Tracing element pathways and processes of Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn in the geosphere and biosphere: Precision measurement with isotopic tools

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The focus of my Research Group is the development of high precision metal isotope abundance measurement techniques and their application to interpreting these data in the context of metal processes and pathways of metals in living systems. We see short term impacts in advancing our understanding of how metals interact through biochemical processes. As successfully demonstrated in a recent collaborative experiment with colleagues in Medicine exploring changes in copper assimilation affected by antibiotic treatment (Miller et al., 2019), isotopic tools have the potential to reveal biochemical pathways that are hidden from more traditional analytical approaches. In the long term, we believe our research is transformative and our vision is that isotope abundance tools become a standard and vital component in maintaining health and wellness. This research program is the critical fundamental step in this direction. In the near term, the goals of the program are to develop and deploy stable isotope techniques to uncover the distribution and variability of isotopic abundances of Ca, Fe, Cu, and Zn in biogeochemical systems. We seek to identify critical interactions where changes in isotopic composition occur and to understand the physiochemical processes responsible for isotopic variability. The objectives of this project are realized through development of meteorologically sound analytical techniques to measure isotopic composition such that one extracts reliable information. Results are placed within a theoretical context based on computational models to derive a meaningful interpretation of the results.  The fundamental nature and the interdisciplinary audience of the research program are reflected in the journals where we publish as well as the journals cited in the References attached to this DG application. The past five years saw significant progress and the proposed research is a continuation of this successful research program. Highlights include attracting a diverse group of capable HQP to the research group (my first PhD students graduate, first postdoctoral scholar joined the group, international PhD students visiting the lab). We published our work in leading journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Metallomics, and the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. We embarked on productive collaborations with colleagues in Health Sciences (K. Sharkey, Cumming School of Medicine, UofC), Bioscience (V. Zaremberg and H. Vogel, UofC), Marine Biogeochemistry (A. Bowie and B. Proemse, University of Tasmania, Australia) and Chemistry (J. Gailer, UofC; T. Prohaska and J. Irrgeher, Montanuniversität, Leoben, Austria). Finally, we have attracted new sources of funding from diverse sources.