Bilateral Scientific and Technological Cooperation:

Serbia – France, 2012 – 2013

(Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development)

PROJECT TITLE: " Photon and electron spectroscopy of pure and nano-solvated biomolecules isolated in gas phase "

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR – France:

Dr. Alexandre Giuliani,

Synchrotron SOLEIL,  L'Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France, alexandre.giuliani@synchrotron-soleil.fr

PARTICIPANTS: Dr Matthieu Refregiers, Dr Francis Canon.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR – Republic of Serbia:

Dr. Aleksandar Milosavljević,

Institut za fiziku (IFB), Pregrevica 118, 11080 Zemun, vraz@phy.bg.ac.yu

PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Bratislav Marinković, Dr. Nikola Škoro, Jelena Maljković

Project description

The main objective of the project is to investigate the interaction of photons and electrons with large biopolymers (protein and nucleic acids) and small molecules representing their building blocks. The targets will be either isolated in the gas phase or nanosolvated in a cluster with selected number of water molecules. This would allow the investigation of fundamental physical properties of important biomolecules, free of the effects of counterions and solvent molecules. Also, the consequence of gradual solvation by water molecules will be probed for biomolecules. Moreover, the fragmentations generated upon the interaction will be evaluated in the perspective of sequencing, i.e. as a method for tandem mass spectrometry. This aspect has important applications in proteomics.

In line with the above described objectives, the project activities will also include further improvement of a novel experimental system for tandem mass spectrometry and spectroscopy of electrosprayed ions in a linear quadrupole ion trap using synchrotron radiation, which has been recently developed at SOLEIL synchrotron facility (under the ANR project led by Dr Alexandre Giuliani and during the postdoctoral work of Dr Aleksandar Milosavljevic), as well as design of a new nano-particle source for electron spectroscopy of large biopolymers and bioclusters at the Institute of Physics Belgrade.sks:

Activities

2012

Serbia ® France

- Jelena Maljković (Institute of Physics Belgrade) spent 5 days at SOLEIL synchrotron, France, in April 2012. During her visit, Jelena participated in measurements on VUV photon induced dissociation of hydrated biomolecular ions trapped in a quadrupole ion trap. The measurements were conducted on DESIRS beamline, in the frame of a regular project (#20110694).

- Dr Aleksandar Milosavljević (Institute of Physics Belgrade) spent 7 days at SOLEIL synchrotron, France, in July 2012. During his visit, Dr Milosavljević participated in the experiment on X-ray spectroscopy of trapped protein ions (as a main proposer of the project #20120117 performed at PLEIADES beamline). Additionally, during his stay at SOLEIL, Dr Milosavljević presented a seminar organized by Atomic and molecular section of the SOLEIL synchrotron, entitled „Ionization energy of gas phase proteins and its dependence on charge state“. Finally, the visit was also used to plan further activities and prepare publications.

- Dr Bratislav Marinković (Institute of Physics Belgrade) spent 4 days at SOLEIL synchrotron, France, in September 2012. During his visit, Dr Marinković discussed futer activities, learned about existing experimental possibilities at SOLEIL and attended the meeting „High Resolution Spectroscopies of Isolated Species: present and future directions – HRSIS 2012“ which was organized at SOLEIL.

France ® Serbia

- Dr Alexandre Giuliani spent 13 days in Belgrade in October 2012. During his visit Dr Giuliani discussed the results obtained in Belgrade, which are important for development of new experimental setup. His input was very important in defining the strategy for development of complementary electron scattering experiment in Belgrade. Part of the time has been also used for preparation of joint publications, as well as for visits of other laboratories at the Institute of Physics Belgrade, which could potentially result in new project propels at SOLEIL synchrotron. Moreover, Dr Giuliani has given two seminars during his stay in Serbia, one at the Institute of Physics Belgrade and one at the Institute for nuclear sciences “Vinca”. Finally, during the visit, dr Milosavljevic and dr Giuliani had a meeting with Mr Frédéric Remay, attaché de coopération universitaire et scientifique, Institute Francais in Belgrade, where they have discussed future collaborations and bilateral activities.

Publications and reports

Papers and Letters (Refereed) in leading international journals

Structure and charge-state dependence of gas phase ionization energy of proteins,

Alexandre Giuliani, Aleksandar R. Milosavljević, Konrad Hinsen, Francis Canon, Christophe Nicolas, Matthieu Réfrégiers and Laurent Nahon,

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51, 9552 (2012)

(this work has been also reported in 2012 news at SOLEIL synchrotron:

http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/portal/page/portal/Soleil/ToutesActualites/2012/DESIRSphotoionisation )

Conference proceedings

Photodissociation of pure and nanosolvated protonated leucineenkephalin peptide,

A. R. Milosavljević, F. Canon, J. B. Maljković, L. Nahon and A. Giuliani,

Proc. 26th Summer School and International Symposium on Physics of Ionized Gases SPIG, 27th – 30th Aug. 2012, Zrenjanin, Serbia, Book of Contributed Papers & Abstracts of Invited Lectures and Progress Reports, editors: M. Kuraica and Z. Mijatović, ISBN 978-86-7031-242-5, Contributed Paper, pp.55 – 58.