Grant: Catalyst Grant: Invention and High-Risk, High-Benefit Research

Proteins perform a multitude of functions within the body, many of which have a profound impact on the health of individuals. For this reason, the characterization of proteins is a central activity in biological and biomedical research. The comprehensive analysis of proteins requires sophisticated instrumentation, and mass spectrometers are currently the preferred tools for these analyses. Up until the last couple of years, the mass spectrometers utilized in protein analyses had only limited ability to determine certain important characteristics of the proteins, known as post-translational modifications (PTMs), but new technology has arisen which is now capable of providing the desired information. Unfortunately, instruments equipped with the new technology are expensive and thus not readily available to many researchers. The proposed research project has as its primary goal the development of a new cost-effective tool for determining PTMs of proteins, so that biological and biomedical researchers can obtain the information they require at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions.