MRI: Acquisition of Laser Ablation-Multicollector-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LA-MC-ICPMS) for Interdisciplinary Research

主要研究仪器（MRI）计划拨款的资金将用于在密苏里州大学研究反应堆（穆尔）购买和安装多集电极电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（MC-ICP-MS）和激光消融（LA）微探针。该仪器将使密苏里州大学（MU）的研究人员能够对物理、化学和生物过程造成的天然和人造材料中同位素组成的微妙变化进行高精度研究。该项目的智力价值将是新仪器的可用性，以支持目前在社会科学，化学，地球科学，环境科学，生命科学等领域正在进行的广泛的研究活动。 一些具体的研究课题将得到支持，包括：人类迁移模式的研究，人类行为的演变，空气中污染物的运输，矿物中的熔体和流体包裹体的研究，挥发物在火山系统中的作用，花岗岩的岩石成因，气候演变，极端微生物的搜索，以及植物中的铁生物利用率。这种仪器在MU的存在将与来自其他机构的同事开辟更多的研究领域，他们已经与MU的科学家合作。这种仪器的更广泛的影响将为本科生和研究生提供更多的机会，以获得最现代和最新的元素和同位素分析技术。学生和教师将能够设计在另一个地方不可能的动手实验，接受来自全国领先的分析实验室之一的培训，并接受如何解释仪器获得的数据的培训。这些新能力的存在将吸引更多的研究生进入MU的研究项目。

Funds from this Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program grant will support the acquisition and installation of a multicollector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) and laser ablation (LA) microprobe at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). The instrumentation will enable researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) to conduct high-precision studies on the subtle variations in isotopic composition present in natural and artificial materials caused by physical, chemical and biological processes. The intellectual merit of this project will be the availability of the new instrumentation to support a wide range of research activities at MU currently being conducted in the fields of social sciences, chemistry, geosciences, environmental sciences, life sciences and others. Some of the specific research topics to be supported will include: studies of human migration patterns, human behavioral evolution, transport of airborne pollutants, studies of melts and fluid inclusions in minerals, the role of volatiles in volcanic systems, petrogenesis of granites, climate evolution, searches for extremophilic microorganisms, and iron bioavailability in plants. Presence of this instrumentation at MU will open up additional areas of research with colleagues from other institutions who already collaborate with MU scientists. The broader impact of this instrumentation will be greater opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to access the most modern and up to date elemental and isotopic analytical techniques. Students and faculty will have be able to design hands-on experiments not possible at another location, to receive training from one of the leading analytical laboratories in the nation, and to be trained on how to interpret the data acquired with the instrumentation. Presence of these new capabilities will attract more graduate students into the research programs at MU.