Carlito B. Lebrilla

Dr. Lebrilla's laboratory group focuses on the development of methods for the identification and characterization of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates found in biological samples, including glycolipids and glycoproteins. Oligosaccharides play a key role in important cellular processes such as recognition, adhesion and division. These compounds however have been difficult to analyze and characterize structurally. The problems include the large number of stereoisomers and possible linkage combinations. The laboratory is developing methods to overcome many of the difficulties associated with oligosaccharide analysis. They employ high performance mass spectrometry and modern chromotographic analysis specifically for oligosaccharides. The research group is currently focused on the glycomic and glycomic proteomic analysis of milk. They have recently characterized the free oligosaccharides in mammalian milk including human, bovine, procine, murine, and several primate species. They are now performing glycoproteomic studies on milk and examine changes in glycosylation of specific proteins.

The group is equipped with cutting edge technologies in separation and mass spectrometry. The laboratory has two Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT ICR) instrument equipped with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization sources. They have an Agilent Tech. Chip/TOF and Chip/QTOF equipped with nanoflow liquid chromatography.