This application is to purchase a mass spectrometer system to upgrade the mass spectrometry laboratory of the UAB Medical Center. The system currently available is an HIP-5985 Research Grade GC/MS system, and does not meet the needs of the faculty in the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health and Health Related Professions in terms of range, sensitivity and specificity. Specifically, there is a need for Fast Atom Bombardment to provide soft ionization, an extended mass range to make possible the evaluation of larger molecules up to 3000 a.m.u., high resolution to provide additional information about the chemical composition of unknowns and MS/MS to generate structure and sequence information. None of these are currently available. The research projects affected by this proposal are all funded by the Public Health Service and are located in the Medical Center at U.A.B. They include studies in the broad areas of drug-discovery for AIDS and CANCER, characterization of PROTEOGLYCANS in the kidney and brain, identification of OLIGOSACCHARIDES related to the immunochemistry of Streptococci and other oligosaccharides involved in RETROVIRUS replication. PEPTIDES SYNTHESIS is important to a number of the research projects, and it is critical that an independent means be available for evaluation of the identity and purity of those substances. At present investigators are spending excessive time and money to obtain results because they must plan around the obsolete equipment currently available. The new mass spectrometer will improve sensitivity, reliability and efficiency of research efforts and thus enhance the productivity of PHS funded projects at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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