Mass Spectrometry: An Ideal Method For Rna Modification Analysis

Currently there is no good way to measure and find the exact location of multiple RNA modifications. Existing technology can effectively find single varieties of modifications, but cannot identify co-occurrence. As the field of proteomics has shown, mass spectrometry is a powerful and versatile technique assessing broad ranges of chemical modifications in the context of the cellular environment. In this project I used our expertise in proteomics to build a mass spectrometry based platform for identifying RNA modifications. I have since set up both software and analytical platforms querying RNA modifications, and used this platform to survey human tRNA samples and identify what modifications there are, and where they occur.