About the group

The Hakansson group applies state-of-the-art mass spectrometry (MS), particularly Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) MS, to complex mixture analysis from biological to environmental to fuel matrices. We are located at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab), home of the most powerful mass spectrometers in the world! At the MagLab we are part of a team developing next generation instrumentation and data analysis platforms for detailed analysis of highly complex mixtures. Prof. Hakansson’s main expertise is in the areas below but students and postdocs are jointly supervised depending on research interests. 1) identification and characterization of protein posttranslational modifications; 2) mapping macromolecular contact surfaces; 3) exploration of the gas-phase fragmentation behavior of various biomolecules following ion-electron reactions; and 4) probing covalent intermediates in the catalysis of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and polyketide synthases. A major goal is to excel in both analytical technique development and biologically relevant problem solving.

Hakansson ORCID profile
ICR Group -Maglab

Featured Publications

Youssef, M. M.; Szot, C. W.; Ayad, M. F.; Hussein, L. A.; Abdel-Ghany, M. F.; Bailey, R. C.; Mostafa, A. M.; Hakansson, K. Mass Spectrometry and Enzyme Assays Refute Histone Tyrosine Sulfation. Nature Chemical Biology 2025, 21, 1667–1670.

DeFiglia, Steven A.; Lee, Teresa; Mikawy, Neven N.; Szot, Carson W.; Håkansson, Kristina. Extraction anode lens effects in gas phase peptide cation-electron reactions. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 2024, 496, 117023.

 

Mikawy, N. N.; Rojas Ramírez, C.; DeFiglia, S. A.; Szot, C. W.; Le, J.; Lantz, C.; Wei, B.; Zenaidee, M. A.; Blakney, G. T.; Nesvizhskii, A. I.; Loo, J. A.; Ruotolo, B. T.; Shabanowitz, J.; Anderson, L. C.; Håkansson, K. Are Internal Fragments Observable in Electron Based Top-Down Mass Spectrometry? Mol. Cell. Proteomics. 2024, 23 (9), 100814. 

Youssef, M. M.; Szot, C. W.; Folz, J.; Collier, L. M.; Kweon, H. K.; DeFiglia, S. A.; Ayad, M. F.; Hussein, L. A.; Abdel-Ghany, M. F.; Hakansson, K. Electron Capture vs Transfer Dissociation for Site Determination of Tryptic Peptide Tyrosine Sulfation: Direct Detection of Fibrinogen Sulfation Sites and Identification of Novel Isobaric Interferences. Journal of Proteome Research 2024, 23, 2386–2396.

DeFiglia, S. A.; Szot, C. W.; Hakansson, K. Negative-Ion Electron Capture Dissociation of MALDI-Generated Peptide Anions. Analytical Chemistry 2024, 96, 8800–8806.