| The identification and study of the proteins expressed by an organism's genome, or proteomics, is a diverse and expanding field that has been greatly facilitated by the advancement of analytical mass spectrometry. The purpose of the research described herein is to apply frontier mass spectrometric technologies to gain qualitative and quantitative insights into several proteomic systems and, more specifically, to explore two fundamental proteomic questions: what proteins are present in specific cell-systems? and, how do proteins' concentrations change in diseased verses healthy tissue? Both of these questions continue to be studied in increasing depth and breadth, and are addressed on some level in the studies described in the following pages.;Using the strategies, techniques and instrumentation outlined herein, over 500 proteins from T. thermolphila mitochondria have been identified and many have been functionally annotated. In addition, a panel of proteins from ovarian tissue homogenates, whose expressions change consistently and predictably with the presence of cancer, have been discovered.;To investigate the first question, liquid chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques were applied in order to identify the proteins found in purified mitochondria from Tetrahymena thermophila, a ciliated protozoon. To address the second question, the relative concentrations of proteins from cancerous and non-cancerous ovarian tissue homogenates were compared. |
