News & Events
For news prior to 2012, see the Archived News and Events page
Scientific Highlights
2014
- Comprehensive Proteomic Dataset of Ovarian Tumor Samples Released - One of the largest publicly available datasets for cancer researchers
- Resin-assisted Method Is a Pitch-perfect Improvement in Studying Influential Cysteine Thiols - Faster, more sensitive, more effective alternative for probing reversible modifications.
2013
- Eliminating a "Superbug" - a novel approach to treat and eliminate methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (2013).
- Salmonella Infection Is a Battle Between Good and Bad Bacteria in the Gut (2013).
- Unlocking the Parkinson's Puzzle (2013).
- Chemical Probe Finds Fungal Organism Function, Activity-based protein profiling suggests how fungus becomes pathogenic (2013).
- The Biology of Plague, Systems approach used to investigate strains of Yersinia (2013).
- Resource researchers, led by Charles Ansong, have made progress on measuring the comprehensive “intact” proteome of the pathogenic, Gram negative bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. The observation of 563 unique proteins this work represents the largest microbial top-down proteomics dataset reported to date. Additionally, they were able to tease out the differential utilization of protein S-thiolation in top-down measurements that were confirmed with bottom-up proteomics data revealing a unique biological discovery. See the June 2013 publication in PNAS: Top-down proteomics reveals a unique protein S-thiolation switch in Salmonella Typhimurium in response to infection-like conditions.
2012
- Combining two well-established analytic techniques and adding a twist identifies proteins from blood with as much accuracy and sensitivity as the antibody-based tests used clinically, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers report this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition online. The technique should be able to speed up development of diagnostic tests and treatments based on proteins specific to certain diseases. Reference: Tujin Shi, Thomas L. Fillmore, Xuefei Sun, Rui Zhao, Athena A. Schepmoes, Mahmud Hossain, Fang Xie, Si Wu, Jong-Seo Kim, Nathan Jones, Ronald J. Moora, Ljiljana Paša-Tolic, Jacob Kagan, Karin D. Rodland, Tao Liu, Keqi Tang, David G. Camp II, Richard D. Smith, and Wei-Jun Qian, An antibody-free, targeted mass spectrometry approach for quantification of proteins at low pg/mL levels in human plasma/serum, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, Early Edition online the week of September 3, 2012. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204366109 (http:// www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1204366109)
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- A team of BTRR scientists along with their collaborators have at least doubled the number of proteins found to be subject to a type of regulation based on a carbohydrate known as O-GlcNAc. The O-GlcNAc system likely adds another layer of control to the proteins that serve as a brain cell's regulatory system — control that might be confounded in Alzheimer's patients brains that are known to have problems in carbohydrate metabolism. Reference: Joshua F. Alfaro, Cheng-Xin Gong, Matthew E. Monroe, Joshua T. Aldrich, Therese R.W. Clauss, Samuel O. Purvine, Zihao Wang, David G. Camp II, Jeffrey Shabanowitz, Pamela Stanley, Gerald W. Hart, Donald F. Hunt, Feng Yang, and Richard D. Smith, 2012. Tandem Mass Spectrometry identifies many mouse brain O-GlcNAcylated proteins including targets of an EGF domain-specific OGT, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Early Edition online the week of April 16, DOI 10.1073/pnas.1200425109.
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Events
July, 2013
The Mass Spectrometry Special Interest Group (MS-SIG) held a symposium in Berlin, Germany featuring prominent
researchers in the field of proteomics, including Jurgen Cox, Oliver Kohlbacher, Olga Vitek, and others.
This one day symposium, which occurred just prior to the ISMB/ECCB 2013 conference, had two sessions:
- Protein identification/modification/quantification
- Data integration & Proteomics applications in biology and medicine
Awards & Honors
2015
- Dr. Richard D. Smith was featured in Special Journal Issue - Dick was the focus for this issue, as well as an accompanying editorial, for his contributions to "Advancing High Performance Mass Spectrometry." View Article
- Dr. Richard D. Smith was invited to serve on the Board of Scientific Counselors, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR). View Article
- Dr. Karin D. Rodland was invited to serve as chairman of the National Institutes of Health's Cancer Biomarkers Study Section. View Article
- R&D 100 Award granted for The Combined Orthogonal Mobility & Mass Evaluation Technology (CoMet) developed by Dr. Richard D. Smith, Gordon Anderson, Erin Baker, Kevin Crowell, William Danielson III, Yehia Ibrahim, Brian LaMarche, Matthew Monroe, Ronald Moore, Randolph Norheim, Daniel Orton, Alexandre Shvartsburg, Gordon Slysz, and Keqi Tang. View Article
- Dick Smith received the ASMS Award for Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry. View Article
- Keqi Tang named a Battelle Distinguished Inventor. View Article
- Dr. Richard D. Smith was invited to serve as an associate editor for Clinical Proteomics. View Article
- Drs. Alex Shvartsburg and Keqi Tang receive a 2013 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium. View Article
- Keqi Tang, BTRR scientist, Ryan Kelly, EMSL scientist, and Bruce Harrer, Technology Deployment & Outreach, received a 2012 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium. They transferred a method to manufacture emitters for mass spectrometry to Bruker-Michrom of Auburn, California. Michrom is a joint recipient of the award with PNNL. Tang and Kelly are co-inventors, along with BTRR PI Richard D. Smith, and former PNNL scientist Jason Page, of the chemically etched emitters, which were first developed in 2006. The team received the award at the FLC Annual Meeting May 3, 2012 in Pittsburgh. The consortium is a nationwide network that encourages federal laboratories to transfer lab-developed technologies to commercial markets. View Article
2013
2012