# Legacy Support During Closure of the Mass Spectrometry Resource for Biology and Medicine

> **NIH NIH R24** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2020 · $708,117

## Abstract

The mission of the Boston University Mass Spectrometry Resource for Biology and Medicine is
the development and application of advanced, mass spectrometry-based methods for the
characterization of biopolymers that are relevant to human health and disease. Its steady
progress has been fostered by close working relationships between basic scientists, clinicians
and trainees. Because NIGMS has now imposed a time limit for P41 grants, the grant P41
GM104603 cannot be renewed. This proposal requests the funding essential to avoid a
disruptive sudden closedown of the Resource's activities and afford a smooth transition period
to enable the orderly completion of ongoing driving biomedical and collaborative projects that
depend on methods and expertise uniquely available in the Resource, finalizing of ongoing
software development, sharing of software, databases and protocols to meet the needs of the
community, and the identification and implementation of alternative mechanisms to address the
future needs of the user community and enable further technology developments that should
evolve from the accomplishments of the Resource over the last 20 years. The Resource will
focus on the needs of glycobiology for detailed structural elucidations and the profiling of
complex mixtures of glycans. Reference data that illuminates glycan fragmentation pathways
using multiple dissociation methods will be compiled and deposited into public databases; the
new, user-friendly bioinformatics tools that the Resource is creating for glycan analysis will be
completed, tested and shared. Protocols and sets of reference data for Ion mobility-tandem
mass spectrometry will be compiled for the analysis of glycans and complex peptide mixtures,
for characterization of noncovalent complexes, and for evaluation of new ExD cell designs being
constructed by a small industry collaborator. In-house in developed software for glycan
structural determinations and top-down analysis of variant and post-translationally modified
proteins, that can establish relationships among PTMs on individual proteins, will be completed
and shared; it should provide means for straightforward clinical analyses, and for probing
protein-glycan and protein-protein interactions. Translational projects to be completed will
include characterization of N- and O-linked glycans and lipopolysaccharides on infectious
bacteria and parasites, structural determinations of glycolipids and glycosaminoglycans in
human milk, protein misfolding disorders, immunology, extracellular matrix biology and
cardiovascular disease. The Resource will transfer its experience in training students,
postdoctoral fellows and practicing scientists to other educational institutions and industry.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9976561
- **Project number:** 5R24GM134210-02
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Catherine E. Costello
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $708,117
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9976561

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9976561, Legacy Support During Closure of the Mass Spectrometry Resource for Biology and Medicine (5R24GM134210-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9976561. Licensed CC0.

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