Fast testing of protein shapes and modifications
Official title: Rapid Assessment of Proteoform-Resolved Higher-Order Structures
Funded at University of Nevada Reno · NIH-11144929 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will create faster tools to read how proteins' shapes and chemical tags change in cancer, heart, and brain diseases.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Nevada Reno NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Reno, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $359,248 |
| NIH project number | 5R35GM151104-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11144929 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with cancer, degenerative neurologic disorders, or cardiovascular disease who can provide blood or tissue samples for research would be most relevant.
✕Less likely to help
People seeking an immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to benefit directly because the grant focuses on laboratory method development rather than delivering therapies.
What this research studies
This project is creating new mass-spectrometry methods that can detect whole protein forms and the chemical tags (post-translational modifications) that change how proteins fold and interact. Current common methods chop proteins into pieces and lose the link between tags and full protein shape, so the team aims to keep that connection while using small sample amounts. Over five years they will develop higher-throughput, sensitive workflows and validate them on biologically relevant samples tied to cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular conditions. The goal is to produce tools that can be used by researchers and, eventually, in diagnostic or drug-development pipelines.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could enable more precise diagnostic tests and speed the design of targeted treatments by revealing disease-specific protein structures.
How similar studies have gone: Related mass-spectrometry proteomics methods have aided biomarker discovery, but high-throughput measurement of proteoform-resolved higher-order structures is novel and still emerging.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Nevada Reno
Reno, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Borotto, Nicholas Brent — University of Nevada Reno
- Study coordinator: Borotto, Nicholas Brent
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.