Department Finds Success With Grant Awards

Dr. Jinshan Gao has won an NSF grant worth $315k for his project Development of Fluorescent Free-Radical Tags for N-Glycan Quantitation and Characterization using UPLC-MS/MS. Supported by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Gao and his students at Montclair State University are pursuing research that seeks mass spectroscopic techniques for simultaneous characterization and quantitation of an important class of biomolecules known as glycans – the carbohydrate-modifications that decorate so many proteins in biological systems and that are of great significance in biomedical science.

In a second grant major success, Dr. Gao, with Drs. Wu, Goodey, Deng and Rotella have been awarded $449,969 for Major Research Infrastructure – specifically for the purchase of a High-Resolution Accurate-Mass Orbitrap LC-MS System.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the key analytical methods used to identify and characterize small quantities of chemical species in complex samples. An instrument with a liquid chromatograph provides additional structural identification power by separating mixtures of compounds before they reach the mass spectrometer. The tandem capabilities, which couples together two mass analyzers, increase the ability of the mass spectrometer to analyze chemical samples.

The instrument will enhance research and education at all levels. It is especially useful for quantifying and characterizing glycan, proteins and glycoproteins as well as identifying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cyanotoxin, lipids and biopolymers. The instrumentation is also used for characterizing potential drug candidates and their metabolites and for the identification of and quantification of emerging contaminants and their transformation products in water and wastewater. The instrument also serves researchers characterizing genotoxic impurities in drug substances and other products.