DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Kevin Van Cott, Associate Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
College of Engineering
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
207N Othmer Hall
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0643 United States
kvancott2@unl.edu

Research interests may be described using the phrase "functional proteomics," but with a twist. In this case, the object is not looking at thousands of different proteins that cells are producing. Instead, our research is looking at recombinant proteins that are produced in bioreactors. These proteins are very complex because they have numerous post-translational modifications (PTMs); that is, chemical modifications made to the amino acid side chains, such as glycosylation, gamma-carboxylation, phosphorylation, sulfation, and proteolytic processing. Thus, in the lab a "pure" protein can have many different subpopulations that differ in the nature and/or extent of their modification. The objective of this research is to characterize the structure of these subpopulations and then relate the structure to the in vivo function and pharmacokinetic properties. This work requires expertise in protein purification and analytical biochemistry, which is carried out in a Protein Characterization Laboratory (PCL), part of the Biological Process Development Facility at UNL. HPLC, SDS PAGE methods, enzymatic assays, peptide mapping, and LC-MS-MS are routinely used as tools for this work. Presently being used is an Applied Biosystems 4000 QTrap MS instrument for these molecules. This MS instrument has been invaluable in helping us discern the PTMs on the proteins.