Yu-Ju Chen
Affiliations
Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica
Biography
Dr. YuJu Chen obtained B.S. in chemistry from National Taiwan University (1992) and Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University (1997). After postdoctoral research work at the National Tsing Hua University, she joined the Institute of Chemistry of Academia Sinica in 1999, and serve as director since 2013. She also holds con-current adjunct professorships at 4 universities, including National Taiwan University.
YuJu’s research focuses on methodology development of mass spectrometry-based proteomics by integrating novel nanomaterial, advanced mass spectrometry and bioinformatics. In particular, she is passionately interested in applying these tools towards comprehensive delineation of the membrane proteome and post-translation modificome associated with cancer and stem cell biology. She is currently the chair of Human Proteome Organization Publication Committee, Member at Large (2015) and council member of HUPO (2014), AOHUPO (since 2009) and International Mass Spectrometry Foundation (2012-2015). She has also helped to promote the proteomics activity in Taiwan by serving as the President of the Taiwan Proteomics Society (2009-2012) and the President of Taiwan Society for Mass Spectrometry (2013-2016).
YuJu is acting as senior editor of Proteomics, editorial board member of the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry, Journal of Proteome Research and Frontiers in Analytical Chemistry. She has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles including Mol. Cell. Proteomics. Proteomics, J Proteome Res., Anal. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc.,, Nat. Commun., Cancer Cell and PNAS.
Abstract
Nanoprobe-based affinity mass spectrometry for targeted glycoprotein-omics mining of cancer biomarker
Yu-Ju Chen
Aberrant glycosylation has been closely associated with disease initiation and progression; most FDA-approved cancer biomarkers are glycoproteins. However, full delineation of its glycan composition, linkage and glycosylation site still present a analytical challenge, especially for low-abundant biomarkers at the low nM and pM range. Taking advantages of large surface-to-volume ration for ligand conjugation, flexible surface functionalization and superparamagnetic property of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), we have developed nanoprobe-based affinity mass spectrometry approaches for one-pot purification, quantification and glycosylation profiling of targeted glycoprotein biomarker from serum. In this talk, I will present the design of monodisperse and glyco-affinity MNPs to enhance detection sensitivity of serum biomarker and reduce non-specific binding from abundant serum house-keeping proteins. Second, we applied multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry approach to further enhance the detection sensitivity.
On the application to analyze biomarker candidates in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), good linearity (r2 > 0.995) and a limit of detection at the pM level was obtained. The analytical figures of merit obtained are within the limits required for bioanalytical method validation set by the US Food and Drugs Administration (US FDA). To demonstrate the utility of this method for clinical use, this method was applied for individualized analysis of the candidate proteins in HCC patients and healthy controls. The quantitative results are consistent with the result from commonly used ELISA method. Most interestingly, we observed differential degree of fucosylation in HCC group in comparison with liver cirrhosis patients and HBV inactive carriers.
