RF Plasma Polymer Modified MALDI Targets: Advanced Platforms for Biomarker Screening / Comparative Proteomics Applications

Gary Kinsel教授在卡本代尔南伊利诺伊大学的分析和表面化学项目的支持下，开发了一种用于生物基质辅助激光解吸/电离（MALDI）质谱（MS）的新型样品靶标。该研究探索了使用脉冲射频（rf）等离子体在MALDI样品目标表面沉积聚合物薄膜的方法。表面修饰的目的是利用聚合物薄膜的化学性质，在MALDI质谱分析之前快速分离肽和/或蛋白质，从而获得更多关于复杂生物混合物成分的质谱信息。这些新的样品靶点有望在疾病诊断、细菌指纹识别、生物标志物筛选和生物医学研究中有重要应用。该研究吸引博士后、研究生和本科生参与跨学科的合作研究。合作涉及在蓝藻蛋白质组学中应用修饰的MALDI靶标；新的表面聚合物接枝方法，以增加MALDI样品靶点的肽和/或蛋白质结合能力；以及这些多功能MALDI靶点在乳腺癌研究中的应用。

Professor Gary Kinsel at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program to develop a novel type of sample target for use in biological matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS). The research explores the use of a pulsed radio frequency (rf) plasma to deposit polymer thin films on the surface of MALDI sample targets. Surface modification aims to enable acquisition of more mass spectral information about components of complex biological mixtures by utilizing the chemical properties of the polymer films to rapidly fractionate the peptides and/or proteins prior to MALDI MS analysis. These novel sample targets are expected to have important applications in disease diagnosis, bacterial fingerprinting, biomarker screening and biomedical research.The research engages post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students in collaborative, interdisciplinary research. Collaborations involve application of the modified MALDI targets in cyanobacteria proteomics; novel surface-polymer grafting approaches to increase the peptide and/or protein binding capacity of the MALDI sample targets; and application of these multifunctional MALDI targets in breast cancer research.