The Role of LC-MS in Glycoscience Research

The analytical toolbox for the analysis of carbohydrates as well as carbohydrate-based materials is not a full as those for materials such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. Considering the fact that carbohydrates are the most abundant materials on the planet, the inability to rapidly isolate, characterize and/or synthesize glycomaterials hinders our understanding of basic biochemical processes.

Hyphenated techniques that couple a separation process to mass spectrometry are central to resolving key issues that impact all facets of life. Several examples of on-going LCMS-based research projects ranging from the determination of sialic acid levels to glycopeptide analysis will be presented, highlighting the importance of improving our understanding of the role of carbohydrates in core processes.

Our panel will host a Q&A session after the presentation to address any questions or comments.

Presenter: (Richard F. Helm, Ph.D, Associate Professor Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech)

Rich Helm received his BS degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1982. His graduate work was performed at the University of Wisconsin and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory,and hereceived his PhD in 1987. After a postdoctoral position in natural products at Oregon State University, he returned to Madison in 1989 as a Research Associateatthe USDA-ARS Dairy Forage Research Center,where he helped developtools for plant cell wall analyses. He was recruited to Virginia Tech in 1992 where he began to establish his own laboratory in wood chemistry. His researcheffortsshiftedover timetowards analytical biochemistry as applied to various biological systems, andworked toestablish the infrastructure for conducting bothmass spectrometry-basedmetabolomics and proteomicswork atVirginia Tech. He presently oversees core servicesfortheFralinLife Sciences Instituteat Virginia Tech. He is also Director of the Materials Facility foranNSF-funded Materials Innovation Platform that focuses onglycomaterials(GlycoMIP). He is a member of ABRF, ACS,and ASBMB.

Presenter: Chris Gilles (LCMS Product Manager, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments)

Christopher Gilles is the LCMS Product Manager for Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, the US Subsidiary of Shimadzu Corporation. He has spent the past 23 years with Shimadzu providing technical customer and sales support specializing in LC, LCMS quadrupole, and LCMS TOF technology.