Insight into biologically active substances gained through mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is allowing the detection of biologically active substances as a means of exploring the nature of the human being.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany are looking at glycosylated proteins, in which carbohydrates bind to amino acids.

This is a largely unexplored area of human physiology, they say, but is crucial in the formation of organisms and of organs within the body.

"Many biological mechanisms - like immune response, apoptosis or pathogenesis of diseases - are based on the subsequent transformation of single components of proteins, the amino acids," the researchers add.

By filtering samples to extract poorly accessible proteins, the newly devised method of mass spectrometry allows these biologically active substances to be examined more closely.

In turn, the processes that take place within the human body can hopefully be understood in more detail in the years to come.

The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science exists to promote research across a variety of disciplines, much of which is carried out at its own institutes.