Reilly Group Research
My research is focused on developing new instrumentation and techniques to extend the working range of mass spectrometry by five or more orders of magnitude. So far we have produced a prototype instrument that has increased the working range of mass spectrometers from roughly m/z=20,000 to m/z= 1,000,000. This improvement permits high resolution analysis of the entire range of singly-charged proteins and most protein complexes. Our instrumentation works equally well with multiply charged ions. We are currently developing techniques to control the charge distribution. This will greatly extend the range of analytes that are accessible to analysis so that small viruses such as tobacco mosaic virus can be mass analyzed. We plan to extend the m/z range to 109. Once complete, this work will allow the measurement of singly charged ions derived from proteins, protein complexes, DNA/RNA, and even whole viruses. Research opportunities abound both in the development of the instruments, and in their application to novel problems. Our research and instrumentation is creating a new frontier in mass spectrometry and vastly extending the range of biological systems that can be analyzed.
