MRI: Acquisition of Mass Spectrometry Technology for Research and Training

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An award is made to the University of the Pacific to do proteomics research through the acquisition of mass spectrometry technology. The research integrates comprehensive mentoring programs, workshops, and provides training for students pursuing careers in science and engineering, as well as health-related professions. The instrumentation will provide investigators with the opportunity to train students across a broad range of educational tiers, including high school, undergraduate and graduate student levels. By implementing curricular additions, hands-on proteomic activities in genetics and molecular biological technique courses will provide students with powerful opportunities to learn how to combine genomic and proteomic approaches to solve scientific questions. Additionally, outreach activities that target local high schools, will enable students to collect cobwebs from the environment with glass rods, wash the fibers with water, and learn how to use mass spectrometry to identify biomolecules in real-life materials. Investigators will also promote the engagement of underrepresented groups by encouraging economically disadvantaged and minority high school student participation through Project SEED (Scholarships for Education and Economic Development). The impact of the instrumentation on student learning and STEM education will be assessed by electronic pre- and post-assessment questionnaires. Results from the research will enhance scientific literacy for members in the community, highlighting important concepts in materials development as well as conservational biology. Activities of the research project are innovative and cutting-edge, involving expertise that spans biology, chemistry, biochemistry, bioengineering, and the health sciences. These scientific investigations will advance our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms that govern spider silk assembly, leading to new strategies for synthetic fiber production for industrial and commercial applications. It will also provide insight into the chemical properties of biopolymers resembling the active sites of proteins as well as the machinery governing cell movement and developmental processes in vertebrates. Additionally, it will identify novel factors that regulate protein secretion in eukaryotic cells, providing protein chemist with new approaches to make recombinant protein expression systems more robust. Lastly, they will elucidate constituents that modulate the metabolism of human toxins, identify pathogenic factors that contribute to human cancer formation, and provide answers to important evolutionary and environmental questions in biology. As a collective unit, these studies will be highly transformative for students, faculty, and the community, leading to the development of new biomaterials for engineering and nanotechnology, better methods for recombinant protein expression for academia and industry, increased comprehension with cellular migration mechanisms, and advances in knowledge to fundamental themes in evolution and conservation biology.