Establishment of mass spectrometry based proteomic capabilities at Queen's University Belfast

贝尔法斯特女王大学（QUB）生物科学学院（SBS）和全球粮食安全研究所（IGFS）的ASSET技术中心专注于解决生物科学，食品安全和动物健康挑战。该提案旨在建立，在QUB，尖端能力，在ASSET，蛋白质组分析。蛋白质组是一个术语，用于描述由给定细胞，组织或生物体在任何给定时间产生的整套蛋白质。分析蛋白质组使我们能够更好地了解生物体和细胞如何实际运作并对不同的环境或挑战做出反应。我们使用质谱和液相色谱（LC-MS）技术测量蛋白质组。我们希望购买LC-MS系统，即Bruker timsTOF HT。该系统比其他仪器更上级，更快、更灵敏、更通用。它还具有先进的离子迁移率，这意味着它可以根据它们如何通过仪器移动来分离几乎相同的肽（蛋白质的小部分）。这对于翻译后修饰（理解指导蛋白质完成不同任务的分子）的工作特别强大。目前在QUB还没有这样的中心能力。所要求的设备将在QUB作为“拼图中的最后一块”进行变革，为IGFS，SBS内的70多个研究小组以及整个大学的更多研究小组提供整个系统生物学管道。在短期内，该仪器将支持一些价值数百万英镑的基础科学研究项目。从中长期来看，这些设备将为开发新的研究主题提供机会，为SBS和IGFS在生物科学，食品完整性，农场，动物健康和作物完整性方面的优先事项提供新的方法和解决方案，以应对世纪的未来和营养挑战。本提案中概述的示范项目展示了设备的多学科用途和使用，从细菌到人类，生化工程到陆地生态学，计算生物学家到临床生物学家，以及介于两者之间的一系列生物和学科。显然，这一系统将用于广泛的应用，并将建立与来自一系列行业的工业伙伴互动的能力，包括北方爱尔兰和英国的食品加工和安全、诊断和农业部门。所要求的设备将为研究界的研究培训作出重要贡献。更高级的培训将与我们在大学和行业的合作伙伴一起进行，现场培训计划将在ASSET内主持科学家，并在仪器的背景和实际应用方面进行培训，提高国家和国际劳动力在关键技术方面的技能。该仪器将在QUB科学界对生物样品进行可靠的蛋白质组分析。这将使项目跨越QUB，其更广泛的合作伙伴和合作者，这在以前是不可能的。加强北方爱尔兰经济，并协助各省升级。

The ASSET Technology Centre in the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) and Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS) at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) focuses on addressing bioscience, food-safety and animal-health challenges. This proposal seeks to establish, at QUB, cutting edge capability, within ASSET, for proteome analysis. The proteome is a term used to describe the entire set of proteins that are produced by a given cell, tissue or organism at any given time. Analysing the proteome allows us to gain a better understanding about how organisms and cells actually function and respond to different environments or challenges. We measure the proteome using techniques called mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography (LC-MS). We wish to purchase an LC-MS system, a Bruker timsTOF HT. This system is superior to other instruments; it is faster, more sensitive and more versatile. It also has advanced ion mobility, which means that it can separate almost identical peptides (small sections of proteins) based on how they move through the instrument. This is particularly powerful for work on post-translational modifications (understanding molecules that direct proteins to complete different tasks).There is currently no central capability to do this at QUB. The requested equipment would be transformative at QUB as the 'final piece in the jigsaw' providing a whole systems biology pipeline for more than 70 research groups within IGFS, SBS and to an even greater number across the University. In the short term, this instrumentation will support a number fundamental science research projects worth millions of pounds. Over the medium to longer term the equipment will provide opportunities for the development of novel research themes in the delivery of new approaches and solutions for the SBS & IGFS priorities in bioscience, food integrity, farms, animal health and crop integrity addressing the future and nutritional challenges of the 21st Century. The exemplar projects outlined within this proposal demonstrate the multidisciplinary purpose & use of the equipment ranging from bacterium to human, biochemical engineering to terrestrial ecology, computational biologist to clinical biologists, and a swathe of organisms and disciplines in between. Clearly this system will be used across a wide range of applications and will build capacity to interact with industrial partners from a range of industries, including food processing and safety, diagnostics and agriculture sectors across Northern Ireland and the UK. The requested equipment will provide an important contribution to research training within the research community. More advanced training will occur in conjunction with our partners in both university and industry, with on-site training programmes where scientists will be hosted within ASSET and trained in the background and practical applications of the instrumentation, upskilling the national and international workforce in a key technology. This instrument will be transformative for confident proteome analyses of biological samples within the scientific community at QUB. This will enable projects across QUB, its wider partners and collaborators that would previously not be possible. Enhancing the Northern Ireland economy and aiding in provincial levelling up.