Dr. Yehia Mechref

Principal Research Interests

• Analytical
• Bioanalytical
• Chemical Separation
• Glycomics
• Glycoproeomics/Proteomics

The current advances in bioanalytical methods and instrumentation have greatly facilitated the understanding of biological processes at the molecular level. Every living organism in its environment represents a biochemically unique system whose biological functions can be better understood through analytical measurements. Isolated analytical measurements, which may help assessing the state of health within the organisms under study, are now routinely being made. Distinguishing between the “apparently healthy” and “diseased” individuals in clinical chemistry assays is often complicated by the biochemical individuality which has been recognized as an experimental complication of acquiring data from human subjects. Moreover, this aspect commonly results in considerable ranges for both often exist.

The rapidly developing fields of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, glycomics, and metabolomics are generating a vast body of biochemical information which is only sorted out through Systems Biology. Systems Biology, here, is referring to the strategy of pursuing integration of complex data about the interactions in biological systems from diverse bioanalytical techniques using multidisciplinary tools and personnel. Many research laboratories have been focusing their efforts on the overwhelming task of characterizing proteins and their voluminous posttranslation modifications following the Human Genome Project and the subsequent efforts to characterize the genomes of model animals. Inquiries into the glycomes and metabolomes of physiological fluids and tissues have been prompted by the unprecedented advances in biomolecular characterization and quantification of proteins. The ability to address these inquiries have been mainly attributed to the methodological/technological advances in biomolecular mass spectrometry and microscale separation science, as well as to the greatly improved computational capabilities (bioinformatics) which is facilitating fast data visualization and interpretation. The overarching activities in my research group are focused on the utility of molecular mass spectrometry to understand biomolecular changes attributing to disease development and progression.

Glycomics and glycoproteomics continue to be highly dynamic and interesting research areas due to the needs to comprehensively understand the biological attributes of glycosylation in many important biological functions such as immune response, cell development, cellular differentiation/adhesion and host-pathogen interactions. Moreover, aberrant glycosylation for decades has been recognized as the attribute of many mammalian diseases, including osteoarthritis, cystic fibrosis and cancer. This being said, glycomic and glycoproteomic analyses remain to be analytically very challenging mainly due to the high complexity and microheterogeneity of glycosylation processes and machineries. Therefore, more cutting-edge-analytical approaches are needed to allow more comprehensive characterization of glycosylation and subsequently better understanding of its biological roles. The ultimate goal of the research activities of my group is the comprehensive characterization of glycoprotein glycosylation sites and microheterogeneity of such sites. Accordingly, we are developing several glycomic and glycoproteomic approaches facilitating the achievement of this ultimate goal. Since interpretation and processing of glycomic and glycoproteomic data is laborious and time consuming, we are also collaborating with bioinformatics experts to develop different bioinformatic tools aiding rapid and automated data interpretation and processing. These research activities are intended to facilitate the analysis of large numbers of biological samples, thus facilitating a better understanding of disease development and progression at a molecular level.

Representative Publications

Book Chapter (4 out of 14)

• R. Zhu, E. Song, A. Hussein, F. Kobeissy, Y. Mechref "Glycoproteins Enrichment and LC-MS/MS Glycoproteomics in Central Nervous System Applications" in S. Stevens and F. Kobeissy (eds.), Neuroproteomics, Methods in Molecular Biology book series, published by Humana Press, USA, 2017. 213-227.
• K.M. Wooding, R. Zhu, L. Zacharias Y. Mechref "Chapter 21: Glycoprotein enrichment analytical techniques: advantages and disadvantages" in A. Shukla (ed.) Proteomics in Biology Methods in Enzymology, published by Elsevier, USA, 585 (2017) 397-429.
• L. Veillon, S. Zhou, Y. Mechref "Chapter 22: Quantitative Glycomics: a combined analytical and bioinformatics approach" " in A. Shukla (ed.) Proteomics in Biology Methods in Enzymology, published by Elsevier, USA, 585 (2017) 431-477.
• S. Zhou, K. M. Wooding, Y. Mechref "Analysis of Permethylated Glycan by Liquid Chromatography (LC) and Mass Spectrometry (MS)" in M. Wuhrer and G. Lauc (eds.), High-throughput glycomics and glycoproteomics, Methods in Molecular Biology book series, published by Humana Press, USA, 1503 (2017) 83-96.

