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

授予西班牙裔服务机构休斯顿-克利尔湖大学(UHCL)，以获得一种集成的基质辅助激光解吸-飞行时间质谱仪(MALDI-TOF MS)/傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIRSpec)系统。这项奖励将建立一个用户实验室，由加州大学伯克利分校、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，包括美国宇航局约翰逊航天中心、德克萨斯南方大学(历史上是一所黑人大学)和休斯顿市中心大学(A HSI)。为了在用户之间调整方法，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研究经验(CURE)的本科生。学生的项目将包括识别抗药性细菌和追踪河口系统中粪便污染的来源，识别可以提高作物产量和可持续发展的细菌，以及识别在NASA设施和航天器中发现的细菌。参与这些治疗将改善数百名学生的结果，这些学生来自传统上在科学界代表性较低的群体，方法是让他们在学位计划的早期参与真实的研究。学生和研究人员产生的质谱图将通过专用服务器共享，为科学界提供资源。许多以前被认为无法培养的细菌的培养似乎可以通过新的策略来实现；然而，对这些方法的评估取决于数十个图书馆与每个图书馆数百个分离物的比较。用16S rRNA基因测序等依赖于测序的技术对文库进行系统比较，成本高得令人望而却步。考虑到这些挑战，与宿主相关的微生物群和微生物群落总体上仍然是描述得很差的“黑匣子”，几乎没有代表性的分离物。MALDI-ToF系统使用户能够每周处理数千个分离物，每个分离物只需几分钱。这种高通量蛋白质组学方法可以很容易地区分细菌的物种，当与深入的质谱库相结合时，将加速发现具有有益特征的细菌，如促进植物生长。FTIRSpec的集成将系统的分辨率提高到可与全基因组测序相媲美的水平。这将有助于确定已建成和自然系统的微生物污染源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.