With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program and the Chemistry Division, Teresa Garrett from Vassar College will acquire a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF). The award will enhance research training and education especially in studies of the biochemistry of glycerophospholipid headgroup acylation in Gram-negative bacteria, the metabolic changes that occur during the establishment of symbiosis in Cnidarians, the biochemical modification of an enzyme involved in bio-bleaching, the structure of microbially derived biosurfactants, identification of ligands for orphan nuclear receptors, and characterization of fullerene organic reaction intermediates.
This mass spectrometer (Q-TOF) will be coupled to a high-resolution liquid chromatography system. This combines the physical separation capability of liquid chromatography with the mass analysis ability of mass spectrometry. The liquid chromatograph separates a mixture into its molecular components. These components flow into a mass spectrometer where their masses, and those of their fragments, are measured. A Q-TOF mass spectrometer is a special design that provides high mass accuracy, sensitivity and resolution that allows detection and determination of the structure of molecules in a complex mixture. The instrumentation will provide faculty and students in several institutions including Vassar College, Marist College, Bard College, and SUNY New Paltz, the opportunity to pursue research projects using modern instrumentation not heretofore available at the institutions. It will also be used in several laboratory courses to train significant numbers of students in the use of this important analytical technique.
The quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF-MS) acquired using this Major Research Instrumentation Award has positively impacted the research and teaching activities at Vassar College and other primarily undergraduate institutions in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York. Five faculty have become quite adept at using the instrument and multiple students have gained hands-on experience with this state-of-the-art instrumentation. The instrument has been used in undergraduate teaching laboratories greatly increasing the number of students exposed to this analytical technique. A number of research pursuits have been extended using this instrumentation. Several projects focused on understanding the structure and function of lipids have been enhanced by data from the Q-TOF-MS. One investigated the composition of lipids involved in the symbiotic relationship in a coral model system; understanding the changes that occur at a molecular level during the establishment, maintenance, and disintegration of symbiosis may help researchers understand the molecular processes that occur during coral bleaching. A second project characterized the composition of a lipid called cardiolipin in the model Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli. Others involved careful characterization of the structure of lipids in E. coli so as to better understand how these lipids are made in cells. Lastly, collaborations with other researchers have been established by the PI to assist in the identification of and structural characterization of lipids made by Pseudomonas and Bacillus. Multiple projects on the chemical synthesis of interesting molecules that are chemical catalysts were facilitated by data collected on the Q-TOF MS. These projects required the high resolution, accurate mass measurements that the Q-TOF-MS is capable of making to confirm that the compounds synthesized and purified had the correct elemental composition. In total, 12 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and more than 10 poster presentations have been made at local, regional, and national meetings that rely on data from the Q-TOF MS. Multiple undergraduates are co-authors on these works. This instrument has had a large impact on the students and faculty that have been able to use the Q-TOF-MS. After three faculty at Vassar College took a four-day training course on the use and maintenance of the Q-TOF-MS, they trained other users, expanding the number of researchers who can use the instrument and interpret the complex data correctly. The Q-TOF MS has also been used in Biochemistry classroom teaching, exposing more than 200 students to this instrument in a hands-on manner. These students might not ordinarily have had access to such high-end instrumentation and are thus empowered to use this technology or other similar technology as they move forward in their scientific careers.
