Research: Shared Services

Proteomics Personnel

Proteomics
Shared Service

Dr. Austin Yang is the Faculty Director and serves as advisor in all technical and scientific matters of the Core. He will also interview researchers with specific needs such as post-translational modifications as it relates to experiment design and or writing grant applications. Dr. Yang is Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland Medical School. Dr. Yang has most recently served as an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). He completed his doctorate and post-doctorate degrees in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine. Currently his group studies the effects of protein oxidation and post-translational modifications on the assembly of protein complexes and cell signaling during the course of aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This research has obvious ramifications to cancer and carcinogenesis. In addition to his research, Dr. Yang spends a great deal of time advising Core personnel and researches in areas such as experimental design and proper proteomics language in grant applications. His expertise in mass spectrometry-based, quantitative post-translational modifications, in particular phosphorylation and ubiquitination, is invaluable for researchers interested in detection of these modifications.


Dr. Stefani Thomas is the Proteomics Facility manager and a Research Associate in the Department of Radiation Oncology. She is responsible for directing and consulting with the Proteomics Facility personnel to determine the workflow following sample intake and interpreting data generated from the LC-MS/MS analysis of customers’ samples. She is also the principal operator of our nanoflow liquid chromatography system and our LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer that provides enhanced mass accuracy and resolution. Dr. Thomas completed her doctoral training in both Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biological Mass Spectrometry at the University of Southern California. She has extensive experience with various protein post-translational modifications and protein complex analysis by mass spectrometry.



Dr. Nandakumar Madayiputhiya (Nandakumar MP) is a full time Proteomic Research Specialist responsible for determining the workflow following sample intake, Mass spectrometry (nano LC/MS/MS, MALDI TOF), protein sequencing and database searches including the data obtained from the ion trap instruments. Data analysis includes using, as necessary, software programs that allow the determination of protein identification, protein homology, and protein post-translational modifications in addition to the interpretation of raw spectral data. Dr. Nandakumar MP is also responsible for advising, developing, adapting, and optimizing protocols for investigators with unique samples and collaborating with them during the process. He also has expertise in 2-D gel electrophoresis, gel imaging and differential protein expression on gels using Z3 software (Compugen), MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, Xcise robot, FPLC protein purification system.

Dr. Nandakumar has spent about eight years in the University of Maryland system and before joining UMB, he was an Assistant professor (Research Faculty) at UMBC conducting research in proteomics. He has an MS in Biology and a PhD in Microbiology (1991) with extensive Post doctoral research experiences in Analytical Biochemistry and chromatography (Lund University, Sweden). He has authored more than 30 research publications and had funded research projects in the area of proteomics.



Dr. Yunhu Wan is the core’s bioinformaticist. He provides support in the area of protein identification, by training Core personnel and investigators, and by running the software himself. He is very much involved in the cutting edge of bioinformatics by writing programs that help localize the site of phosphorylation in peptides, thereby improving the speed with which these results can be achieved. Currently, Dr. Wan is also in the process of developing several new computational tools for various quantitative proteomics projects within the cancer center.


This page was last updated on: January 11, 2008.