The Non-Canonical Proteome Uniquely Populates the Proteome or Immunopeptidome

Maria Virginia Ruiz Cuevas, co-supervision with Claude Perreault

Important evidence demonstrates the presence of a non-canonical proteome that originates from allegedly non-coding transcripts. These proteins appear to possess distinct properties compared to canonical proteins (annotated proteome) making them elusive in conventional whole proteome studies. Maria Virginia aims to broaden the non-canonical proteome landscape in order to improve the comprehensiveness of the protein synthesis process in cancer and normal cells through the identification and the study of the properties of the non-canonical proteome. She hypothesizes that combining mass spectrometry (MS) analyses of the repertoire of peptides that report the intracellular state to the immune system cells (immunopeptidome), and MS analysis of the whole proteome extracts will provide a complete landscape of the non-canonical proteome.