Developing next-generation mass spectrometry imaging with isomer resolution

质谱成像（MSI）是一种快速兴起的技术，用于绘制生物样品中的分子分布。该项目将把来自行业合作伙伴Waters公司的市场领先的MSI仪器与QUT和UOW开发的独特技术结合起来，开发一个集成的MSI平台，能够实现高质量和空间分辨率，以及辨别脂质异构体。使用该仪器的脂质异构体分辨率将使研究人员第一次看到异构体分辨率图像，这些图像将用于可视化由潜在化学，物理或代谢过程引起的组织特异性变化；这些变化是当代成像技术目前无法看到的。

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a rapidly emerging technology for mapping molecular distributions within biological samples. This project will bring together market-leading MSI instrumentation from the industry partner Waters Corporation with unique technologies developed at QUT and UOW to develop an integrated MSI-platform capable of achieving high mass- and spatial-resolution, as well as discrimination of lipid isomers. Resolution of lipid isomers using this instrumentation will afford researchers a first glimpse of isomer-resolved images that will be used to visualise tissue-specific changes resulting from underlying chemical, physical or metabolic processes; changes that are currently invisible to contemporary imaging technologies.