Liquid-handler for high-throughput metabolomics of biological fluids

这笔赠款将允许购买机器人液体处理系统，这对于在康科迪亚大学新成立的实验室高通量制备代谢组学和脂类组学样本至关重要。该系统能够以96孔板或384孔板的形式进行溶剂沉淀法、固相萃取法、磁萃取法和液液萃取法，从而为武科维奇实验室目前采用的所有主要样品制备类型提供了灵活性。所有这些样品准备工作目前都是由研究生手工完成的，这严重限制了我们使用我们的高分辨率质谱仪LTQ Orbitrap Velos ETD系统和最近安装在Vuckovic实验室的Agilent 6550四极飞行时间仪器对数千个样品进行大规模研究的能力。康科迪亚大学没有类似的设备。该设备对Vuckovic的研究项目至关重要，该项目包括研究(I)开发新的分析方法来表征人类生物样本(如血液和组织)中的低丰度代谢物，(Ii)系统地表征代谢物-蛋白质结合并研究代谢物浓度对昼夜节律的依赖，(Iii)使用大型跨加拿大尿样登记来评估二十烷类化合物作为过敏反应的可能生物标志物，(Iv)研究免疫系统对纳米颗粒和霉菌毒素暴露的反应，(V)使用我们实验室开发的新检测方法评估加拿大人接触多种真菌毒素的情况，以及(Vi)进行大规模代谢组学和脂类组学研究，以支持康科迪亚执行中心的预防性健康研究。该设备对于在分析和临床代谢组学/脂类组学和样品制备方面建立国际水平的Vuckovic实验室至关重要。所要求的购买还将作为学生设计/执行基于高通量质谱学的生物分析分析时的最先进的动手培训工具。

This grant will allow the purchase of robotic liquid-handling system which is essential for high-throughput sample preparation of metabolomics and lipidomics samples in a newly-established laboratory at Concordia University. The system is capable of solvent-precipitation, solid-phase extraction, magnetic extraction and liquid-liquid extraction in a 96- or 384-well plate format, thus providing flexibility for all the main sample preparation types currently employed in the Vuckovic laboratory. All of this sample preparation work is currently performed manually by graduate students which severely limits our ability to carry out large-scale studies on thousands of samples using our high-resolution mass spectrometers LTQ Orbitrap Velos ETD system and Agilent 6550 quadrupole-time-of-flight instrument recently installed in the Vuckovic laboratory. There is no similar equipment available at Concordia University. This equipment is critical for Vuckovic's research program which includes studies (i) to develop new analytical methods to characterize the low abundance metabolites in human biological samples such as blood and tissues, (ii) to systematically characterize metabolite-protein binding and study the dependence of metabolite concentrations on circadian rhythm, (iii) to evaluate eicosanoids as possible biomarkers of anaphylaxis using a large cross-Canada registry of urine samples, (iv) to study the immune system response to nanoparticle and mycotoxin exposure, (v) to evaluate the exposure of Canadian population to multiple mycotoxins using new assay developed in our laboratory and (vi) to perform large-scale metabolomics and lipidomics studies to support preventative health studies in Concordia's PERFORM Centre. The equipment is critical to establish Vuckovic laboratory on an international level in analytical and clinical metabolomics/lipidomics and sample preparation. The requested purchase will also serve as a state-of-the-art hands-on training tool for students as they design/execute high-throughput mass spectrometry-based bioanalytical assays.