MRI: Development of Single-Molecule NEMS Mass Spectrometry

在迈克尔·鲁克斯教授的监督下，加州理工学院获得了一笔赠款，用于开发基于纳米机电系统(NEMS)的下一代质谱仪仪器。由于NEMS设备的尺寸极其微小，它们对增加的质量--甚至是单个分子的添加--都非常敏感。这些传感器现在形成了一种新的分子识别方法--基于NEMS的质谱学(NEMS-MS)，用于逐个解析大量分子。该项目将最终组装台式NEMS-MS系统及其自动控制电子设备。在与蛋白质组质谱学领先者的国内外合作中，这些系统将使NEMS-MS蛋白质组学的开创性、标杆研究最终在单个细胞上进行。生命科学和医学研究现在需要重大的技术创新，才能从后基因组时代进入单分子蛋白质组学的新前沿。尤其重要和特别具有挑战性的是系统生物学的研究，它致力于阐明确定性的生化电路图？对于生命系统来说。这些？电路？层次化地包括整个有机体--从器官到单个细胞，再到赋予它们功能的细胞内单个分子过程的级联。通过先进的、必然的大量详细的测量，最终将有可能例行公事地组装复杂的生命系统蓝图，直到它们的精细细节。这将提供一个无与伦比的窗口，了解生命系统是如何运作的，从而提供前所未有的预测能力。这种对生物系统的确定性研究最终将有助于产生基于一个人的S遗传倾向和当前生理状态的预测性和个性化的医学。NEMS-MS承诺了一种对此类研究至关重要的新范式：具有单分子分辨率的高通量生物质谱学。

A grant has been awarded to California Institute of Technology under the supervision of Professor Michael Roukes to develop instrumentation for next-generation mass spectrometry based on nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). NEMS devices, given their extremely minute size, are exquisitely sensitive to added mass -- even down to the addition of individual molecules. These sensors now form the basis for a new approach to molecular identification, NEMS-based mass spectrometry (NEMS-MS), for resolving vast numbers of molecules, one-by-one. This project will culminate in assembly of benchtop NEMS-MS systems and their automated control electronics. In domestic and international collaborations with leaders in proteomics mass spectrometry, these systems will enable pioneering, benchmarking studies of NEMS-MS proteomics, ultimately carried out on individual cells.Research in the life sciences and medicine now requires significant technological innovation to proceed from the post-genomics era to new frontiers in single-molecule proteomics. Especially important, and especially challenging, is research in ?systems biology?, which strives to elucidate the deterministic biochemical ?circuit diagrams? for living systems. These ?circuits? hierarchically encompass the entire organism -- from organs, to individual cells, down to cascades of individual molecular processes within cells that give them their function. Through advanced and, of necessity, massively-detailed measurements it will ultimately become possible to assemble complex blueprints for living systems, down to their fine details, routinely. This will provide an unparalleled window into how living systems function and, thus, provide unprecedented predictive power. Such deterministic research on biological systems will ultimately help engender predictive and personalized medicine based upon a person?s genetic predispositions and present physiological state. NEMS-MS promises a new paradigm that is essential for such research: high-throughput biological mass spectrometry with single-molecule resolution.