Research Interests
Current research projects :
1. Viral proteomics using MALDI-MS for surveillance of the type, subtype and antigenicity of the influenza virus to identify the evolution of the virus and the emergence of highly virulent new strains. See : http://www.mmb.usyd.edu.au/downard/researchflu.html
2. Application of Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry (RP-MS) to study protein interaction interfaces and the impact of oxidation on these interactions. Our research is focussed particularly on long lived tissue proteins.
3. Development and application of new computer algorithms (eg. COMPLX, PROXIMO and PRISM) and approaches to obtain information on the structure and interactions of proteins from mass spectra and to advance bioinformatics. Other algorithms to deconvolute ESI mass spectra (CRAM) and advance "shotgun" proteomics (ETISEQ) have also been written.
Laboratory firsts :
Our research interests focus on the study of protein interactions using cutting edge mass spectrometry and proteomics approaches that we both develop and apply.
Our laboratory was the first to show that large protein complexes (150kDa) could be preserved on (in 1999), and even ionized from (in 2000), conventional MALDI targets without their immobilization or pretreatment. Our indirect approach allows protein interactions to be probed by monitoring the decrease in absolute area or intensity of a binding peptide or protein relative to a non-binding partner. It has been described later as "intensity fading" MALDI-MS by others. See : http://www.mmb.usyd.edu.au/downard/research1.html
The approach has been exploited in our influenza antigenicity studies since 1999.
In collaboration, our laboratory was also the first (from 1999) to use radicals for beneficial effect to study the structure and interactions of proteins through their limited oxidation on short millisecond timescales. Referred to as Radical Probe Mass Spectrometry (RP-MS), the approach has its origins in synchrotron based footprinting studies to achieve the characterization or mapping of protein surfaces. See : http://www.mmb.usyd.edu.au/downard/research2.html We were the first to apply it to the study of protein complexes (in 2003).
We have also written among the first computer algorithms specifically developed to identify and model protein interactions using mass spectral data.
