5 minutes with visiting Research Assistant Professor, Adnan Halim, PhD
Adnan, where are you visiting from?
I’m visiting from the Copenhagen Center for Glycomics, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Copenhagen University
What are your research interests?
I’m interested in the regulation and functions of O-linked mannose (O-Man) glycosylations in eukaryotes. This post-translational modification (PTM) is conserved throughout evolution and servers essential cellular functions in organisms ranging from yeast to humans. However, identification of O-Man proteins and their modified sites remains technically challenging, and these limitations hamper our ability to fully understand the cellular functions of O-Man glycosylations. My research involves the use of advanced mass spectrometry to study structures, map site-specific locations and quantify changes of protein O-Man glycosylations on a proteome-wide scale.
Why have you come here to collaborate with the NCDIR in NYC?
We (my lab) recently described a new type of O-Man glycosylation found on yeast nucleocytoplasmic proteins (e.g. nucleoporins) and our hypothesis suggests that this PTM is involved in a myriad of cellular processes, mirroring the signaling- and regulatory functions of the mammalian O-GlcNAc system. We aim to explore the functions and regulations of these O-Man glycosylations, including their cross-talk with other PTMs (e.g. phosphorylation), using the yeast nuclear pore complex (NPC) as a model system.
The Rout lab is world-renowned for their pioneering structural work on the yeast NPC and their innovative interactomics platform. My visit in the Rout lab allows me to acquire key knowledge and skills in the field of interactomics. I am currently undergoing rigorous training and learning how to apply state-of-the-art methods/tools in my research related to O-Man glycosylation and the yeast NPC. The training-through-research approach is supervised by Prof. Michael P. Rout and Dr. Javier Fernandez Martinez and supported by all lab members. My long-term goal is to integrate interactomics with our main research activities focused on O-Man glycosylations upon my return to Copenhagen. We envision that this unique combination of techniques will enable major breakthroughs in mass spectrometry-based glycoproteomics and glycobiology.
Thanks Adnan! All the best for your research endeavors!