MRI: Acquisition of an ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry system to enable metaproteomics experiments to support microbiome research

科罗拉多州立大学(CSU)被授予购买最先进的仪器来研究微生物组。仪器将放置在位于柯林斯堡校区的CSU分析资源核心生物分析和组学中心(ARC-BIO)中并由其管理，该中心确保所有CSU学生-包括位于科罗拉多州普韦布洛的CSU校园的学生-平等地获得这种共享资源，CSU校区是联邦指定的少数族裔服务机构。申请的仪器将用于支持在微生物科学方面的实践本科生研究经验。PI团队是微生物组和分析科学领域备受推崇的领导者，将通过正式和非正式方法传播从该仪器获得的知识，包括制定研究生和本科生课程和讲座、实验室参观、研究生委员会成员资格以及本科生就业和培训。研究生微生物组俱乐部和学生生物信息学俱乐部计划举办一次动手研讨会，介绍偏蛋白质组的概念，并培养受过良好教育的这种仪器的用户基础。这些教育活动以反映CSU多样性的方式，在CSU内的每个学术级别提供了更好的STEM教育机会。现代质谱学培训有助于确保具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力受到学术界和企业雇主的重视。“微生物组”可被定义为特定环境(如人类、动物、土壤等)中的微生物群落。微生物组研究主要是使用16S rRNA或元基因组测序来鉴定特定微生物群落中存在的细菌成分。然而，这种类型的分析不能衡量微生物群落的功能变化(例如细菌在做什么？)。蛋白质代表基因的生物功能输出，蛋白质组学是用来描述生物体功能的分析技术。推而广之，元蛋白质组学方法提供了数以千计的来自生物体群落的蛋白质组成和浓度的测量。元蛋白质组学历来受到质谱学技术和计算挑战的限制。在这两个领域都取得了重大进展，为更多的研究人员将代谢蛋白质组学方法纳入他们的研究打开了可能性。CSU的研究人员感兴趣的是了解微生物组生物学和生态学的功能和结构基础，并将其应用于人类、动物、植物和土壤生物学、生态学和生物燃料等研究领域。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Colorado State University (CSU) to purchase state-of-the-art instrumentation to study the microbiome. The instrument will be housed in and managed by the CSU Analytical Resources Core Bioanalysis and Omics Center (ARC-BIO) at the Fort Collins Campus, which ensures that this shared resource is equally available to all CSU students – including students at the CSU campus in Pueblo, CO, a federally designated minority serving institution. The requested instrument will be used to support a hands-on undergraduate research experience in microbiological sciences. The PI team, highly regarded leaders in microbiome and analytical sciences, will disseminate knowledge derived from this instrument through both formal and informal methods, including development of graduate and undergraduate coursework and lectures, laboratory tours, graduate committee membership, and undergraduate employment and training. A hands-on workshop involving the Graduate Student Microbiome Club and the student Bioinformatics Club is planned to introduce metaproteomic concepts and nurture a well-educated user base for this instrument. These educational activities offer improved STEM educational opportunities at every academic level within CSU in a manner that reflects CSU’s diversity. Training in modern mass spectrometry helps to ensure a globally competitive STEM workforce valued by both academic and corporate employers.The “microbiome” can be defined as a community of microorganisms in a particular environment (e.g. human, animal, soil, etc.). Microbiome studies are primarily facilitated using 16S rRNA or metagenomics sequencing to identify the bacterial components present in a given microbial community. However, this type of analysis cannot measure functional changes to microbial communities (e.g. what are the bacteria doing?). Proteins represent the biologically functional output of genes, and proteomics is the analytical technique used to characterize an organism’s functionality. By extension, metaproteomics approaches provide thousands of measurements of protein composition and concentration from a community of organisms. Metaproteomics has historically been limited by mass spectrometry technology and computational challenges. Significant advancements have been achieved in both of these areas, opening the potential for more researchers to incorporate metaproteomics approaches in their studies. Researchers at CSU are interested in understanding the functional and structural basis of microbiome biology and ecology, with application to research fields including human, animal, plant and soil biology, ecology, and biofuels.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.