Abstract
Two major themes in our research will be presented:  the determination of oligosaccharide structures by mass spectrometry and the use of bioaerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS) for biodefense.

Oligosaccharides are involved in a host of cellular processes including recognition, cancer metathesis, reproduction, and infection.  The analyses of carbohydrates are significantly more difficult than proteins.  Unlike proteins, oligosaccharides are not coded in the genome.  Genome based and proteomics based methods are therefore not useful for their analyses.  However, glycosylation is the most common form of post-translational modification.  It is estimated that 50% of all proteins are glycosylated.  Oligosaccharides have considerably more structure diversity than DNA or proteins.  Monosaccharide residues have numerous stereoisomers, numerous linkage arrangements, and potential for branching, which significantly complicate the analyses.  The lack of rapid and sensitive analytical tools has severely hindered the progress in the area.

In this lecture, new tools for the emerging area of glycomics and the analyses of oligosaccharides will be discussed.  The central theme of our research is to understand and characterize oligosaccharide diversity with mass spectrometry (MS) as the major tool of analyses.  Mass spectrometry, specifically Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS, provides both speed and high sensitivity.  The analyses of O-linked oligosaccharides in mucins and their role in fertilization and reproduction will be discussed.  The complete structural elucidation of unknown O-linked oligosaccharides was determined primarily by a combination of mass spectrometry, glycosidase digestion, and tandem MS (infrared multiphoton dissociation and collision-induced dissociation) based on structure homology.  A method for the rapid characterization of N-linked oligosaccharides in glycoproteins including the sites of glycosylation and the structural diversity at each site will also be presented.  The development of these tools and their consequences to proteomics and cancer research will be discussed.

In collaboration with Dr. Eric Gard’s group in Livermore we are building the next generation of Bioaerosol Mass Spectrometry instruments (BAMS).  These instruments are capable of detecting single particles of bacterial spores.  There is sufficient variation to differentiate species.  We are currently extending the mass range and the accuracy by redesigning the opposable time-of-flight assembly.  The mass range has been extended to m/z 36,000.  Recent results from this new instrument will be described.

Background
Carlito Lebrilla received his B.S. from UC Irvine doing undergraduate research with Prof. R. W. Taft and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley under Prof. Wilhelm Maier.  He was a NATO-NSF and a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Technical University working with Prof. Helmut Schwarz and a UC President’s Fellow with Prof. R. T. McIver, Jr. at UC Irvine.  He has been at UC Davis since 1989 and is currently a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Medicine:  Biological Chemistry.  The focus of research in the Lebrilla group is the development of mass spectrometry for oligosaccharide analyses, chiral differentiation, and biodefense.  His group has developed a number of methods for the characterization of oligosaccharide profiles and heterogeneity of O-linked oligosaccharides using Fourier transform mass spectrometry.  He has collaborated with Professor Jerry Hedrick (Biochemistry) to characterize the oligosaccharides in the egg jelly of Xenopus laevis, borealis, and laevis.  More recently, his group has been involved in determination of oligosaccharide markers for ovarian cancer.  He is Co-editor of the journal Mass Spectrometry Reviews and is on the editorial board of International Journal of Mass Spectromery, Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, and European Mass Spectrometry.  He has over 130 publications.  He is also a chartered member of the EBT (formerly BECM) study group for the National Institutes of Health.  His research group currently includes 12 Ph.D. students and one postdoctoral fellow and is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.

Meeting details

Date:	Tuesday	April 05, 2005
Time:	6:00 pm	Social hour, registration (no-host cocktails)
	7:00 pm	Dinner
	8:00 pm	Lecture
Dinner:	featuring:	Filet Mignon (Medium) topped with a Mushroom Crown, with tossed green salad, fresh vegetables, potatoes
		Baked Salmon with lemon Buerre Blanc Sauce, with tossed green salad, fresh vegetables, rice pilaf
		Vegetarian Dinner Choice
	includes:	Salad and various desserts
Cost:	$30	BAMS members.
	$40	Non-members.
	$60	BAMS membership plus dinner cost
	$15	Students only.
	$300	Corporate Sponsors
		Dinner reservations required by noon on Friday February 11, 2005

*Note:  2005 dues need to be paid to obtain member price.  Dues ($30.00) may be paid while registering for dinner.  If you are unsure of your 2005 Membership status, please email Carol Soppe (carol.soppe@thermo.com) or Shanhua Lin (slin@ciphergen.com).

Maps & directions
Hs. Lordships Restaurant
199 Seawall Dr.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 843-8144
maps.google.com directions

Did you see or hear about the BAMS talk by Professor Murayama entitled "What is Mass?"  What is it we are measuring after all?  Check it out!  Go to ctp.berkeley.edu and click on "Popular Talks & Articles" for a QuickTime file.

As a service to our members, we post Employment postings.

As a trial service to our members, we are now posting Situations Wanted.  (Note: BAMS isn't a career center and will only post brief positions wanted for BAMS members only).

The San Francisco Bay Area Mass Spectrometry discussion group was formed in 1980 to provide a regular gathering for people interested in mass spectrometry and allied topics. BAMS currently has a membership of about 280 individual and 20 corporate members, and meets 8-10 times per year for a midweek dinner and lecture.  Meetings attract between 30 and 90 people, and are held at a restaurant or hotel in the bay area convenient for our speaker.  We usually convene at 6:00 pm for cocktails, dinner at 7:00 pm, and lecture at 8:15 pm.

If you have suggestions for a meeting topic, or know of a prominent mass spectrometrist who will be visiting the bay area, please contact our program chair.

To become a member, please fill out and mail in a membership form.
BAMS has been fortunate to have had many excellent speakers in our short history.
If you have suggestions for a meeting topic please contact our program chair.
If you have questions or comments about BAMS, please contact one of the BAMS officers.
Please thank our corporate sponsors who help keep BAMS membership and dinner costs low.
Here are some internet links that may be of interest to BAMS members.
 

If you have comments or suggestions for this web site, please email me at hugh-gregg@llnl.gov

Last update: 3/22/2005