Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a MALDI-TOF/FTIR System to Support Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in Biological and Computational Sciences at an HSI

授予休斯顿大学-清澈的湖水（UHCL），西班牙裔服务机构（HSI），以获得集成的基质辅助激光解吸-飞行时间质谱（MALDI-ToF MS）/傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIRspec）系统。该奖项将建立一个由UHCL，月球行星研究所，德克萨斯理工大学和该地区其他几个机构共享的用户实验室，包括NASA约翰逊航天中心，德克萨斯南方大学（历史上的黑人大学）和休斯顿市中心大学（HSI）。为了使用户之间的方法保持一致，将改进样品制备方案的虚拟实验室模拟。主要用户将是以课程为基础的本科生研究经验（CURES）的本科生。学生的项目将包括识别抗寄生虫细菌和跟踪河口系统中粪便污染的来源，识别可以提高行农业产量和可持续性的细菌，并识别在NASA设施和航天器中发现的细菌。参与这些CURE将改善数百名学生的成果，这些学生来自传统上在科学领域代表性不足的群体，他们在学位计划的早期就参与了真实的研究。学生和研究人员生成的质谱将通过专用服务器共享，为科学界提供一种资源。许多以前被认为是不可培养的细菌的培养似乎有可能采用新的策略;然而，对这些方法的评估取决于对数十个文库的比较，每个文库中有数百个分离株。利用测序依赖技术（如16 S rRNA基因测序）对文库进行系统比较的成本高得令人望而却步。鉴于这些挑战，宿主相关微生物组和微生物群落总体上仍然是描述不佳的“黑匣子”，几乎没有代表性的分离株。MALDI-ToF系统使用户能够每周处理数千个分离株，每个分离株只需几美分。这种高通量蛋白质组学方法可以很容易地区分细菌的种类，当与质谱的深度数据库结合时，将加速发现具有有益性状的细菌，如植物生长促进。FTIRspec的整合将系统的分辨率提高到与全基因组测序相当的水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to the University of Houston – Clear Lake (UHCL), a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), to obtain an integrated matrix-assisted laser desorption – time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS) / Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRspec) system. This award will establish a user-laboratory shared by UHCL, the Lunar Planetary Institute, Texas Tech University and several other institutions in the region, including the NASA Johnson Space Center, Texas Southern University (a Historically Black University) and the University of Houston-Downtown (a HSI). To align methods between users, a virtual lab simulation of sample preparation protocols will be refined. The primary users will be undergraduates in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Students’ projects will include identifying antibiotic-resistant bacteria and tracking the source of fecal contamination in estuarine systems, identifying bacteria that can improve the yield and sustainability of row agriculture and identifying bacteria found in NASA facilities and spacecraft. Participation in these CUREs will improve outcomes for hundreds of students, from groups who have been traditionally underrepresented in science, by engaging them in authentic research early in their degree plan. Mass spectra students and researchers generate will be shared through a dedicated server to provide a resource to the scientific community.Cultivation of many bacteria that have been previously considered unculturable appears possible with novel strategies; however, evaluation of these approaches depends on comparisons of dozens of libraries with hundreds of isolates in each library. Systematic comparisons of libraries with sequencing-dependent techniques, like 16S rRNA gene sequencing, is prohibitively expensive. Given these challenges, host-associated microbiomes, and microbial communities in general, remain poorly described “black boxes,” with few representative isolates. MALDI-ToF systems enable users to process thousands of isolates a week for pennies per isolate. This high throughput proteomics method can readily differentiate species of bacteria and, when coupled to a deep database of mass spectra, will accelerate the discovery of bacteria with beneficial traits, like plant growth promotion. Integration of FTIRspec increases the resolution of the system to a level comparable to whole genome sequencing. This will facilitate identifying the source of microbial contamination of built and natural systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.