Tuesday, April 23, 2024
4/23/2024
This instrument application requests funds to purchase a liquid chromatography (LC) / mass spectrometry (MS) system comprised of a SCIEX 4500 triple stage quadrupole (TSQ) mass spectrometer, Exion AC LC and autosampler, Peak nitrogen generator, and workstation computer. The proposed instrument will be housed in in the Saint Louis University (SLU) Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology and will be managed as a critical asset of the ADME/PK Core Services Group of the SLU Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI). This core offers access to expert pharmacology-related consultations and wet bench support to the more than 140 IDBI members engaged in drug discovery for diseases such as cancer; chronic pain; central nervous system disorders; liver disease; infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, tuberculosis, and fungal infections; genetic disorders including muscular dystrophy and lysosomal storage disease; and neglected diseases. Laboratory support is critically dependent on having functional and reliable tandem LC/MS instrument technology to perform the in vitro assays and in vivo studies that are commonly employed in the testing funnels of nearly every drug development program. Performance of these functions is currently dependent on an aging Sciex 4000 instrument system which has been in use for more than 14 years. Not only is it becoming more difficult to maintain and repair each year, but it also lacks the sensitivity, speed, and other improved technical specifications provided by newer redesigned instrument systems. The Sciex 4500 also comes with upgraded software platforms for acquiring and analyzing data. Thus, our primary needs for the Sciex 4500 instrument system are to ensure continuity and stability and to provide enhanced performance in support of the ongoing and future needs of our many users, knowing that our current instrument is approaching a time when it will no longer be serviceable. The university has made a strong commitment to the strategy of helping its researchers obtain key pharmacokinetic data as evidenced by the recent hiring of a highly skilled full time doctoral level analytical chemist, Dr. Abdul Mottaleb, who has extensive expertise using LC/MS to detect a wide variety of analytes. He is supervised by Dr. Griggs, the PI of this application, who is the Director of the core facility and a co-Director of the SLU IDBI. This application summarizes drug discovery research of 11 users of the current instrument system who will have an ongoing need for accurate and timely high-quality data from the new instrument. This includes four major users with a combined 7 active NIH awards that are expected to require over 60% of the instrument’s authorized usage time (AUT). The SLU-IDBI continues to promote ADME/PK services to new users to maximize their impact measured through increased publications, patents, and clinical translation of academic research. This new instrumentation system will ensure continued success of the important facility for the next 10 years.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
