Graduate Student Research Opportunities
The Mass Spectrometry Resource is looking for graduate students interested in pursuing research in the following topics. A graduate project is expected to require ~4 years to complete and will result in awarding of a Ph.D. degree.
Our group has diverse research interests including biochemistry, biomedicine, chemistry, and engineering. Graduate students working in the group are earning their degrees in a number of Boston University Departments, including Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Pathology.
Please contact our faculty to learn more about graduate research at the Mass Spectrometry Resource:
Catherine E. Costello
Peter B. O’Connor
Joseph Zaia
Research Topics:
- Coupling Thin Layer Chromatography with High Pressure MALDI for chemical analysis of glycobiological samples.
- Electron capture dissociation for “Top-Down” protein sequencing.
- Improving methods for Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization (MALDI) for increasing ion yield while minimizing metastable fragmentation.
- Design and construction of a Cryogenic Fourier transform mass spectrometer.
- Development of improved data acquisition and analysis software and electronics for Fourier transform mass spectrometer.
- Development of new techniques for proteomic and glycomic analysis.
- Total sequencing of extended glycosaminoglycan chains and development of an understanding of variations in these structures under different cell growth conditions.
- Correlating glycosaminoglycan structure and function using affinity mass spectrometry.
