Linear Ion Trap - Quadrupole LC-MS System - Project Summary/Abstract
This proposal is for a new sensitive and wider mass range LC/MS system, both to
enhance the existing capabilities of our Lipidomics Core Facility and to provide a backup
for the aging mass spectrometry resource to NIH funded researchers at Wayne State
University. Currently mass spectrometry resources at Wayne State University are located
at the Lumigen Instrumentation Center in Chemistry, the Pharmacology Core of the
Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI), the Proteomics Core, and the Lipidomics Core.
However, none of the available instruments are sensitive enough to accurately quantify
lipid mediators such as Specialized Pro-resolution Mediators (SPMs) that are
physiologically active at picomolar concentrations. Analyzing such biomolecules in limited
sample volumes that are collected from patients require sensitivity in the low femtogram
range. One of the major areas of the participating faculty's research involves identification
and/or quantitation of such lipid mediators of inflammation and resolution of inflammation
(e.g. SPMs) in diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative
disorders. Lipidomics Core Facility currently utilizes a 10-year-old LC-MS system with
limited mass range (<1200 Da), insufficient to analyze a significant part of the lipidome,
and sensitivity that is about 10-times lower than required for the analysis of important lipid
mediators. The proposed acquisition of a linear ion-trap triple quadrupole mass
spectrometry system with its high sensitivity, fast scanning, more than 5 orders of
magnitude dynamic range of quantitation along with an ultra-high pressure liquid
chromatographic system fills a great void in our analytical needs. Given the focus of the
users on the identification of novel small molecule biomarkers of inflammation and related
chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, this mass spectrometer is urgent and vital
for our research projects. Additionally, this instrument will catalyze the evolution of our
Lipidomics core facility into a full-fledged metabolomics core at Wayne State University.