proteomics researchers seeking to sequence peptides by negative ion mass spectrometry will have a strong foundation of fundamental information upon which to base their work. This research will further the development of new methods of analysis of peptides using negative ion mode tandem mass spectrometry, with particular emphasis being placed on electron-based dissociation techniques for sequencing acidic peptides.
This project exposes a diverse group of both graduate and undergraduate students to important interdisciplinary research areas, providing them with tools that will prepare them to contribute to a wide range of proteomic and chemical biology challenges. Both groups are also been actively engaged in outreach activities, such as the University of Alabama Computer Based Honors Program and the Alabama Advanced Instrumental Techniques Colloquium, which expose large numbers of students to the powerful computational and analytical tools utilized in their laboratories.
