Mass Spectrometry Based Lipidomics and Metabolomics to Drive Bioscience Discovery

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Lipids are key components of biological system ranging from plants to mammals. Lipid molecules are critically involved in membrane structures of cells and also provide an energy store and act as signalling molecules within and between cells. Hence, understanding lipid metabolism is important for all areas of the BBSRC remit.Mass spectrometry (MS) represents the primary technology in lipidomics and when combined with liquid chromatography (LC) is suitable for the unbiased identification and quantification of lipids in complex mixtures. Extra dimensions of separation are provided by high resolution MS, where isobaric ions (ions with the same nominal mass but different exact mass) are resolved, and by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) or multi-stage fragmentation (MSn), where characteristic ions are separated from background. A more recent addition to MS-tool box is MS-imaging (MSI) adding further to the available bioimaging technologies. The UK has a burgeoning lipidomic community but lacks a MSI resource. The current proposal is for a high resolution MS instrument with MS/MS and MSn capabilities combined with interchangeable interfaces for high spatial-resolution atmospheric pressure (AP)-MALDI and electrospray ionisation (ESI). The AP-MALDI source offers high spatial-resolution (5 - 10 microm), at the single cell level, while the ESI interface is compatible with other imaging modalities e.g. Liquid Extraction for Surface Analysis (LESA). The instrument will be a resource for BBRSC-remit research and for the UK lipidomic community both academic and industrial. The new instrument will underpin scientific research in several key strategic priority areas for BBSRC, including (1) Healthy ageing across the life course; (2) Sustainably enhancing agricultural production; and (3) The replacement, refinement and reduction (3Rs) in research using animals.