Personal Information

Hobbies: Dancing, Cycling, Steelers Football

Favorite Place in Chapel Hill: Allen & Son BBQ

Undergraduate Institution

Differential Proteomics Using Multidimensional Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry

Differential proteomics is the study of the differences in protein expression between two biological samples. Such studies may involve the analysis of healthy and diseased cells to determine biomarkers for earlier disease diagnosis or to identify potential therapeutic targets. With heterogeneity of biomarkers from patient to patient, it may be required to look at a panel of biomarker proteins instead of a single protein to have a specific and sensitive diagnostic test. This could be achieved with analysis of the entire proteome. With an analytical test that is sensitive and has a low limit of detection, biomarkers for a disease might be detected in otherwise asymptotic patients. This would enable earlier disease diagnosis and ultimately better treatment of the disease. Differential proteomics can be applied to later stages of pharmaceutical development by testing normal versus treated diseased cells to monitor the effectiveness of the therapy and to detect possible adverse effects. Learning the effectiveness and adverse effects of a therapy early on could reduce the cost and risks involved in clinical studies and the end cost of the pharmaceutical.

Proteomic research requires the use of many techniques and skills.  This project focuses on the development of multidimensional separations for protein and peptide mixtures.  The separations typically utilize ion exchange and reverse phase chromatography at high and ultrahigh pressures.  The separation is then coupled via electrospray ionization to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Proteomic experiments produce large amounts of data.  Some tools we use for data processing include Mass Lynx for m/z deconvolution and Protein Lynx Global Server for protein identification as well as internally developed programs for quantification.