The main focus of our group is in a development of the new experimental approaches and applications that will bring our original method of photofragmentation UV spectroscopy- highly resolution mass spectroscopy of cryogenically cooled ions to the needs of life science.
2D UV-MS photo fragmentation fingerprinting has demonstrates its high selectivity in identifications of a broad range of molecules. This invention allows qualitative and quantitative identification of isomers and conformers of aromatic peptides, drug molecules, saccharides, etc., using a library-based and a “blind” decomposition approaches. The foreseen applications of the method include, for instance, the doping and drug-related isomeric molecules, identification of point mutations in amyloid-forming and cancer proteins.
The second line of our research addresses a fundamental question of the relation between the gas-phase and the native (solution phase) structure of biomolecules. A bridge between the two phases is to study biomolecules solvated by a few solvent molecules (e.g., water) in the gas phase. We are developing an original method that may preserve the native structure of a molecule in such water clusters, but enables high resolution and selectivity of the gas-phase methods of spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to reveal this structure.
SELECTED REFERENCES:
8. Boyarkin, O. V. Cold ion spectroscopy for structural identifications of biomolecules. Int. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2018, 37, 559-606; doi: 10.1080/0144235X.2018.1547453