A request for funds to purchase an AB Sciex TripleTOF 5600 mass spectrometer

描述(由申请者提供)：需要资金购买配备毛细管/纳米液相色谱的AB Sciex TripleTOF“5600质谱仪。该仪器将主要用于促进德克萨斯农工大学(TAMU)系统内14名由NIH资助的调查人员的研究。在癌症研究、人类健康、结构生物学和药物发现等令人兴奋的努力的前沿，科学家们还需要能够准确地识别和表征重要的分子物种，并确定分子复合体之间的特定相互作用。5600将为TAMU的NIH资助的研究人员提供比TAMU现有的更好的复杂生物系统分析能力，特别是蛋白质、修饰蛋白质、肽、脂类和代谢物。该仪器将安装在生物质谱学实验室(LBMS)内。LBMS人员科学家在商业MS系统的操作和维护以及对大量MS用户的培训方面拥有丰富的专业知识。据估计，与LBMS中的类似仪器(一颗已有13年历史、急需升级的QSTAR脉冲星)相比，拟议的仪器要高出两个数量级，更灵敏，功能更强大。此外，在我们对现有仪器的评估中，5600优于所有其他仪器。与我们目前的仪器相比，5600在质量分辨率、质量精度、线性动态范围和吞吐量方面都有实质性的进步。这些仪器的特殊敏感性和实用性(将在下文详细描述)将提供LBMS目前所缺乏的能力；这些能力对于NIH资助的研究项目的研究至关重要，这些能力将直接影响这些项目的结果和公共卫生意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funds are requested to purchase an AB Sciex TripleTOF" 5600 mass spectrometer equipped with capillary/nano liquid chromatography. The instrument will be primarily used to facilitate the research of 14 NIH funded investigators within the Texas A&M University (TAMU) system. Scientists at the forefront of exciting efforts including cancer research, human health, structural biology, and drug discovery al require the ability to accurately identify, and characterize important molecular species and determine specific interactions between complexes of molecules. The 5600 will provide NIH funded researchers at TAMU significantly better capabilities in the analysis of complex biological systems, specifically proteins, modified proteins, peptides, lipids, and metabolites than currently exist at TAMU. The instrument will be housed within the Laboratory for Biological Mass Spectrometry (LBMS). LBMS staff scientists have extensive expertise in the operation and maintenance of commercial MS systems as well as training of a large number of MS users. It is estimated that the proposed instrument is greater than two orders of magnitude more sensitive with greater functionality when compared to similar instrumentation housed in the LBMS (a 13 year old QSTAR Pulsar in desperate need of upgrading). Moreover, in our evaluation of available instruments the 5600 was superior to all others. The 5600 offers substantial advances in terms of mass resolution, mass accuracy, linear dynamic range, and throughput over our current instrumentation. The exceptional sensitivity and utility of these instruments (described in detail below) will provide capabilities that are currently lacking in the LBMS; these capabilities are essential for the research by the NIH-funded research projects described in this grant, and these capabilities will directly impact the outcomes and public health significance of these projects.