Professor Vicki Wysocki

Professor Vicki Wysocki
School of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology

Native Mass Spectrometry, Mass Photometry, and CryoEM of Nucleoprotein Complexes

Tools to address structural biology problems continue to improve. Native mass spectrometry (nMS) and associated technologies such as ion mobility are becoming an increasingly important component of the structural biology toolbox. When the mass spectrometry approach is used early or mid-course in a structural characterization project, it can provide answers quickly using small sample amounts and samples that are not fully purified. Integrating sample preparation/purification with effective dissociation methods (e.g., surface-induced dissociation, SID), ion mobility, and computational approaches provides an MS workflow that can enable biochemical, synthetic biology, and systems biology approaches. Native MS can determine whether the complex of interest exists in a single or in multiple oligomeric states and can provide characterization of topology/ intersubunit connectivity, and other structural features. Beyond its strengths as a stand-alone tool, nMS can also guide and/or be integrated with other structural biology approaches such as SEC, SAXS, mass photometry, X-ray crystallography, and cryoEM. Examples for protein and nucleoprotein complexes will be presented to illustrate complementary data provided by native MS/ SID and other structural biology tools. 

References 

[1] Snyder, Harvey, Wysocki, V. H., Chemical Reviews, 2022, 122, 8, 7442–7487. 

[2] Karch, Snyder, Harvey, Wysocki Annu. Rev. Biophys. 2022. 51, 157–79.

Vicki Wysocki

Vicki Wysocki is Chair of the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized leader in mass spectrometry and structural biology. She earned her BS in Chemistry from Western Kentucky University and her PhD in Chemistry from Purdue University, followed by postdoctoral work at Purdue and the Naval Research Laboratory. Her academic career has included faculty positions at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Arizona, and The Ohio State University, where she was an Ohio Eminent Scholar and Director of the Campus Chemical Instrument Center. She has held major leadership roles in the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and The Protein Society, served in senior editorial positions for leading journals, and received major honors including the Thomson Medal, the ACS Field and Franklin Award, the ACS Analytical Division Chemical Instrumentation Award, and the ASMS Distinguished Contribution Award.

Hosted by Professor Varun Gadkari