MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-Reaction Mode Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer for Metal Analysis in Environmental Media

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This proposal is to acquire a state-of-the-art instrument to characterize the concentrations and molecular composition of heavy metals in various samples. This equipment will help advance the scientific understanding of heavy metal behaviors across several disciplines, including engineering (energy storage, nanotechnology, and materials engineering), environmental studies (environmental engineering, environmental health and earth science), and health sciences (epidemiology and medicine). The proposed research will leverage the existing scientific instrumentation infrastructure at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for the benefit of researchers across the Chicago metropolitan area through a dedicated core facility. Research directly supported by this instrumentation is critical to the sustainable future of the nation, including studies of next-generation batteries for energy storage as well as the environmental and health impacts of heavy metals and engineered nanoparticles. In addition to these direct scientific impacts, acquisition of this instrument will strengthen the educational and scientific training at UIC, one of the most diverse campuses.The specific instrumentation to be acquired is an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). High sensitivity ICP-MS is necessary to analyze elements such as Pb, As, Se, Cu, Sb, Cd, Pd, Pt, Ag, and Hg in a variety of samples, including soil, sediment, water, air, biological fluids, hair, drinking water, food, and advanced energy materials. This ICP-MS instrumentation will have the highest sensitivity and broadest capability system available for the specific isolation and analysis of difficult compounds in complex matrices to serve the diverse user community. The research team includes investigators and users who comprise a wide variety of applications, including environmental contamination, pollutant fate and transport, biogeochemistry, toxicology and medicinal exposure research, chemistry, nanotechnology, and materials science.