ASMS 2024: An Interview with Nick Riley of the University of Washington

During ASMS 2024, which will take place June 2–6, 2024 in Anaheim, California, many scientists are set to present research on the latest advances in mass spectrometry. Recently, LCGC International sat down with Nick Riley of the University of Washington to discuss his presentation, "Comparative Analysis of Glycoproteomic Software Tools Using a Tailored Glycan Database."

Nicholas M. Riley received his B.S. in chemistry and psychology from the University of South Carolina in 2012, with Honors from the South Carolina Honors College. His undergraduate research in forensic analytical chemistry with Stephen Morgan first introduced him to mass spectrometers. He quickly became fascinated with these instruments, which led him to his Ph.D. work in mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation and proteomics with Joshua Coon at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In the Coon group, he developed MS technology for gas-phase ion-ion reactions, with an emphasis on a tandem MS method called electron transfer dissociation (ETD) that he applied in analyses of peptides, proteins, and post-translational modifications (1).

In this interview, Riley answers the following questions:

• What can you tell us about the work you’ll be presenting at ASMS?
• Why are B-type glycan fragments useful in scientific research?
• Why are there so few tools for examining oxonium content?
• Why is MS/MS a good technique for this analysis? Why is it better than other techniques currently used?
• Are there any plans to implement GlyCounter into future studies?
• Were there any unexpected discoveries that were made during this experiment?
• What does the next phase of your research look like?
• What are you most looking forward to at this year’s ASMS conference?

Reference

(1) Nicholas M. Riley. University of Washington 2024. https://chem.washington.edu/people/nicholas-m-riley (accessed 2024-5-24)