Ion Beam Analysis for the 2020's and Beyond: An Integration of Elemental Mapping and 'omics'

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The vision of this Fellowship proposal is to provide a unique capacity internationally, where proteins, metabolites and trace elements can be imaged and co-located at the sub-micron scale, under ambient pressure. This is not available using any other technique and will provide significant benefits to researchers in industry and academia studying the fluxes of metabolites, proteins and other biomarkers in tissues and cells. The Fellowship will develop a new emerging world leader and provide training to a team of researchers in this new field. The vision will be achieved by developing a novel toolbox for molecular speciation, to be used alongside ion beam analysis (IBA). The Fellowship will tackle this challenge with three interconnecting work packages, each investigating a different approach to augmenting the molecular speciation that can be provided alongside or with IBA techniques. These approaches can be summarised as follows: 1. Multimodal mass spectrometry and ion beam trace element imaging; 2. Microscale (point) protein and metabolite characterisation alongside ion beam trace element imaging; 3. Multiplexed ion beam imaging of biomolecules and proteins using antibody-lanthanide tags.This will provide a step change in the UK's capability in the characterisation of biological materials. This proposal will enhance the >£10M investment that EPSRC has recently made in renewing the UK National Ion Beam Centre (UKNIBC) contract and investment in associated equipment (EP/P001440/1; EP/I036516/1), ensure continuing provision of cutting-edge capability in the UK and provide enhanced capabilities at the UKNIBC. It will also ensure the primary benefits go to the needs of UK industry and academia and support the development of applications across RCUK priority areas, with significant economic and societal benefits.