Current Area of Interest

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with NIBRT in the field of carbohydrate mass spectrometry, namely N- and O-linked glycans. Our current approach utilizes both negative mode MS/MS analysis pioneered by our research colleague Dr. David Harvey from Oxford University as well as sequential MS, or MSn, analysis following permethylation. This twofold approach enables the comprehensive analysis of glycans, whereby detection of structural isomers, resolving linkages between residues and determining the level of branching in a given composition is achievable. We currently employ a Waters-Micromass Q-Tof Ultima Global mass spectrometer for negative mode MS/MS analysis and an Agilent 6340 Ion Trap instrument for MSn of permethylated structures.

My Ph.D. research utilized MSn techniques to investigate aspects of a group of inherited diseases termed congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) modeled in C. elegans. My current research interests with NIBRT involve structural analysis and site-occupancy of N-glycans on Fcγ receptors. I am also investigating the role of glycans in breast cancer metastatic-potential modeled in three isogenic cell lines. Additionally, I am involved in LC-MS/MS method development to improve MSn based techniques by optimizing signal intensity through LC separation, fractionation and direct injection of individual glycan compositions. My responsibilities include MS glycan analysis of N- and O-glycans for projects within NIBRT as well as analysis of samples from our research collaborators and clients. Previous work at NIBRT has included glycan analysis from infectious disease samples, cancer biomarker discovery, cancer biology, immunotherapy and rheumatoid arthritis.

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