December 15, 2007

CCGS/Microbiology Assistant Professor Morgan Giddings received funding for a four year, $1.3M project funded by the National Center for Research Resources division of the National Institutes of Health.  The goal of the project is to build generalized software to integrate data from the latest proteomic technologies to pinpoint chemical modifications in proteins that perturb regulatory networks in cells.  Towards this end, it will build upon their lab’s two existing programs (PROCLAME and GFS) to develop integrated, open-source software to combine data from multiple Mass spectrometry (MS) methods. Specifically, the aims of the grant are: (1) to integrate multiple MS data sources for determining type and location of protein modifications by adding a Markov chain Monte  Carlo based engine to PROCLAME; (2) to improve the ability to analyze bottom-up data by enhancing GFS for the automatic determination of posttranslational modifications; (3) to manage and integrate results from multiple MS measurements and search engines by developing a database system and scripts to tie the programs together; and (4) to assure program reliability and suitability through both alpha testing in-house and beta testing at external sites.  This research will provide tools for a broad base of researchers and address the current lack of comprehensive, automated software for analyzing data from the hybrid proteomics approaches that are becoming more widely utilized in the field.