Staff

Dr. Misra is a Research Scientist and Core Manager of the Analytical and Biophysical Chemistry Research Core (ABC Core). He has the expertise, training, and experience in various proteomics, glycomics, and metabolomics technologies using high-resolution mass spectrometry and other biophysical techniques.

He helped improve the hydroxyl radical protein footprinting methods and successfully applied them to several studies, most notably in the studies of allosteric cation-independent mannose phosphate receptor, adalimumab, and VAR2CSA. He has extensive experience in glycopeptide identification, monosaccharide composition analysis, and other glycomics technologies, including the interaction of proteins and glycosaminoglycans. He is well-versed in various proteomics search engines, including Byonic, Mascot, MaxQuant, and Proteome Discoverer. He manages ABC core and has strong project management skills.

Quadrat Yusuph

Graduate Student

Chemistry

Ajay Sharma

Dr. Ajay Sharma is an experienced Analytical Chemist with expertise in organic chemistry, natural products, food chemistry, and biochemistry. He holds a master’s degree in Chemistry (Major: Chemistry, Minor: Biochemistry, 2011) from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (Natural Products, 2019) from Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, Punjab, India with Inspire Fellowship.

Currently, Dr. Sharma is serving as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Biomolecular Science, University of Mississippi (April 2024 – present). Prior to this, he worked as a Senior Executive for Food Adulteration at the Nestle Food Safety Institute (NFSI) at the Nestle R&D Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon, India (July 2022 – March 2024). Before joining Nestle, Dr. Sharma was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry, UCRD, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India (August 2018 – July 2022).

Dr. Sharma is highly skilled in the characterization and identification of compounds using a wide range of analytical techniques, including Mass Spectrometry, LC-MS/MS, GC-MS, GC-MS/MS, and GC-GC-TOF. He has extensive experience in method development and validation for the identification of small molecules, contaminants, adulterants, and plant toxins.

Currently, Dr. Sharma’s research focuses on evaluating various applications of hydroxyl radical protein footprinting using the newly developed Flash Oxidation (Fox) Protein Footprinting System and LC-MS/MS for protein structural characterization.

Mingming Zhao

Dr. Mingming Zhao earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Macau. She has been involved in the development and application of advanced mass spectrometry techniques (GC-MS, LC-MS) for both targeted and untargeted metabolomics, with a focus on discovering marker compounds of pharmaceutical interest.

Currently, Dr. Zhao is pioneering the development of a mass spectrometry-based radical protein footprinting approach to study the structural pharmacology of protein pharmaceuticals in whole blood. Her research centers on characterizing protein conformation and interactions within the native biomedical matrix of whole blood from type 2 diabetes models. Additionally, Dr. Zhao serves as a guest associate editor for the Journal of Frontiers in Pharmacology.