Objectives

The researchgroup focuses on the analysis of biological macromolecules with special emphasis on proteins and peptides according to the following research lines:

• Analysis of Biomarkers: The biomarker discovery research line is pursued in collaboration with a number of clinical and informatics research groups in the context of different interdisciplinary projects addressing the following areas: a) discovery of biomarkers for pulmonary disease with a focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), b) discovery of biomarkers for cancer with a focus on cervical cancer, c) discovery of biomarkers for neurological disorders with a focus on multiple sclerosis and d) discovery of biomarkers for drug-induced obesity and diabetes type II.
  
• Bioinformatics: Biomarker discovery by LC-MS requires powerful data processing and statistical analysis tools. This line of research focuses at developing data processing algorithms and the application of entire workflows to high-dimensionality data sets resulting from the various biomarker discovery projects.
  
• Targeted Proteomics: This research line focuses primarily on activity-based profiling of metalloproteases comprising members of the matrix metalloprotease (MMP) and the membrane-bound “A Disintegrin and MetalloProtease” (ADAM) families.
  
• Oxidative Stress: Our work on pulmonary epithelial cells has the goal to develop novel methodologies to investigate the effects of oxidative stress (e.g. due to exposure to cigarette smoke) on thiols, the proteasome or on the nitration of tyrosine. To this end we develop differential labelling techniques and affinity-based enrichment strategies.
  
• Analytical Methods Development: Development of novel analytical methods is a cornerstone activity in the group, since this often leads to new insights into biological systems. As an example we are developing approaches to combine electrochemical reactions with mass spectrometry to mimic phase-I oxidative drug metabolism or to effectuate targeted protein and peptide modifications.

The work of the Analytical Biochemistry group is presently funded by the following agencies:

• The NetherlandsBioinformatics Center
• The Dutch Technology Foundation
• The Biomarker Development Center
• Biomarker Bay