MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in Chemistry and Biochemistry

化学(12)基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间(MALDI-TOF)质谱仪技术已成为化学和生物化学研究的基础工具。使用MALDI-TOF可以快速准确地测定远超过100,000的蛋白质、核酸和其他聚合物的质量，同样重要的是，可以解析和分析较小的多肽和寡核苷酸的复杂混合物。我们正在将这项强大的新技术引入本科课程，在五门实验室课程中实施基于MALDI的实验，并将MALDI纳入正在进行的师生研究项目中。我们的目标是让学生获得MALDI-TOF技术的经验，并发展对该技术在广泛问题中的适用性的欣赏。在仪器分析课程中，学生将使用MALDI-TOF技术通过肽图识别未知蛋白质，他们在有机化学中合成聚苯乙烯并确定其分子质量分布，他们在分子生物学中限制多克隆位点，他们在生物化学中创建蛋白质的半胱氨酸残基图谱，他们在微生物学中识别未知细菌。这些根据教育和科学文献改编的新实验，通过让我们的学生使用尖端的质谱学工具来增强他们的实验室体验，这些工具需要解决化学和生化研究实验室中遇到的许多挑战性问题。

Chemistry (12) The technique, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry has become a foundational tool in chemical and biochemical research. Using MALDI-TOF one can quickly and accurately determine masses of proteins, nucleic acids, and other polymers well in excess of 100,000 and, just as importantly, resolve and analyze complex mixtures of smaller peptides and oligonucleotides. We are introducing this powerful new technique into the undergraduate curriculum by implementing MALDI-based experiments in five laboratory courses and by incorporating MALDI in ongoing student-faculty research projects. Our goal is to have students gain experience with MALDI-TOF technique and develop an appreciation for the applicability of the technique to a wide range of problems. In the instrumental analysis course students are using the MALDI-TOF technique to identify unknown proteins through peptide mapping, they synthesize polystyrene in organic chemistry and determine its molecular mass distribution, they restriction map a multiple cloning site in molecular biology, they create a profile of cysteine residues for a protein in biochemistry, and they identify unknown bacteria in microbiology. These new experiments, adapted from the educational and scientific literature, are enhancing the laboratory experience of our students by involving them in the cutting-edge mass spectroscopic tools needed to address many challenging problems encountered in the chemical and biochemical research laboratories.