Luying Xun Washington State University An LC/MS Instrumentation for Biological Research
A liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) instrument is especially useful for the detection and identification of small organic compounds of biological interests, such as metabolic intermediates, organic hormones, antibiotics, and natural organic compounds. The instrument can also determine the molecular weights of proteins and can be used to assess post-translational modifications. Several research areas will benefit from this instrument. The area that will benefit the most is the study of biodegradation of environmental pollutants. The LC/MS will help elucidate biodegradation pathways of organic pollutants by detecting and identifying the metabolic intermediates. There are many pollutants and it is important to know how they are degraded so that effective methods can be designed for bioremediation. Another research area that will immediately benefit is plant biochemistry. The LC/MS will help in the areas of biosynthetic pathways of plant organic compounds that have high economic values, protein production in plant cells, and nitrogen fixation by plant/microorganism symbionts. This award will allow Washington State University to purchase a Waters LC/MS instrument. The LC component, which is the basic component in any high-performance LC instrument, is proposed to be the Waters' (Waters Corp., Milford, MA) 2690XE separation module consisting of two pumps and an autosampler. The MS detector is proposed to be Waters' ZMD [4000] detector. This detector operates in either electrospray mode or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mode and detects a mass range from 50 to 4,000 Daltons. LC/MS instruments are essential for biological researchers. This award allows the College of Science and the College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University to purchase the first LC/MS for the college. It is expected that approximately 17 undergraduate students, 24 graduate students, and 5 postdoctoral associates will be trained to use LC/MS. Moreover, the instrument will be used by students participating in training programs at Washington State University, including those students participating in the NSF IGERT program in the Center for Multiphase Environmental Research.
