MRI: Development of Single-Molecule NEMS Mass Spectrometry

在Michael Roukes教授的监督下，加州理工学院获得了一笔拨款，用于开发基于纳米机电系统（NEMS）的下一代质谱仪器。NEMS设备由于其极其微小的尺寸，对增加的质量非常敏感——甚至是单个分子的增加。这些传感器现在形成了一种新的分子鉴定方法的基础，即基于nems的质谱法（NEMS-MS），用于逐个解析大量分子。该项目最终将组装台式NEMS-MS系统及其自动控制电子设备。在与蛋白质组学质谱领域的国内外领导者的合作中，这些系统将使NEMS-MS蛋白质组学的开创性基准研究成为可能，最终将在单个细胞上进行。生命科学和医学的研究现在需要重大的技术创新，才能从后基因组学时代进入单分子蛋白质组学的新领域。特别重要，也特别具有挑战性的是？系统生物学吗?，力求阐明确定性的生物化学？电路图吗?对于生命系统来说。这些电路?从层次上包含整个生物体——从器官到单个细胞，再到细胞内赋予其功能的单个分子过程的级联。通过先进的、必要的、大量详细的测量，最终将有可能常规地组装生命系统的复杂蓝图，直至它们的精细细节。这将为研究生命系统如何运作提供一个前所未有的窗口，从而提供前所未有的预测能力。这种对生物系统的确定性研究最终将有助于产生基于个人的预测性和个性化医学。S遗传倾向和目前的生理状态。NEMS-MS为此类研究提供了一个必不可少的新范例：具有单分子分辨率的高通量生物质谱分析。

A grant has been awarded to California Institute of Technology under the supervision of Professor Michael Roukes to develop instrumentation for next-generation mass spectrometry based on nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). NEMS devices, given their extremely minute size, are exquisitely sensitive to added mass -- even down to the addition of individual molecules. These sensors now form the basis for a new approach to molecular identification, NEMS-based mass spectrometry (NEMS-MS), for resolving vast numbers of molecules, one-by-one. This project will culminate in assembly of benchtop NEMS-MS systems and their automated control electronics. In domestic and international collaborations with leaders in proteomics mass spectrometry, these systems will enable pioneering, benchmarking studies of NEMS-MS proteomics, ultimately carried out on individual cells.Research in the life sciences and medicine now requires significant technological innovation to proceed from the post-genomics era to new frontiers in single-molecule proteomics. Especially important, and especially challenging, is research in ?systems biology?, which strives to elucidate the deterministic biochemical ?circuit diagrams? for living systems. These ?circuits? hierarchically encompass the entire organism -- from organs, to individual cells, down to cascades of individual molecular processes within cells that give them their function. Through advanced and, of necessity, massively-detailed measurements it will ultimately become possible to assemble complex blueprints for living systems, down to their fine details, routinely. This will provide an unparalleled window into how living systems function and, thus, provide unprecedented predictive power. Such deterministic research on biological systems will ultimately help engender predictive and personalized medicine based upon a person?s genetic predispositions and present physiological state. NEMS-MS promises a new paradigm that is essential for such research: high-throughput biological mass spectrometry with single-molecule resolution.