A Compact Accelerator Mass Spectrometer for the Analysis of Biological Samples

该项目的目标是开发一种紧凑、低成本的加速器质谱（AMS）系统，专门用于测量标记生物样品中超低量的碳-14和氚。该仪器的灵敏度将比液体闪烁衰减计数器高2-3个数量级，并将允许测量现代样品中达到或低于自然发生水平的碳-14浓度。用碳-14和/或氚标记生物活性分子是分子动力学研究中一种强大而广泛使用的技术。AMS提供的高灵敏度使得在极低的暴露水平下，可以在分子水平上研究环境致癌物，诱变剂和毒素的命运。现有的AMS系统使用大型、昂贵的串联加速器，生物学家和生物医学研究人员通常无法使用。牛顿科学公司（NSI）提议开发一种创新的低能量AMS仪器，专门用于生物研究实验室的操作。在第一阶段，NSI将评估和优化用于生物样品的低能量AMS系统的性能，并为第二阶段的建设和测试开发系统工程设计。该仪器的可用性将极大地扩大可使用14c和氚放射性标签进行的生物学研究的数量和类型。

The goal of this program is to develop a compact, low cost accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system dedicated to measuring ultra-low quantities of carbon-14 and tritium in labeled biological samples. The instrument will have a sensitivity 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than that of liquid scintillation decay counters and will allow the measurement of carbon-14 concentrations at or below naturally occurring levels in modern samples. The labeling of biologically active molecules with carbon-14 and/or tritium is a powerful and widely used technique for the study of molecular kinetics. The high sensitivity afforded by AMS allows the fate of environmental carcinogens, mutagens and toxins to be studied on the molecular level at extremely low levels of exposure. Existing AMS systems utilize large, expensive tandem accelerators and are generally not available to the biologists and biomedical researchers. Newton Scientific, Incorporated (NSI) proposes to develop an innovative low energy AMS instrument designed specifically for operation in a biological research laboratory. In the proposed Phase 1 effort, NSI will evaluate and optimize the performance capabilities of a low energy AMS system for biological samples and develop a system engineering design for construction and testing in Phase 2. The availability of this instrument will greatly expand the number and type of biological studies which can be conducted using l4C and tritium radiolabels.