Replacing Key infrastructure for a High Throughput Fatty Acid Profiling System

气相色谱-火焰电离检测法（GC-FID）是营养研究和脂类生物化学中测定脂肪酸的主要方法。有几种国际标准化的气相色谱- fid方法被食品工业用于确定食品中的脂肪，并被包括加拿大卫生部和国家标准与技术研究院在内的基础和健康研究机构用于测量血液和组织中的脂肪酸。该应用旨在直接替代因COVID-19大流行相关的老化和停机/重启而发生故障的高通量脂肪酸设备。原始设备是在2006年6月通过实验室启动补助金购买的。它包括两个带软件的气相色谱fid，一个新的空气压缩机和两个氢气发生器，为气相色谱fid提供必要的气体。现在已经失效的设备被用来培训脂肪酸和脂质生化分析师，并在滑铁卢大学建立了营养脂质组学实验室，作为脂肪酸方法开发的全球领导者。脂肪酸测量方面的专业技术吸引了众多本地、国家和国际合作者，在《新英格兰医学杂志》、《脂质研究进展》、《细胞》、《美国医学会杂志》、《美国临床营养学杂志》和《脂质研究杂志》上发表了几篇高影响力的论文。这包括建立快速气相色谱技术和快速样品制备方法的项目，用于人体血液的脂肪酸分析，并将这些方法用于大型临床试验，并帮助生成全球omega-3多不饱和脂肪酸的血液水平图。以前的设备已经被用来培养大量的研究生和本科生，这些学生后来在其他大学担任教职或在食品行业任职。这些设备还被用于支持几个针对高中生的外展项目。这台设备的故障耽误了三名在读研究生的学习进度，也阻碍了新生的招收。更换这种设备对于滑铁卢大学营养脂质组学实验室的日常研究活动至关重要。

Gas chromatography coupled to flame ionization detection (GC-FID) is the main way to measure fatty acids for nutritional research and lipid biochemistry. There are several internationally standardized GC-FID methods that are used by the food industry to determine the fats in food and for measuring fatty acids in blood and tissues by basic and health research organizations including Health Canada and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. This application aims to directly replace high throughput fatty acid equipment that has malfunctioned due to aging and shutdowns/restarts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original equipment was purchased in June 2006 through a laboratory start-up grant. It includes two GC-FIDs with software, a new air compressor and two hydrogen generators to provide the necessary gases for the GC-FIDs. The now failed equipment was used to train fatty acid and lipid biochemical analysts and establish the Laboratory of Nutritional Lipidomics at the University Waterloo as a global leader in fatty acid method development. This expertise in fatty acid measurement attracted numerous local, national and international collaborators that resulted in several high impact publications in The New England Journal of Medicine, Progress in Lipid Research, Cell, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Lipid Research. This included projects that established the use of fast gas chromatography techniques and rapid sample preparation methods for the fatty acid profiling of human blood, and the use of these methods for large clinical trials and to help generate a map of blood levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids across the globe. The previous equipment has been used to train numerous graduate and undergraduate students that have gone on to faculty positions at other universities or positions in the food industry. The equipment was also used to support several outreach programs aimed at high school students. The failure of this equipment has delayed the progress of three current graduate students and prevented the recruitment of new students. Replacing this equipment is essential for the daily research activities of the Laboratory of Nutritional Lipidomics at the University Waterloo.