New article published in Nature Methods
This month, our paper ‘Top-down mass spectrometry of native proteoforms and their complexes: a community study’ was published in the prestigious journal Nature Methods. In this project, which was initiated by the CSMS laboratory, we brought together nine labs from around the world to develop best practices as well as tips and tricks for top-down mass spectrometry of native proteins and noncovalent complexes. This powerful method makes it possible to characterise unknown protein complexes on a proteoform-specific level in a single experiment. A key outcome of the study was the comparison between results generated with different instrument types, and the overall high degree of reproducibility of the results between labs. We hope that this study will enable newcomers all over the world to get started in this exciting field!
Wolfgang Paul Study Award 2024 of the DGMS for Sarah Brandner
Sarah Brandner received the Wolfgang Paul Study Award for her master's thesis on “Influence of metals on the conformation, fragmentation and redox chemistry of peptides and proteins in native mass spectrometry” at the annual conference of the German Society for Mass Spectrometry (DGMS) in Freising near Munich. This prize is awarded once a year for outstanding master's theses in the field of mass spectrometry and is donated by Bruker Daltonics GmbH & Co. KG. In her Master's thesis, she used native mass spectrometry to investigate electron-based dissociation mechanisms and was able to convince the jury. Congratulations, Sarah!
CSMS at ADPD 2024 in Lisbon
The International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases and Related Neurological Disorders ADPD took place in Lisbon at the beginning of March 2024. Two members of the lab contributed posters to the conference and were able to see a lecture by Nobel Prize winner Koichi Tanaka.
Professor Frederik Lermyte recognised as Emerging Investigator by leading international journal
In September 2023, the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, one of the world’s most important scientific journals in the field of analytical chemistry, published a list of 12 young scientists they consider to be ‘emerging investigators’. Among these ‘rising stars’ recognised by the editors of the journal is Prof. Dr. Frederik Lermyte, the head of the CSMS laboratory. Notably, among the scientists included in this list, he is the only one working outside of North America.
CSMS lab at IMSC 2022
Members of the Conformation-Sensitive Mass Spectrometry lab attended the International Mass Spectrometry Conference in Maastricht in August 2022, where we presented three posters and three oral contributions. In addition to lots of good science at the conference, we also enjoyed some good food and beer at our group dinner.
New group member
Dr. Edvaldo Maciel joined the lab as a postdoctoral researcher in April 2022. Welcome Edvaldo!
New publication in Science Advances
On June 9th 2021, the paper Biogenic metallic elements in the human brain? was published in Science Advances. It was found that, in addition to the normal water-soluble forms of these metals, the amyloid deposits in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s disease contain nanoparticles made of metallic copper and iron, which do not have any known role in human biology. It is likely that the chemical reactions that result in the formation of these metals create reactive oxygen species that are toxic to brain cells. This potentially provides an important clue about the mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease, and future therapies could be developed to intervene in this process.
Book publication
On December 15th 2020, the book 'Advanced Fragmentation Methods in Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry: Probing Primary and Higher Order Structure with Electrons, Photons and Surfaces', edited by Frederik Lermyte, was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The book is a high-level introduction, as well as a reference work for experienced users, to ECD, ETD, EDD, NETD, UVPD, SID, and other advanced fragmentation methods. With contributions from leading experts, the work is aimed at postgraduate and professional researchers, mainly in academia, but also in industry.
New publication in Chemical Science
On October 20th 2020, our paper “Higher-order structural characterisation of native proteins and complexes by top-down mass spectrometry” was published in Chemical Science. This paper was written collaboratively by researchers from four different laboratories, and reviews state-of-the-art methods for using mass spectrometry to study the higher-order structure of proteins and complexes. The project was led by Prof. Frederik Lermyte
Paper highlighted by American Chemical Society
On September 18th 2020, our paper “Top or Middle? Up or Down? Toward a Standard Lexicon for Protein Top-Down and Allied Mass Spectrometry Approaches” was highlighted by editors of the American Chemical Society as one of the most influential papers published in the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in recent years. The work has been cited nearly 30 times between May 2019 and September 2020.
Founding of the Conformation-Sensitive Mass Spectrometry laboratory
On July 1st, 2020, the Conformation-Sensitive MS laboratory was officially inaugurated as part of the Biochemistry area of expertise within the Chemistry Department at TU Darmstadt.
