Improvement of the mitochondria-targeted mass spectrometry probe MitoB and development of the lipophilic triphenhylphosphonium cation as a mitochondrial delivery vector

• Applicant: Dr. Yang Liu, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Biochemistry ; Analytical Chemistry ; Cell Biology
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 283290811

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are decisive for pathological oxidative damage and redox signalling. The reaction rates of ROS generation, degradation, and reaction against biological molecules are crucial to an in vivo analytical technique of these species. The use of common probes can reflect the competition with antioxidants, rather than the free radical generation rate. This is the major cause of inability of the developed approaches so far. However, the mitochondria-targeted mass spectrometry probe MitoB has specialty particular place in this field. It allows to accurately and efficiently follow the steady-state level of mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide, which is an important parameter in pathologies and is to date still under discussion. In this project some improvements will be investigated to make MitoB a better probe. These include improvement of the analytical technique, establishment of urine analysis, and method validation. Also, the use of the mitochondria-targeted feature of triphenhylphosphonium (TPP) cation will be further developed such as using the TPP group as a vector to deliver small bioactive molecules to the mitochondria.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Dr. Michael P. Murphy, Ph.D.