Douglas A. Gage
Adjunct Professor
- B.S. 1977, Florida State University
M.S. 1981, Florida State University - Ph.D., 1986, University of Texas at Austin
- Postdoctoral Associate, 1986-1987, MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory
- Postdoctoral Associate and Research Faculty, 1987-1994, NIH Mass Spectrometry Facility, MSU
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Douglas A. Gage Research Interests continued
This work is carried out in conjunction with the core research of the MSU-NIH Mass Spectrometry Facility, a national research resource. We are interested in identifying and localizing posttranslational modifications, such as phosphorylation, glycosylation, acylation, disulfide bonds and proteolytic processing. To approach this problem we have combined enzymatic and/or chemical modification of the target protein with molecular weight determinations by two sensitive mass spectrometric techniques, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). By mapping the predicted masses obtained from protein sequences to the measured masses of the protein or peptide fragments, posttranslational modifications can be characterized. Algorithms are also being developed that allow the mass mapping approach to be used to rapidly identify isolated proteins that are listed in gene or protein sequence databases. In another approach, we use mass spectrometric methods, such as post-source decay (PSD) analysis, to obtain direct sequence information from peptide fragmentation. In order to apply these new methodologies to biological samples, we have been developing techniques to manipulate and analyze picomole to sub-picomole quantities of proteins, including direct MS analysis of proteins on electrophoretic gels or transfer membranes.
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