The Boston University Mass Spectrometry Resource for Biology and Medicine serves as the successor to the MIT Resource. The BUSM Resource will assume many of the assets of the MIT Resource in terms of both personnel and equipment and take on its responsibilities. C.E. Costello and V.N. Reinhold, Harvard School of Public health, have joined their research efforts and serve as Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the new Resource. This combination of former MIT and Harvard School of Public health laboratories provides a strong base for the BUSM MS Resource, and makes efficient use of research funds by bringing together complementary experience and equipment and avoiding potential redundancies. The goals of the BUSM MS Resource are: 1) advancement of mass spectrometric methods and instrumentation to meet established needs in biochemistry and medicine, 2) identification of new areas appropriate for MS in the health sciences, 3) development of new MS-based approaches to meet the requirements of these fields, 4) application of cutting-edge MS to the solution of critical questions in the life sciences, 5) training of students, postdoctoral fellows and practicing scientists in mass spectrometry, and 6) education of the local, national and international community about modern mass spectrometry to encourage its wide and appropriate use. Goals (1) and (3) constitute Technological Research and Development, (4) represents Collaborative and User interactions and (5) includes Training and Dissemination. The focus of activity will be the development and utilization of sensitive and structural-information-rich methods to address fundamental issues in glycobiology at both the research and clinical level; close interactions with colleagues in many disciplines will be encouraged. Mass spectrometric approaches will primarily include electrospray and matrix-assisted laser desorption as ionization methods. The application of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS to biochemical problems will be explored and its results compared to 4-sector, triple quadrupole and time-of-flight mass analysis. Collaborative and User projects will involve life science investigators throughout the US and abroad.
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