This award will support the purchase of a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer for use in the analysis of high molecular weight biomolecules. There are seven major users of this equipment. Projects include the study of coiled coil interactions and protein-lipid interactions, studies on phosphatases and sulfatases, catalytic RNAs, gas phase biomolecule conformations, RNA transcription, human eotaxin, and viral RNA polymerases. All the major users have extensive requirements for mass spectrometry of biomolecules ranging from relatively low molecular weight peptides to proteins in the molecular weight range of 100 kD. The equipment to be purchased with this award will meet the needs of the users in providing high-resolution capabilities for proteins and nucleic acids and MS-MS capability for peptide sequencing. The instrument will also be used for mass spectrometry of relatively small biomolecules that are highly charged.
