With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, the Chemistry Department at Boise State University will acquire a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) for research and education. The instrumentation will be used in various research projects on topics such as: 1) Global consequences of interruption of microbial population signaling pathways. 2) Analysis of fuel combustion products: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in airborne particulates. 3) DNA-binding properties of synthetic aziridinomitosenes. 4) Tyrosine-O-sulfation as a mechanism for stabilization of molecular interactions within the extracellular matrix during vertebrate skeletal development. 5) Environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology. 6) Identification of aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands during cell cycle progression.
Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique used to identify the chemical composition of a sample and to determine its purity by measuring the mass of the molecular constituents in the sample. A tandem mass spectrometer system is two mass spectrometers in series to better identify the constituents under study. Chromatography is an isolation technique that precedes the mass spectrometry analysis. It separates a mixture into its several constituent chemicals which are then analyzed and identified by the mass spectrometer. These are some of the most widely used analytical instrumentation techniques used to identify and quantify the chemical composition of a sample. The LC-MS/MS would improve the education and training of undergraduate and graduate students at Boise State University through its incorporation into lecture and laboratory work in advanced instrumentation, biophysics, and biochemistry. Faculty and investigators at surrounding institutions, College of Idaho, Northwest Nazarene, the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center and State of Idaho labs will have access to the mass spectrometer system.
