This proposal is a request for funding for an Agilent 7200 GC/Q-TOF mass spectrometer for the University of Utah Metabolomics Core Facility. The instrument will serve two primary purposes: 1) replace an aging, lower performance and unreliable GC-MS with a high performance instrument that provides advanced research capabilities, and 2) increase sample analysis efficiency and capacity for the Metabolomics Core for the approximately 40 different users of GC-MS, annually. Based upon recent use of the GCT Premier 10 major users from the University of Utah, with 11 active NIH- funded grants, have been identified with current and future research projects, which ensure immediate and long-term continued use of the Agilent 7200. All of these users have a long term history with the Metabolomics Core, leveraging the Core's GC-MS capabilities to further their NIH funded research. The current GC-MS instrumentation has contributed to over 32 publications, many in high impact journals including Science, PNAS, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Cell Biology. The Agilent 7200 GC/Q-TOF is a high-performance mass spectrometer that provides the high sensitivity, high isotope accuracy, wide dynamic range, and the versatility needed for metabolomics and fluxomics analysis. In addition, this instrument is easy to operate and will require minimal training. The Metabolomics Core currently owns and operates four other Agilent instruments, the operating software as well as the data analysis software are the same across three out of four of these instruments. The 7200 GC/Q-TOF will be housed in the Metabolomics Core which is centrally located to the major users. The Metabolomics Core is administered by the Institution, within a well-structured Core Research Facilities framework, including Oversight and Advisory committees. There is very strong Institutional financial support to ensure long-term utilization of the instrument, including service agreements and full-time Ph.D. mass spectrometrists to operate the instrument. The long-term impact to the University of Utah and the regional institutions will be a state of the art work horse mass spectrometer to further the goals of the NIH funded researchers. The Core has a long history of maximizing the current GC-MS instrumentation to aid in important discoveries in the field of metabolism, cancer research, and the microbiome.
This mass spectrometer will aid investigators at the University of Utah make new discoveries and stimulate innovative research into metabolism. This includes using the instrument to perform in depth metabolic profiling of model organisms and humans in support of unravelling the causes of diseases such as diabetes and in-born errors of metabolism.
