Facility Details

The COBRE Mass Spectrometry Core is housed within the MUSC Mass Spectrometry Facility which provides expertise, services, education, and training to enhance biomedical research endeavors through mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Currently there are over 50 investigators which utilize the facility for protein identification and characterization. Protein analysis includes in-gel or in-solution protease digestion, chromatographic separation and tandem mass spectrometric analysis of the resulting peptides, and interpretation of MS/MS data using Sequest , Mascot, Protein Pilot, MaxQuant, and other search algorithms. The facility also assists in the development of customized applications for the isolation, detection and characterization of posttranslationally modified peptides (e.g. phosphorylation, glycosylation, oxidation, glutathionylation, and O-GlcNAc modification). With the recent acquisition of the Orbitrap Elite Mass Spectrometer we are expanding our services to couple quantitative approaches (SILAC, iTRAQ®, ICAT®, TMT®) to modification-specific experiments (eg., phosphoproteomics, redox proteomics). We are developing methodology to analyze alterations in posttranslational regulation that impact signal transduction, epigenetic modulation, and the response to therapeutics with the goal of enabling investigators to discover molecular mechanisms underlying disease progression and therapeutic responses that may not be revealed through genomic studies.