Oxford University Selects Waters Synapt MS System for Chemical Biology Research
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Waters Corporation has announced that Oxford University has taken delivery of a Waters® Synapt High Definition MS ™ System for its Department of Chemistry.
The University purchased the system for advanced research in chemical biology and will use it to study interactions between proteins and small molecules and interactions between proteins and other bio-macromolecules.
“We are particularly keen to apply the capability of the Synapt™ HDMS System to separate species by ion mobility," commented Prof. Chris Schofield of the Department of Chemistry.
Prof. Schofield said, "We hope it will enable us to study the effect of binding events on protein conformation in an efficient manner and complement data obtained from high resolution but time-consuming techniques such as X-ray crystallography and NMR. Obtaining three-dimensional information on proteins is difficult to do by existing mass spectrometric-based techniques.”
Prof. Schofield also intends to use the Synapt HDMS™ System to study multi-component protein complexes. A major aspect of Prof. Chris Schofield's research involves developing a chemical understanding of how cells sense oxygen.
In collaboration with researchers in Oxford’s Department of Medicine, led by scientists Peter Ratcliffe and Chris Pugh, the scientists have discovered a family of enzymes that act as oxygen sensors in humans. These enzymes catalyze the oxidation of a transcription factor that regulates proteins which in turn increase red blood cell production and blood vessel growth.
To introduce sample proteins and peptides into the Synapt HDMS System and maintain their conformational state while maximizing productivity and performance, Professor Schofield will use an Advion TriVersa™ NanoMate® chip-based nanoelectrospray device.
Waters introduced the Synapt HDMS System at the American Society of Mass Spectrometry annual meeting in Seattle in June of 2006. It is the first commercially-available mass spectrometer with the ability to analyze ions by their size, shape and charge in addition to mass.
