Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Elucidation of Peptide Scrambling in Collision Induced Dissociation: Energetic and Mechanistic Analysis via Guided Ion Beam Mass Spectrometry

埃文·H·佩雷斯被授予NSF数学和物理科学提升博士后研究奖学金(NSF MPS-Ascend)，以开展一项与扩大STEM中代表性不足群体的参与相关的研究和活动。佩雷斯博士的这一奖学金支持在一位赞助科学家的指导下进行的题为“MPS-Ascend：碰撞诱导解离中肽扰乱的阐明：通过引导离子束质谱学的能量和机械分析”的研究项目。该奖学金的主办机构是犹他大学，赞助科学家是Peter B.Armentroute博士。这项建议旨在通过使用引导离子束质谱学来观察能量分辨的碰撞事件并使用电子结构计算来模拟这些能量，从而加深对多肽断裂和重排机制的理解。该提案将使用聚甘氨酸聚合物离子进行竞争阈值分析和电子结构计算，以阐明观察到的裂解事件的关键化学路径。这项拟议的研究将调查从四甘氨酸到六甘氨酸的多肽长度在大环结构形成中的作用，大环结构在分子内断裂事件之前被称为“打乱”。这项工作将实施行波离子迁移率SLIM(无损离子操纵结构)实验，以允许进行特定构象的碎裂分析以及碎片离子的构象分析。建议的研究将使碎裂方法(硬单碰撞和软碰撞加热)的比较和构象与机制的关联成为可能。这项工作的成功实施可能会提高对质谱肽测序的理解，这可能对确定蛋白质序列和推进蛋白质组学领域产生重大影响。PI计划指导来自少数族裔群体的本科生和研究生参与研究项目，包括质谱学技术培训和学习量子化学计算。PI打算与犹他大学STEM行动中心一起参与潜在的招生活动和对来自代表性不足群体的学生的指导。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Evan H. Perez is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and activities related to broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Perez supports the research project entitled “MPS-Ascend: Elucidation of Peptide Scrambling in Collision Induced Dissociation: Energetic and Mechanistic Analysis via Guided Ion Beam Mass Spectrometry” under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Utah, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Peter B. Armentrout.This proposal seeks to deepen the understanding of peptide fragmentation and rearrangement mechanisms by using Guided Ion Beam Mass Spectrometry to observe energy-resolved collision events and model these energies using electronic structure calculations. The proposal will use polyglycine polymer ions to perform competitive threshold analysis and electronic structure calculations to elucidate the key chemical pathways for the observed fragmentation events. The proposed research will investigate the role of the peptide length from tetraglycine up to hexaglycine in the formation of macrocyclic structures which precedes the intramolecular fragmentation events known as “scrambling.” The work will implement traveling wave ion mobility SLIM (Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation) experiments to allow for conformation specific fragmentation analysis as well as conformer analysis of the fragment ions. The proposed studies will enable comparison of fragmentation methods (hard single collision versus soft collisional heating) and correlation of conformation with mechanism. Successful implementation of this work may lead to improved understanding of peptide sequencing by mass spectrometry which could have significant impacts on determining protein sequences and advancing the proteomics field.The PI plans to mentor undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented minority groups in research projects involving training in mass spectrometric techniques and learning quantum chemical calculations. The PI intends to participate with the STEM Action Center of the University of Utah in potential recruiting activities and mentoring of students from underrepresented groups.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.