Underpinning UK Biomolecular Research with Next-Generation High Resolution Mass Spectrometry at the University of Edinburgh

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Mass spectrometry (MS) is a mature analytical technique that impacts all areas of the biological sciences. Over the last three decades MS has developed from a technique for routine molecular mass measurement of small molecules to become a powerful tool for the analysis of very large biological molecules (such as proteins or DNA) or for the characterisation of very complex biological mixtures. One reason for this advancement is the ability of modern mass spectrometers to separate (resolve) the many signals which derive from molecules which are close in molecular mass. Modern MS instruments can also measure mass with extremely high accuracy. If this mass accuracy is high enough, the measured mass can be used to directly determine a molecule's elemental composition. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) instruments are the highest performance mass spectrometers available today - offering unsurpassed mass resolution and mass accuracy. Recent technological improvements in commercial FT-ICR mass spectrometers have resulted in transformative increases in mass resolution, mass accuracy, and speed. The aim of this proposal is to make this 'next-generation' instrumentation available to the scientific communities in the University of Edinburgh, other academic institutions throughout the UK, and our partners in the industry.The new instrument will underpin scientific research in several key strategic priorities for BBSRC for the next decade (technology development for the biosciences; healthy ageing across the lifecourse; new strategic approaches to industrial biotechnology; combatting antimicrobial resistance; synthetic biology; the replacement, refinement and reduction (3Rs) in research using animals; and bioenergy, food, nutrition and health).This proposal brings together a broad range of researchers who will exploit this new instrument in three main areas of bioscience research: (i) for detailed analysis of biologically important proteins; (ii) for imaging the distribution of biomolecules in tissues and tissue models; and (iii) for profiling and chemical characterisation of small molecules in very complex biological mixtures.