N-linked glycosylation is an important post translational modification, and the changes in N-glycan patterns are known to be associated with various human diseases. The study of N-glycans is crucial for the safety and efficacy of biotherapeutics. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a popular method in glycomics where glycans are identified via their mass to charge (m/z) and fragment ions. However, glycans exist as isomers arising from linkage, anomeric, and stereochemical differences.

Ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry has emerged as an orthogonal and complementary analytical technique to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in omics-based analyses. Carbohydrate-containing molecules, such as human milk oligosaccharides and glycolipids, are notoriously difficult to characterize, largely owing to their high degrees of isomeric heterogeneity. Thus, new analytical methodologies are required to improve the confidence of their characterization.

The sequencing of intact proteins within a mass spectrometer enables the profiling of post-translational modification (PTM) crosstalk but is frequently hindered by convoluted spectra and the fact that tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) techniques often generate poor sequence coverages when applied to protein ions. Ion mobility spectrometry is a promising tool to overcome the complexity of these spectra by separating ions by their mass- and size-to-charge ratios.

The fundamental building blocks of life consist of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids which are assembled from small repeating monomer subunits. Specifically monosaccharides are the precursors of carbohydrates and amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. These two monomers are chiral (except glycine) and can exist in multiple stereochemical forms making their characterization complex. 

Polyhydroxyalkanoates, a class of biodegradable polyester made by fermentation, are explored via extrusion with various additives for the goal of improving mechanical properties. Two types of PHA are used, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) with 6% hexanoate and 8% hexanoate, to understand how copolymer ratios affect properties. The two PHAs undergo blending and reactive extrusion with additives such as radical peroxide initiator, PLA, and other synthesized polyesters, and mechanical data is obtained through tensile testing.

Synthesis of complex solids is often a bottleneck of the materials by design concept. The limitations of conventional synthetic approaches resulted in inability to synthesize predicted materials in ternary and quaternary systems with drastically different reactivities of the constituent elements. Several strategies to advance synthesis and produce challenging phases will be discussed, such as averaging precursor reactivity by atomic mixing of refractory components; and prebuilding chemical bonds in the precursor.