Wen Zhou

Analytical Chemistry

E-mail:wenzhou@umich.edu

I received my B.S. degree in chemistry in 2006 from Peking University in China. I joined the Håkansson group since January of 2007. My work in the Håkansson group has focused on developing novel analytical methods for analysis of cancer-associated N-glycans.

Glycosylation is one of the most prevalent protein post-translational modifications, playing key roles in various cellular processes. Increased sialylation and decreased sulfation are important determining factors for the metastatic potential of tumor cells. However, glycan structural analysis has been a challenging task because of the highly diverse structure of glycans.

Mass spectrometry is a highly suitable tool for the structural analysis of glycans due to its ability to offer accurate results, analytical versatility, and very high sensitivity. CAD and IRMPD of glycans mainly provide glycosidic cleavages, while ECD and EDD generate more cross-ring cleavages. The combination of different fragmentation techniques tends to result in more extensive sequence coverage.