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GBMSDG Meeting Archives

November 17, 2010

Guest Speaker
Nathan Yates, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow
Merck Research Laboratories
Rahway, NJ

Differential Mass Spectrometry Identifies
Candidate Markers for Alzheimer's Disease in Humans

Location
Boston Marriott Cambridge
2 Cambridge Center, Cambridge

Sponsored by
New Objective


Special thanks to New Objective for sponsoring this event. It is the active participation of our sponsors that allows us to keep the fees for membership, dinners, drinks, speakers, etc. so low.

Presentation Abstract

High Resolution Differential Mass Spectrometry (dMS) is an open discovery platform that has the ability to detect and identify quantitative peptide changes in complex mixtures such as CSF without the need for antibody reagents. Three important elements of the high resolution dMS approach for biomarker research include speed, relevance to biology, and a clear translation path for clinical evaluation.

Here, we describe the use of micro-capillary LC coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (MS) to identify markers that can distinguish pathologically confirmed AD CSF from age-matched non-demented controls. CSF biochemical biomarkers have the potential to provide objective information on disease status and may be used to design efficient clinical trials for novel therapies that alter the rate of disease progression.

About Nathan Yates

Nate Yates received his undergraduate B.S. degree from Allegheny College in Meadville Pennsylvania and his Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Florida in Gainesville Florida. His graduate research focused on the development and application of quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometers for the analysis of complex mixtures. As post-doctoral fellow at the University of Virginia, Nathan coupled an electrospray ionization source to a home built ion trap mass spectrometer and used it to sequence peptides from complex biological samples. He joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1995 and has applied mass spectrometry to to research needs in combinatorial chemistry, medicinal chemistry, drug metabolism, and proteomics. Nate is currently the chairman of the Proteomics Standards Research Group of the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities.