Acquisition of a Coupled BioInert LC/Triple-Quad ICP-MS System for Critical Equipment Upgrades, Innovative Marine Biochemical Research, and Graduate Training

切萨皮克生物实验室（CBL）是马里兰大学环境科学中心（UMCES）的一部分，成立于1925年，是美国东海岸最古老的国家支持的海洋实验室。CBL在渔业科学以及海洋、沿海和湿地生态系统研究方面具有国际公认的实力。它的使命是开展真正具有全球影响力的基础和应用研究，并重点关注切萨皮克湾，以及马里兰大学海洋河口环境科学（MEES）项目内的研究生教育。CBL化学组的研究范围从环境污染到气候变化，从热带珊瑚礁到北极高地，同时坚定地依赖于质谱（MS）等先进的分析技术。由于提高CBL的分析能力对其持续成功至关重要，因此将获得一台功能强大的质谱仪，并配备另一台分离有机化合物的连接设备。总之，这些仪器将允许对特定的、具有重要生物学意义的分子进行创新研究。新设备将升级并取代两台旧仪器，显著提高测量的灵敏度和分析非常具有挑战性的样品（如海水、废水和沉积物）的能力。它将大力支持正在进行的关于重要有毒金属（汞、硒、镉）的研究，但也将开辟全新的研究领域。此外，新设备将用于培训研究生和本科生，以应对竞争激烈的就业市场，并通过CBL游客中心的部分方式，促进对当地学校和公众的教育推广。将在CBL购买三重四极电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-QQQ），直接耦合到无金属“生物惰性”液相色谱仪（LC）。在未来的5-10年里，这台新设备将推动分析能力的飞跃，为其地球化学小组以及UMCES内外的众多附属教师和学生推进和重振海洋生化研究。此次收购将加强跨学科的海洋研究、专业培训和公众对环境生物科学的认识。独特的耦合LC/ICP-QQQ仪器能够表征和定量纳摩尔量的含有特定元素组合的生物化合物，例如与汞结合的硫基配体或碘化有机氯。专门针对这些化合物的能力将消除许多CBL教师研究中的一个主要分析障碍。ICP-QQQ的质量分辨率超过了更昂贵的行业领域ICP-MS，但具有更高的检测限，并将补充CBL和其他三个UMCES研究单位现有的超高分辨率有机质谱、化合物特异性稳定同位素质谱、光化学、色谱、痕量金属、生物分子和遗传技术。需要解决的基本和长期问题包括非挥发性有机硫化合物在海洋硫循环中的作用，硫基配体在微生物汞甲基化中的作用，以及金属特异性有机配体在海洋初级生产中的作用。切萨皮克湾非常适合这项研究，因为它的深水有季节性缺氧，夏季经常出现死亡地带，靠近大西洋，有丰富的潮汐湿地。新仪器将使研究生接触到最先进的分子/质谱和色谱技术，并将使CBL的教师探索海洋生物地球化学、生态毒理学、蛋白质组学、气候科学等方面的新方向。有关CBL、其科学家、研究和设施的更详细描述可在http://www.umces.edu/cbl网站上找到

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL), part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), was founded in 1925 and is the oldest state-supported marine laboratory on the US East Coast. CBL has internationally recognized strength in fisheries science and studies of marine, coastal, and wetland ecosystems. Its mission is to conduct basic and applied research with a truly global reach and some emphasis on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as graduate education conducted within the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) program of the University of Maryland. The research of the chemistry group at CBL ranges from environmental pollution to climate change, and from tropical coral reefs to the High Arctic, while relying firmly on advanced analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry (MS). Because increasing analytical capabilities at CBL is important to its continued success, a powerful MS instrument will be acquired with a second, linked device that separates organic compounds. Together, these instruments will allow innovative studies of specific, biologically important molecules. The new equipment will upgrade and replace two older instruments, significantly improving the sensitivity of measurements and the ability to analyze very challenging samples, such as seawater, wastewaters, and sediments. It will strongly support ongoing studies of important toxic metals (mercury, selenium, cadmium) but also open up entirely new fields of research. In addition, the new equipment will be used to train graduate and undergraduate students for a highly competitive job market and to stimulate educational outreach to local schools and the general public, in part through the CBL Visitor Center.A triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-QQQ), coupled directly to a metal-free 'BioInert' liquid chromatograph (LC), will be purchased at CBL. This new equipment will impel a forward leap in analytical capability to advance and reinvigorate marine biochemical research for its geochemistry group, as well as for numerous affiliated faculty and students inside and outside UMCES, over the next 5-10 years. The acquisition will enhance interdisciplinary marine research, professional training, and public awareness of environmental bioscience. The unique coupled LC/ICP-QQQ instrument enables characterization and quantification of nanomolar amounts of biogenic compounds containing specific combinations of elements, for example sulfur-based ligands bound to Hg, or iodinated organochlorines. The ability to exclusively target such compounds will remove a major analytical hurdle in the research of many CBL faculty. The ICP-QQQ exceeds the mass resolution of more expensive sector-field ICP-MS, yet with greatly superior detection limits, and will complement ultrahigh-resolution organic MS, compound-specific stable isotope MS, photochemical, chromatographic, trace metal, biomolecular, and genetic techniques already available at CBL and three other UMCES research units. Fundamental and longstanding questions to be addressed include the roles of non-volatile organic sulfur compounds in the marine sulfur cycle, of sulfur-based ligands in microbial Hg methylation, and of metal-specific organic ligands in marine primary production. The Chesapeake Bay is eminently suited for this research due to the seasonal anoxia of its deep waters and the regular emergence of summertime dead zones, its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and its abundance of tidal wetlands. The new instrument will expose graduate students to state-of-the-art molecular/mass spectrometric and chromatographic techniques and will allow CBL faculty to explore novel directions in marine biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology, proteomics, climate science etc. More detailed descriptions of CBL, its scientists, research, and facilities can be found on the website http://www.umces.edu/cbl