Guest Editors
Rui Chen
Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada
Dr. Rui Chen is currently a Research Officer at Human Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada (NRC). He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, the Chinese Academy of Science in 2013. His PhD thesis focused on the development of novel methods for analysis of protein glycosylation with mass spectrometry and the application of glycoproteomics in biomarker discovery. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology from 2013 to 2016 where he further pursued the goal of comprehensive characterization of protein glycosylation as well as using glycoproteomics to solve problems in biology. He joined NRC in 2016 to develop new techniques for immunopeptidome and post-translational modification analysis with mass spectrometry and use these techniques to support vaccine and cell-based therapeutics development. He has authored and co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed publication on leading journals including Mass Spectrometry Reviews, Analytical Chemistry, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, and Journal of Proteome Research, etc.
Jianjun Li
Human Health Therapeutics Research Center of National Research Council (NRC-HHT)
Dr. Jianjun Li is a Senior Research Officer and Team Lead of Bioanalysis at Human Health Therapeutics Research Center of National Research Council (NRC-HHT). He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Wuhan University, China. Dr. Li’s research focuses on the development of high-resolution separation techniques coupled with mass spectrometry and their applications for the structural characterization of various biological molecules, including microfluidic chip CE-MS for proteomics studies, glycoconjugate characterization, and biomarker discovery in microbiology, immunobiology, and neurobiology. His current research interest is method development and application for bacterial and cancer vaccines, including the structure and biosynthesis of bacterial surface carbohydrates and cancer neoantigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC). He is recognized as a world leader in the application of CE-MS for the characterization of bacterial lipids and surface polysaccharides. He developed methods for the analysis of glycolipid structures from a single colony, or directly from animal tissues or fluids. He is an author or co-author of over 200 original peer-reviewed scientific papers, 12 book chapters, and edits a book entitled Methods in Functional Glycomics.
Collection Overview
Post-translational modifications (PTMs) refer to the covalent and enzymatic modifications of proteins following protein biosynthesis. There are over 400 different types of known PTMs, and new PTMs continue to be discovered. The addition of modification groups to amino acid side chains affects various aspects of protein functions and regulates diverse cellular processes. Disruptions in PTMs can lead to the dysfunction of vital biological processes and contribute to various diseases. PTMs can also serve as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, and therapeutics targeting PTMs are being developed for precision medicine.
Tremendous progress has been made in PTM studies due to advancements in analytical technologies. For example, most PTMs can be detected through protein and peptide analysis using mass spectrometry (MS). Large-scale, quantitative analysis of proteins by MS/MS is beginning to unveil novel patterns and functions of PTMs in cellular signaling networks and pathways. MS analysis has also benefited from the development of novel materials and other techniques for the specific enrichment of peptides with PTMs.
This Methods Collection focuses on methods developed for PTM analysis. This collection invites researchers with well-established and innovative procedures for PTM analysis to submit their method-focused contributions. By doing so, we aim to develop harmonized protocols and reduce ambiguity in method interpretation.
