With this award co-funded by the Division of Chemistry and the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, Professor Daniel R. Talham and colleagues John R. Reynolds, K. B. Wagener and Stephen A. Miller from the University of Florida and Kevin D. Belfield of the University of Central Florida will acquire a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI TOF-TOF MS). The award will enhance research, training and education at all levels, especially in polymer science, chemical imaging, biomarker discovery and natural products research. Specific areas of research to be investigated include studies of acyclic diene metathesis of precision olefins, multiphoton absorbing supramolecular photonic materials, biodegradable plastics, conjugated donor-acceptor polymers, peptide-based natural products, and bioanalytical applications of aptamer-based platforms.
Mass spectrometers (MS) are used to identify the chemical composition of a sample by measuring the mass of the molecular constituents in the sample after they are ionized and detected by the mass spectrometer. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) is a technique for preparing the sample to be ionized by a laser before injection into the mass spectrometer. The time of flight (TOF) mass analyzer has high sensitivity and mass accuracy to assist the analyses and interpretation of the resultant data. This open access instrument will be available to all at the Universities of Florida and Central Florida and as a service for external user groups throughout the Southeast and Puerto Rico, including several at Florida A&M University. It will provide training to undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral students in state-of-the-art mass spectrometry usage.
Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Project Outcome for MRI 1040016 Since its installation in January 2011, the AB Sciex 5800 time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) at the University of Florida (UF) has become an essential instrument for reasearch by undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty members, from within the Florida State University System and even by out-of-state academic and commercial users. The instrument, shown in the figure, was immediately available to researchers who attended the one-day training session on February 8, 2011. On-going operator training sessions, for open-access usage, are conducted by UF Mass Spectrometry Facility personnel. To date, more than twenty-five individuals have been trained as operators, and at least eight of them completed their doctoral research by August 2013. Meanhwile, off-campus researchers rely on experienced UF Mass Spectrometry Facility personnel for method development and data interpretation. Multiple commercial clients, who sought out the MS Facility, also receive data acquired from the AB Sciex 5800 TOF-MS. The majority of academic research in the last three years required matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) of proteins and peptides that are of interest in (1) mapping out azasugar biosynthetic pathways, (2) the inhibition of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) maturation, and (3) the discovery of traumatic brain injury biomarkers. The results made succeeding experiments more credible, and are essential in therapeutic drug design and medical diagnosis. Two graduate students at the UF’s Department of Chemistry used the same instrument in the development of novel enrichment materials for improving peptide sensitivity. The MALDI-TOF was also utilized in the chemical characterization of polymeric mixtures, some of which have electrochemical and fluorescence applications, while others were synthesized to increase biodegradability. Studies on metal-containing organic compounds for catalysis and for photosynthetic light harvesting systems also benefitted from said instrument. The principal investigators and various researchers are thankful to the National Science Foundation for the purchase of the AB Sciex 5800 TOF-MS through MRI 1040016. Instrument maintenance is now funded through the collection of a fee per data acquisition. The usage of the MALDI-TOF instrument will continue to grow in other areas of proteomics and polymer analysis in the foreseeable future.
