RapidFire Enhancement of Mass Spectrometry Capability Across the Biosciences

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A major current challenge in biological science is to capitalise on the wealth of genomic information arising from DNA sequencing, to characterise the function and structure of DNA-encoded proteins. However, while genome sequencing has become very rapid, no methods currently exist which can experimentally determine the molecular details of the gene-products on a comparable timescale. As such the gulf between our understanding of what proteins are present in an organism and how they orchestrate the cellular processes necessary to life is ever increasing. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a method that has revolutionised the experimental identification of proteins and quantification of their cellular abundances. In Oxford we have pioneered a number of MS-based approaches to determine the structures, interactions, and dynamics of proteins, and to elucidate their biochemical roles in cells and whole organisms. However, we now need technology that can help analyse and exploit function at a rate comparable to that of data generated by the genomic revolution. As a step towards this, we propose to acquire a state-of-the-art RapidFire MS system to enable a step-change in the rate of our ability to accurately identify, analyse and quantify function in biological processes.Specifically, the RapidFire 365 coupled to a high resolution iFunnel6550 QTof MS, will enable multiple current and future BBSRC researchers to dramatically increase the throughput at which we can screen biological reactions by over two orders of magnitude, including the analysis of biological reactions in real time. The dramatic increase in speed will revolutionise our ability to obtain functional assignments and identify ways to manipulate biological function on a biochemical level. The new instrumentation will be integrated into dedicated laboratories in the Department of Chemistry in Oxford, providing new capabilities within the context of a carefully selected and comprehensive collection of instruments aimed at applying MS to the frontiers of chemical biology. The RapidFire MS system will be genuinely multi-user, enabling BBSRC-funded research by a large number of research groups in Oxford and the UK, through well-defined access routes overseen by experienced staff. The instruments will support research projects spanning a range of BBSRC strategic research priority areas, and will become an integrated piece of equipment in the Interdisciplinary Biosciences Doctoral Training Programme, thus making it readily available to researchers at other sites within this programme including Oxford Brookes University and the Diamond Light Source.