Review Articles (6 out of 24)

• A. Nokkari, Y. Mechref, S. Mondello, M. S. Kindy, A. Jaffa, F. Kobeissy, "Implication of the Kallikrein-Kinin System on Neurological Disorders: Quest for Potential Biomarkers and Mechanisms", Prog. Neurobiol., (2017), in press.
• L. Veillon, C. Fakih, H. A. Hassan, F. Kobeissy, Y. Mechref "Glycosylation Changes in Brain Cancer", ACS Chem. Neurosci., in press.
• L. Veillon, Y. Huang, W. Peng, X. Dong, B.G. Cho, Y. Mechref "Characterization of Isomeric Glycan Structures by LC-MS/MS" Electrophoresis, 38 (2017) 2100-2114.
• A. Banazadeh, L. Veillon, K.M. Wooding, M. Zabet-Moghaddam, Y. Mechref "Recent Advances in Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Glycoproteins", Electrophoresis, 38 (2017) 162-189.
• H. Abou Abbass, H. Abou El Hassan, H. Bahmad, A. Zebian, R. Youssef, J. Ismail, K. Zibara, R. Zhu, H. Darwish, Y. Mechref, F. Kobeissy, Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1549-1561.
• K. M. Wooding and Y. Mechref, "Characterization of Pharmaceutical IgG and Biosimilars Using Miniaturized Platform and LC-MS/MS", Curr. Pharm. Biotechnol., 17 (2016) 788 - 801.

Research Papers (26 out of 164)

