Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility (LSMSF-SR)

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Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility Shared Resource (LSMSF-SR): Project Summary Mass spectrometry plays key roles across a wide range of atomic and molecular analyses relevant to the life sciences in general and cancer research specifically. Mass spectrometry, as a category within measurement science, is comprised of a variety of technologies and methodologies that provide qualitative and quantitative information based on the measurement of atomic and molecular mass. Measurements made by Purdue Center for Cancer Research (PCCR) members range from analytes as diverse as atomic species, to large multi-unit bio-complexes, and involve a variety of compound classes that include, inter alia, small molecule drugs, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins. Mass spectrometry has experienced a dramatic expansion in its range of applications over the past several decades due to major technological developments that have led to new and improved approaches to making ions, measuring ions, and probing ions. Examples of revolutionary ionization methods, for example, include electrospray ionization, which has been key to the major expansion of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization, which has been key to advances in ion imaging. Major developments in instrumentation have included advances in time-of-flight mass spectrometry and Fourier transform mass spectrometry approaches, particularly with the electrostatic ion trap referred to as the OrbitrapTM. Novel ion probes have been introduced, such as electron transfer dissociation and ion mobility. Collectively, these developments have enabled a veritable explosion of mass spectrometry applications in the life sciences. As a result, the types of measurements that cancer researchers seek to make with mass spectrometry requires a growing range of tools and expertise. To address this challenge, in 2018 Purdue coordinated all of the life- sciences-oriented mass spectrometry services within the Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility, a shared resource of the Purdue Center for Cancer Research. This Facility is comprised of 11 staff and roughly two dozen mass spectrometers that support a wide range of measurements relevant to the needs of PCCR members that address both qualitative and quantitative questions. The tools and expertise of this Shared Resource are devoted to providing for today's research needs of PCCR members as well as adapting to and anticipating future needs.