This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Support from the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program has allowed Mississippi State University to purchase a Thermo Scientific LTQ Velos Orbitrap mass spectrometer for quantifying and describing proteins and their modifications. Being able to do such work is a fundamental component for understanding the functional complexity and emergent properties of life from genome sequences upwards. This equipment advances our "omic" biology research and education in 13 departments in five colleges and promotes greater trans-disciplinary research and teaching collaborations. It is used in many areas of bioscience in Mississippi including: bacteriology, cell physiology, computer science, bioenergy, forestry, immunology, informatics, neuroscience, parasitology, plant science, reproductive biology, toxicology and virology. Specific example projects include: genome-wide mapping of histone state and epigenetic regulatory networks in Arabidopsis to understand transcription control; enabling proteomics mass spectrometrists to derive more value from their mass spectral data by combining quantum mechanics computation with experimental- and computational-proteomics using new algorithms for peptide/protein identification; developing novel computational methods to improve signal processing sensitivity in biological mass spectrometry; understanding interactions between the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and it's human and animal hosts; using computational systems biology and experimental validation to understand how complex interconnected functional networks of proteins, metabolites, nucleic acids and other molecules orchestrate cellular functions and responses to external and intrinsic signals. We continue our existing work to leverage methods used in biomedical organisms, like mouse, to solve problems in species that have important economic and environmental impacts. Training workshops will be conducted for teachers and students, and networking will foster collaborative research and teaching interactions between regional institutions. Project outcomes will be disseminated by student and faculty presentations at regional or national meetings, published in peer-reviewed journals, and made available via the AgBase Database (www.agbase.msstate.edu).