• M. Al Hariri, M. Medawar, R. Zhu , M. A. Jaffa, J. Zhao, P. Mirzaei, A. Ahmed, F. Kobeissy, F. N. Ziyadeh, Y. Mechref and A. A. Jaffa "Proteome Profiling in the Aorta and Kidney of Type 1 Diabetic Rats", PLOS ONE, 12(11) (2017) e0187752.
• S. Zhou, L. Veillon, X. Dong, Y. Huang, and Y. Mechref, "Isomeric Separation Direct Comparison of Derivatization Strategies for LCMS/MS Analysis of N-Glycans" Analyst, 142 (2017) 4446-4455.
• Y. Huang, S. Zhou, J. Zhu, D. M. Lubman and Y. Mechref "LC-MS/MS Isomeric Profiling of Permethylated N-Glycans Derived from Serum Haptoglobin of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and Cirrhotic Patients", Electrophoresis, 38 (2017) 2160-2167.
• W. Peng, Y. Zhang, R. Zhu, Y. Mechref "Comparative Membrane Proteomics Analyses of Breast Cancer Cell Lines to Understand the Molecular Mechanism of Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis", Electrophoresis, 38 (2017) 2124-2134.
• X. Wang, S. Li, W. Peng, Y. Mechref, H. Tang "A Sparse Latent Regression Approach for Integrative Analysis of Glycomic and Glycotranscriptomic Data" Proceedings of the 8th ACM International Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Health Informatics, ACM, 273-278.
• W. Elmasri, R. Zhu, W. Peng, M. Al-Hariri, F. Kobeissy, P. Tran, A. Hamood, M.-E. Hegazy, P. Pare, Y. Mechref "Multi-Targeted Flavonoid Inhibition of the Pathogenic Bacterium Staphylococcus Aureus: A Proteomic Characterization" J. Proteome Res., 169 (2017) 2579-2586.
• S. Zhou, Y. Huang, X. Dong, W. Peng, L. Veillon, D. A. S. Kitagawa, A. J. A. Aquino and Y. Mechref, "Isomeric Separation of Permethylated Glycans by Porous Graphitic Carbon (PGC)-LC-MS at High-Temperatures," Anal. Chem., 89 (2017) 6590–6597.
• M. M Gaye, T. Ding, H. Shion, A. Hussein, Y. Hu, S. Zhou, Z. T. Hammoud, B. K. Lavine, Y. Mechref, J. C. Gebler, D. E. Clemmer "Delineation of Disease Phenotypes Associated with Esophageal Adenocarcinoma by MALDI-IMS-MS Analysis of Serum N-linked Glycans," Analyst, 142 (2017) 1525-1535.
• B.K. Lavine, C.G. White, L. DeNoyer, Y. Mechref "Multivariate classification of disease phenotypes of esophageal adenocarcinoma by pattern recognition analysis of MALDI-TOF mass spectra of serum N-linked glycans," Microchem. J. 132 (2017) 83-88.
• S. Zhou, X. Dong, L. Veillon, Y. Huang, Y. Mechref "LC-MS/MS Analysis of Permethylated N-Glycans Facilitating Isomeric Characterization" Anal. Bioanal.Chem., 409 (2017) 453–466.
• H. W Ressom, C. Di Poto, A. Ferrarini, Y. Hu, M. R. N. Ranjbar, E. Song, R. S Varghese, M. Wang, S. Zhou, R. Zhu, Y. Zuo, M. G Tadesse, Y. Mechref, "Multi-omic approaches for characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma" 38th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), (2016) 3437-3440.
• H. Yin, J. Zhu, J. Wu, Z. Tan, M. An, S. Zhou, Y. Mechref, D. M. Lubman, "A procedure for the analysis of site-specific and structure-specific fucosylation in Alpha-1-Antitrypsin", Electrophoresis, 37 (2016) 2624-2632.
• L. G. Zacharias, A. K. Hartmann, E. Song, J. Zhao, R. Zhu, P. Mirzaei, and Y. Mechref "HILIC and ERLIC Enrichment of Glycopeptides Derived from Breast and Brain Cancer Cells" J. Proteome Res., 15 (2016), 3624-3634.
• W. A. Elmasri, T. Yang, M-E. F. Hegazya, Y. Mechref, P. W. Pare "Iridoid and secoiridoid glycosides permethylation enhances chromatographic separation and chemical ionization for LC-MS/MS structural characterization", Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 30 (2016) 2033-2042.
• S. Jayaraman, R. Zhu, N. J. Wangler, Y. Mechref, T. J. Abbruscato, D. A. Ostrov, and V. T. Karamyan, "Discovery of Small molecule Allosteric Potentiotiators of Peptidase Neurlysin," J. Biotech., 234 (2016) 105-115.
• S. Zhou, Y. Hu, S. I. Snovida, J. C. Rogers, J. Saba and Y. Mechref "Quantitative LC-MS/MS Glycomic Analysis of Biological Samples Using AminoxyTMT", Anal. Chem., (2016) 7515-7522.
• H. Abou Abbass, H. Bahmad, H. Abou El Hassan, K. Mallah, J. Fares, A. Zebian, K. Zibara, E. Hemadeh, Y. Comair, S. Atweh, H. Darwish, R. Zhu, Y. Mechref, F. Kobeissy "Deciphering Glycomics and Neuroproteomic Alterations in Experimental TBI: Comparative Analysis to Aspirin & Clopidogrel Treatment", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1562-1576.
• S. Zhou, Y. Hu, Y. Mechref "High-Temperature LC-MS/MS of Permethylated Glycans Derived from Glycoproteins", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1506-1513.
• J. Zhao, E. Song, R. Zhu, Y. Mechref, "Parallel Data Acquisition of In-source Fragmented Glycopeptides to Characterize the Peptide Backbones and Glycan Structures", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1420-1430.
• X. Dong, S. Zhou, N. Tello, and Y. Mechref, "LC-MS/MS Analysis of Permethylated Free Oligosaccharides and N-glycans Released from Human Milk", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1532-1548.
• S. Zhou, N. Tello, A. Harvey, B. Boyes, R. Orlando and Y. Mechref, "Reliable Quantitative glycomics using LC-MS and iGlycoMab Stable Isotope Labeled Glycan Standard", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1489-1497.
• Y. Hu, T. Shihab, and Y. Mechref "LC-MSMS of Permethylated N-glycans Derived from Model Glycoproteins and Human Blood Serum", Electrophoresis, 11 (2016) 1498-1505.
• C-Y. Yu, A. Mayampurath, E. Song, Y. Mechref, and Haixu Tang "Automated glycan sequencing from tandem mass spectra of N-linked glycopeptides" Anal. Chem., 88 (2016) 5725-5732. DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b04858.
• R. Zhu, F. Kobeissy, M. S. Gold, K. K. Wang, Y. Mechref "Effect of Chronic Methamphetamine Exposure on the Neuroproteomics of Rat Brain Tissues" PLOS One, PLoS ONE 11(4) (2016): e0151034. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151034.
• F. Niere, S. Namjoshi, E. Song, G.A. Dilly, G. Schoenhard, B.V. Zemelman, Y. Mechref, K. F. Raab-Graham "Analysis of proteins that rapidly change upon mTORC1 repression identifies Park7 as a novel protein aberrantly expressed in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex" Mol. Cell Proteomics, 15 (2016) 426-444.
• W. A. Elmasri, M-E. F. Hegazy, Y. Mechref, P. W. Pare "Structure-antioxidant and anti-tumor activity of Teucrium polium phytochemicals" Phytochem. Lett., 15 (2016) 81-87.