LEAPS-MPS: Innovative Approaches to the Structural Characterization of Biomolecular Ions by Mass Spectrometry and Infrared Action Spectroscopy

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In this project, funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and housed in the Chemistry Division, Professor Daniel Thomas and his students at the University of Rhode Island (URI) will study the folding properties of peptides and ribonucleic acid (RNA) chains by cooling them in helium nanodroplets (temperature of -272.7 degrees Celsius) and elucidating their structure by monitoring the absorption of infrared light. To support the full participation of underrepresented groups, Prof. Thomas and his students will also provide mentorship and research opportunities to local high school students through the ACS Project SEED program and implement department-wide initiatives to assess academic climate and identify factors associated with student success. In collaboration with the Rhode Island Museum of Science and Art (RIMOSA), they will provide scientific outreach programs at local middle schools.The research group directed by Professor Thomas will use the combination of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI–MS) and helium nanodroplet isolation infrared (HENDI IR) action spectroscopy to unravel the complex free energy landscape of isolated biomolecular ions. The rapid cooling of molecules captured in helium nanodroplets enables kinetic trapping of conformer populations, allowing for quantitative analysis of the conformer free energy landscape beyond the global minimum structure. The foundational experiments in this project will identify the advantages and limitations of this approach and ultimately facilitate the study of dynamic systems featuring “flat” free energy landscapes that pose challenges for traditional methods, for example intrinsically disordered regions of peptides and proteins.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.