One of the most enjoyable aspects of instrument development is using these instruments in new ways and on new systems. This usually involves collaboration with experts in the application area and always requires learning new things.
Mass Spectrometry Fingerprinting of Gulf Shrimp
The goal of this project was to develop mass spectrometry fingerprinting methods for the identification of shrimp species. We used a mass spectrometry system originally developed for bacteria identification and adapted it to shrimp.
- Salla, Murray, “Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Identification of Shrimp.” Anal. Chim. Acta 2013, 794, 55–59.
Crude Oil Analysis
The goal of this project was to use high- and medium-resolution mass spectrometry for the petroleomic analysis of two feedstock crude oils from the American Refining Group. The research objectives were to perform petroleomic analysis of the feedstocks using high-resolution mass spectrometry and to data-mine and perform a petroleomic comparison of the feedstocks. The high resolution mass spectrometry data was obtained at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.
Alligator Blood Preoteomics
Alligators and crocodiles live in environments with large concentrations of pathogenic microbes, yet their wounds typically heal without infection. This is thought to be due to cationic peptides in their white blood cells. In a collaboration with Prof. Mark Merchant at McNeese State University, we developed methods to isolate peptides in alligator blood with analysis using a mass spectrometry and proteomics based approach. One and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and nano-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry were used for biomolecule identification.
- Darville, Merchant, Maccha, Siddavarapu, Hasan, and Murray, “Isolation and Determination of the Primary Structure of a Lectin Protein From the Serum of the American Alligator (Alligator Mississippiensis),” Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B, 2012, 161, 161–169.
- Darville, Merchant, Hasan, and Murray, “Proteome analysis of the leukocytes from the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) using mass spectrometry,” Comp. Biochem. Physiol. D, 2010, 5, 308–316.
