Stephen Eyles
Our goal in the Mass Spectrometry Core Facility is to engage researchers and provide state of the art analytical instrumentation, analytical services, and expertise in mass spectrometry for UMass Amherst, neighboring scientific communities, and their collaborators. The Core currently serves the needs of more than 50 research groups across campus with active life science research interests, ranging from confirmation of organic synthesis products and synthetic polymer studies to analysis of modifications in proteins and macromolecular complexes, as well as protein folding, assembly, and dynamics investigated through chemical labeling and cross-linking. Staff can provide instrument training to students and researchers, as well as expert advice on experimental design and data interpretation. Life science-focused research in the Center includes projects to identify and quantify proteins in complex matrices as well as metabolites. The goal is to provide expertise, training, and instrumental assistance to researchers so that they can optimize usage of the equipment and maximize the utility of data obtained.
Current Research
Protein dynamics is critical to understanding the processes involved in protein homeostasis, for example, the mechanisms of chaperone action to maintain healthy folded proteins or the mechanisms of protein oligomerization leading to aggregation or formation of amyloid plaques. Current research interests include applying mass spectrometry methodologies to investigate protein-ligand and protein-protein interactions as well as protein dynamics, through the use of hydrogen-deuterium exchange and chemical cross-linking. The multitude of uses for mass spectrometry in the biophysical arena is rapidly evolving, and IALS at UMass Amherst is at the forefront of this technology, developing new techniques to study the fate of proteins and other biomolecules in and out of the cell. The Mass Spectrometry Core Facility makes leading-edge technology available to researchers in order to address these critically important questions. See the MS Core website for further details about instrumentation available.
Learn more at https://www.umass.edu/ials/mass-spectrometry
Academic Background
- BA/MA University of Oxford, UK, 1990
- DPhil University of Oxford, UK, 1995
- Postdoctoral Training: University of Massachusetts Amherst
