MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for Compound-specific Isotope Analysis at the University of Wyoming

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Support from the National Science Foundation has allowed the purchase of a GC-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometer (GC-C-IRMS) and integrated quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC-MS) system with an interface supporting on-line coupling of HPLC and IRMS (LC-IRMS) to allow for stable isotope analysis (SIA). The SIA of bulk biological materials allows the integrative study of processes at scales that range from the biochemical to the biospheric. This instrumentation will add capacity for CSIA to the University of Wyoming Stable Isotope Facility (UWSIF), a core, multi-user research and training facility currently supporting 16 research groups from 8 departments and 3 colleges. The instrumentation will provide a core group of users in the capacity for CSIA on fatty acids, lipids, amino acids and carbohydrates, and be flexible enough to allow LC-IRMS on polar, non GC-volatile or thermolabile compounds without the requirement for derivatization. The major users conduct research in three areas that integrate biological and geochemical systems: 1) organismal and ecosystem ecology; 2) paleo-ecology and paleo-environmental studies; and 3) energy research. Studies with the new instruments will focus on animal physiology, diet, food webs, plant and ecosystem carbon cycling, diets and environments of extinct organisms, reconstruction of past climates and ecosystem responses, and geochemical tracing of environmental contaminants associated with energy extraction. A graduate course taught every fall semester by Williams (PI) and Sharma (co-PI) provides hands on training using the instrumentation acquired through NSF funding. High school students in the NSF EPSCoR sponsored Summer Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) and the NSF sponsored Science Posse program at UW have and will continue to conduct isotope-related research involving analyses in the UWSIF. These faculty also currently advise 26 graduate students (10 are women) and 4 postdocs (3 are women), and all include undergraduates in their isotope oriented research projects. Results from the research projects will be disseminated through student and faculty presentations at regional or national meetings, and through publications in peer-reviewed journals.