PhD candidate in Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry group, focusing on the glycosylation of blood proteins. 

Glycosylation is the most abundant and heterogenous post/co-translational modification in humans, and most proteins in blood are glycosylated. Aberrant glycosylation in blood is observed in numerous diseases and there are many putative glyco-biomarkers. Studying these glycosylation changes is very important to understand the underlying mechanisms of how these proteins end up in the blood stream, as it is unclear which process is mostly affected: translation, modification, trafficking or secretion? 
Studying glycosylation using proteomic, glycoproteomics, is full of technical challenges, which is why we have focused a lot on methodology, from sample prep to MS analysis to software development. Next, we hope to use these novel methodologies to uncover the sweet secrets of the protein glycosylation in blood.