Fabio Gomes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Mass Spectrometry
Separation Sciences
Native top-down proteomics
Protein function/structure relationship
Education
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Scripps Research, 2018-2023
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Maryland, 2017-2018
- Ph.D., The University of Queensland, 2016
- M.Sc., University of Sao Paulo, 2008
Research Interests
The significance of structure-function relationships is clearly observed in several biologically relevant problems, ranging from understanding how tumors develop drug resistance to the design of effective therapeutic agents that inhibit the actions of target proteins. For instance, most cellular functions, including those linked to health and disease, are governed by protein complexes that are often formed via non-covalent interactions of monomeric protein subunits. These individual proteins adopt various modified forms “proteoforms” as a result of numerous structural changes (e.g., posttranslational modifications and truncations). Proteoforms influence the activity, formation, and stability of functional protein complexes, and they can form numerous functional “complexoforms” from a single protein complex. Moreover, individual proteoforms can independently modulate numerous biological processes, and they can also serve as important markers of disease.
Dr. Gomes’ interdisciplinary research program in structural mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics builds on the legacy of Professor John B. Fenn’s pioneering work on the development of electrospray ionization for the MS analysis of biological macromolecules. The research in the Gomes group is focused on developing and improving bioanalytical platforms that combine chromatography, electrophoresis, ion-mobility, and mass spectrometry to probe intact proteoforms and their complexoforms within the intracellular space. These bioanalytical platforms are applied to better understand the molecular mechanisms that control metastatic tumors, drug resistance, and how lipids bind and modulate the biological activities of important drug targets such as membrane proteins. The acquired structural knowledge is then applied to identify therapeutic targets, advance the drug discovery field and ultimately, improve public health.
Select Publications
- Fabio P. Gomes, Kenneth R. Durbin, Kevin Schauer, Jerome C. Nwachukwu, Robin J. Russo, Jacqline W. Njeri, Anthony J. Saviola, Daniel B. McClatchy, Jolene K. Diedrich, Patrick T. Garrett, Alexandra B. Papa, Ianis Ciolacu, Neil L. Kelleher, Kendall W. Nettles, and John R. Yates III. Native top-down proteomics reveals EGFR–ERα signaling crosstalk in breast cancer cells dissociates NUTF2 dimers to modulate ER signaling and cell growth, (Under review).
- Fabio P. Gomes, Jolene K. Diedrich, Anthony J. Saviola, Erdogan Memili, Arlindo A. Moura, John R. Yates, III. EThcD and 213 nm UVPD for top-down analysis of bovine seminal plasma proteoforms on electrophoretic and chromatographic time frames, Analytical Chemistry, 2020, 92, 4, 2979-2987.
- Fabio P. Gomes, Robin Park, Arabela G. Viana, Carolina F. Costa, Einko Topper, Abdullah Kaya, Erdogan Memili, John R. Yates, III, Arlindo A. Moura. Protein signatures of seminal plasma from bulls with contrasting frozen-thawed sperm viability, Scientific Reports, 2020;10(1):14661.
- Fabio P. Gomes and John R. Yates, III. Recent trends of capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry in proteomics research, Mass Spectrometry Reviews, 2019;38(6):445-460.
- Fabio Gomes, Betsegaw Lemma, Dulith Abeykoon, Dapeng Chen, Yan Wang, David Fushman and Catherine Fenselau. Top-down analysis of novel synthetic branched proteins. Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 2019, 54(1):19-25.
Awards
- Travel award: American Society for Mass Spectrometry on Top-Down Proteomics
- Travel award: School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland - Australia
- Fellowship: University of Queensland Centennial Scholarship - Australia
- Fellowship: International Postgraduate Research Scholarship - Australia
- Fellowship: Coordination for Projects, Research, and Technological Studies - Brazil
- Fellowship: National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development - Brazil
- Fellowship: Institute of Pharmaceutical Research - Brazil