Pharm Chem 219: Mass Spectrometry-based Proteomics
Spring 2026
Proteomics is broadly concerned with gaining new knowledge of protein composition at the cellular, sub-cellular, or protein-complex level, and how protein functions are modulated by posttranslational dynamics, e.g. phosphorylation pathways or ubiquitylome/proteasome homeostasis, or how they are altered in disease states. Mass spectrometry is the technology of choice for detecting this information due to its ability to analyze complex samples for both discovery and quantification.
Mini-Course Description: This course will focus on the practical aspects (i.e. experimental and mass spectral interpretation) involved in the identification of proteins and their covalent modifications. It will cover the fundamental principles of currently important mass spectrometry instrument platforms. It will provide an overview of key scientific problems that are being tackled and solved at the protein-level relevant to cell function/dysfunction; the detection and assignment of protein posttranslational modifications; and studies of protein or modification dynamics using relative quantitation. It will also cover studies of the architecture of protein complexes and machines.
Participants will perform analysis of supplied datasets to learn how to evaluate results.
Schedule:
April 20 – May 8, 2025; Mo and Th 1-3pm
Mission Bay Campus, BH-413
| Lecture | Lecturer | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 20th | ALB | Fundamentals: Ionization, Instrumentation; ion optics, resolution and mass accuracy; why these are important at protein vs peptide level. |
| Apr 23rd | RJC | Protein Identification. Basics of peptide fragmentation processes. Database searching. How to measure the reliability of assignments. |
| Apr 27th | JO | Sample preparation: Gels and Chromatography; IP/Affinity Tags, Digestion. What shouldn't be in the sample - Contaminants. |
| Apr 30th | JM | Posttranslational modifications: Protein vs peptide analysis. PTM enrichment, PTM cross-talk. | May 4th | AU | Large-scale quantification strategies (Label-free, SILAC, iTRAQ, PRM, neucode). |
| May 7th | MT | Architecture of protein complexes and machines (chemical cross-linking). |
Lecturers
| ALB | - | Al Burlingame |
| RJC | - | Robert Chalkley |
| JM | - | Jason Maynard |
| JO | - | Juan Oses |
| MT | - | Mike Trnka |
| AU | - | Anatoly Urisman |
