Welcome

Welcome to the Biomedical FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. We are part of the UAB Stem Cell Institute and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Our laboratory has a focus on the High Resolution MS analysis of biological samples in the context of disease and biomedical research.

Our Research

	Protein glycosylation is one of the most common forms of post-translational modifications. Beyond the identification of sites of modifications, our lab investigates means of rapidly defining the heterogeneity of glycans at specific sites so that comparisons across many samples can be queried in a biological context.
	IgA Nephropathy is the most common primary glomerular nephritis worldwide. It is the goal of the UAB Biomedical FT-ICR MS Laboratory to characterize the clustered sites of O-glycans and understand how these sites change under varying biological conditions or disease states towards the goal of identifying marker for the disease and targets for therapeutic intervention.
	Our laboratory uses hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX MS) in order to analyze changes in protein dynamics upon protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions.

Our Support

The Biomedical FT-ICR MS Laboratory began when Dr. Stephen Barnes (Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology) and Dr. Peter Prevelige (Professor, Department of Microbiology) wrote the original NIH NCRR shared instrumentation grant that provided funds for the two high resolution mass spectrometers in the lab (7 Tesla LTQ FT’s). In addition to the shared instrumentation grant, the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as the Dean’s office provided initial support for the creation of the lab. Dr. Matthew Renfrow (Director) was recruited into the department of Biochemistry and Molecular genetics from the laboratory of Dr. Alan Marshall (co-inventor of FT-ICR MS) with help from supporters of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since August of 2007, we have been self sufficient for annual operating costs through NIH funded research which is supported by the Biomedical FT-ICR MS Lab and through the UAB Stem Cell Institute

We are very appreciative of the continued support we have received from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the UAB School of Medicine for the support of research in the laboratory.