Forest White, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biological Engineering

Research group web site

Email: fwhite@mit.edu
Office: 56-787
Phone: (617) 258-8949
Administrative Assistant: Marcia Weir

Research Focus

The focus of research in my lab is the identification of protein phosphorylation events regulating signal transduction cascades associated with cancer and other biological processes. With our mass spectrometry-based technology, identification of protein phosphorylation occurs on a global scale, allowing for mapping of complex signal transduction cascades in a variety of biological samples. Initially, we will apply the technology to cancer, starting with human cell lines and progressing to a variety of other model systems, with the goal of analyzing staged human clinical samples. Elucidation of signal transduction cascades involved in oncogenesis, cancer progression, and metastasis will generate both novel drug targets and a host of biological markers, allowing for early diagnosis and tracking of cancer progression. A variety of other applications will be pursued, including mapping the phosphorylation events associated with DNA damage response and cell cycle regulation.

Selected Publications

Marto, J.A.; White, F.M.; Seldomridge, S.; Marshall, A.G. "Structural Characterization of Phospholipids by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry", Anal. Chem. 67, 3979-3984 (1995).

Solouki, T.; Marto, J.A.; White, F.M.; Guan, S.; Marshall, A.G. "Attomole Biomolecule Mass Analysis by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance", Anal. Chem. 67, 4139-4144 (1995).

White, F.M.; Marto, J.A.; Marshall, A.G. "An External Source 7 Tesla FT-ICR Mass Spectrometer with Electrostatic Ion Guide", Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 10,1845-1849 (1996).

Senko, M.W.; Hendrickson, C.L.; Pasa-Tolic, L.; Marto, J.A.; White, F.M.; Guan, S.; Marshall, A.G. "Electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance at 9.4 Tesla", Rapid Commun. in Mass Spectrom. 10, 1824-1828 (1996).

Emmett, M.R.; White, F.M.; Hendrickson, C.L.; Shi. S.D.-H.; Marshall, A.G. “Application of Micro-Electrospray Liquid Chromatography Techniques to FT-ICR MS to Enable High-Sensitivity Biological Analysis”, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 9, 333-340 (1998)

Rodgers, R.P.; White, F.M.; Hendrickson, C.L.; Marshall, A.G.; Andersen, K.V. “Resolution, Elemental Composition, and Simultaneous Monitoring by Fourier Transform Ion cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry of Organosulfur Species Before and After Diesel Fuel Processing", Anal. Chem. 70, 4743-4750 (1998).

Shabanowitz, J.; Settlage, R.E.; Marto, J.A.; Christian, R.E.; White, F.M.; Russo, P.S.; Martin, S.E.; Hunt, D.F. “Sequencing the Primordial Soup”, In Mass Spectrometry in Biology and Medicine, A.L. Burlingame, S.A. Carr, and M.A. Baldwin, eds. Humana Press, Totowa, N.J. (1999)

Pierce, R.A.; Field, E.D.; den Haan, J.M.M.; Caldwell, J.A.; White, F.M.; Marto, J.A.; Wang, W.; Frost, L.M.; Blokland, E.; Reinhardus, C.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.F.; Goulmy E.; Engelhard V.H. “Cutting edge: The HLA-A*0101-restricted HY minor histocompatibility antigen originates from DFFRY and contains a cysteinylated cysteine residue as identified by a novel mass spectrometric technique”, J. Immunol. 163, 6360-6364 (1999).

Zarling, A.L.; Ficarro, S.B.; White, F.M.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.F.; Engelhard, V.H. “Phosphorylated peptides are naturally processed and presented by MHC class I molecules in vivo”, J. Exp. Med. 192, 1755-1762 (2000).

Nepom, G.T.; Lippolis, J.D.; White, F.M.; Masewicz, S.; Marto, J.A.; Herman, A.; Luckey, C.J.; Falk, B.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.F.; Engelhard, V.H. “Identification and modulation of a naturally processed T-cell epitope from the diabetes-associated autoantigen hGAD65”, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98, 1763-1768 (2001).

Ficarro, S.B.; McCLeland, M.L.; Stukenberg, P.T.; Burke, D.J.; Ross, M.M.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.H.; White, F.M. “Phosphoproteome analysis by mass spectrometry and its application to Saccharomyces cerevisiae”, Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 301-305 (2002).

Flyer, D.C.; Ramakrishna, V.; Miller, C.; Myers, H.; McDaniel, M.; Root, K.; Flournoy, C.; Engelhard, V.H.; Canaday, D.H.; Marto, J.A.; Ross, M.M.; Hunt, D.F.; Shabanowitz, J.; White, F.M. “Identification by mass spectrometry of CD8+-T-Cell Mycobacterium tuberculosis epitopes within the Rv0341 gene product”, Infect. Immun. 70, 2926-2932 (2002).

Goeli, D.; Ficarro, S.B.; Kwiek, J.J.; Aaronson, D.; Hancock, M.; Catling, A.D.; White, F.M.; Christian, R.E.; Settlage, R.E.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.F.; Weber, M.J. “Androgen receptor phosphorylation – regulation and identification of the phosphorylation sites”, J. Biol. Chem., 277, 29304-29314 (2002).

Lippolis, J.D.; White, F.M.; Marto, J.A.; Luckey, C.J.; Bullock, T.N.; Shabanowitz, J.; Hunt, D.F.; Engelhard, V.E. “Analysis of MHC Class II Antigen Processing by Quantitation of Peptides that Constitute Nested Sets”, J. Immunol. 169, 5089-5097 (2002).

Ficarro, S.B.; Chertihin, O.; Westbrook, V.A.; White, F.M.; Jayes, F.; Kalab, P.; Marto, K.A.; Shabanowitz, J.; Herr, J.C.; Hunt, D.F.; Visconti, P.E. “Phosphoproteome of capacitated human sperm”, J. Biol. Chem. 278, 11579-11589 (2003).