biomedical sciences research institute - Research - University of Ulster

Dr Stephen McCleanLecturer in ProteomicsContact details:T: +44 (0)28 70324406s.mcclean@ulster.ac.ukBrief profile:Dr Stephen McClean obtained undergraduate, Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Ulster and held aresearch position there before becoming a Lecturer in Proteomics in December 2001.Main research interests:As an analytical chemist he has broad interest in the application of chromatography and mass spectrometrictechnologies to the analysis of a range of molecules in biological matrices.Of particular interest is the application of ion trap, MALDI-TOF and QToF MS/MS to the isolation and characterizationof novel peptides from amphibian skin secretions, in particular those from the tiger leg monkey frog Phyllomedusahypochondrialis azurea. The characterization and bioactivity testing of molecules from other amphibian skin secretions,reptile and arachnid venoms also fall within the remit of this research. QTOF MS/MS de novo peptide sequencing hasbeen successfully applied to the determination of novel peptide structures in these matrices.A T_ PHY P_ NEW _ 1 8 0 _ 7 2 _ 1 0 0 8 0 8 _ 1 5 8 9 Ma x En t 3 9 3 [Ev - 3 7 2 5 4 ,It5 0 ,En 1 ] ( 0 .0 5 0 ,2 0 0 .0 0 ,0 .2 0 0 ,1 4 0 0 .0 0 ,2 ,C mp ) 1 : TO F MS MS 7 9 5 .5 0 ES +1 0 0L G P A L I TR K P L K G K P b Ma xPK G K L PK R T I L A P G L y Ma x1 4 7 3 .9 9b 1 41 5 8 9 .0 6 ( M +H ) +%01 2 8 8 .9 1b 1 27 3 7 .5 73 1 4 .2 3 4 2 4 .3 01 4 7 5 .0 91 0 4 7 .7 96 5 2 .4 9 7 9 5 .1 2 9 0 9 .6 21 8 6 .1 3a 51 1 7 5 .8 11 3 6 0 .8 51 0 2 2 .7 1 b 1 01 5 8 9 .9 11 5 8 .9 46 4 4 .9 1M/z1 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 4 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 0 7 0 0 8 0 0 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 6 0 0He has also studied the profiling of anti-depressent and anti-psychotic agents in human hair samples using ion trapmultiple stage mass spectrometry compared with QToF MS/MS to elucidate fragmentation pathways for selecteddrugs and metabolites.Esteem indicators:Stephen has over 40 peer-reviewed publications and has secured income for his research as well as undertakinganalytical consultancy work with external companies. To date he has supervised eight PhD projects to completionand is currently supervising research projects at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is a member of theOrganising Committee of the Irish Mass Spectrometry Society, the British Mass Spectrometry Society and the RoyalSociety of Chemistry. He is also a Member of the Editorial Board of the Open Spectroscopy Journal and acts asreviewer for the following journals: Analytica Chimica Acta, Electrophoresis, Journal of Comparative Biochemistryand Physiology, Proteomics and Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.During the year Stephen was invited to deliver a presentation entitled: “QTOF MS/MS de novo sequencing of naturallyoccurring peptides” at the Irish Mass Spectrometry Society Proteomics Meeting, Food Research Centre, Ashtown,66