With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, Professor Bruce Macher from San Francisco State University and colleague Ten-Yang Yen will acquire a benchtop high resolution/accurate mass LC/MS/MS system. The proposal is aimed at enhancing research training and education at all levels. Research areas to be addressed with the new instrument include protein structure, proteomics, biomarker discovery, protein-protein interactions, the development of enzyme inhibitors, the mapping of post-translational modification sites on proteins, the chemistry of singlet oxygen and oxidative methods in organic chemistry, and the chemistry of fulvenes and their application to organic synthesis.
An LC/MS/MS system 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. The separated components flow into the mass spectrometer where they are ionized into a parent ion and fragment ions and their mass/charge ratio are measured. This highly sensitive technique allows determination of the masses and chemical composition of the substances in a complex mixture. The instrumentation provided by this award will provide faculty and students in several departments the opportunity to pursue research projects using state-of-the-art instrumentation. It will also be used in several laboratory courses to train significant numbers of women and students from underrepresented minority groups in the use of this important and widely applied analytical tool.
