Science, Technology and Engineering

School of Molecular Sciences

Mass Spectrometry & Proteomics Facility

About the Facility

The technique of mass spectrometry has become an indispensable tool for biochemist. It allows for the discovery and quantitation of proteins at extremely high sensitivity such as in target discovery for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Funding from the new CRC for Biomarker Translation (CRC-BT) together with an ARC LIEF grant has enabled the Biochemistry Department to purchase a mass spectrometry-based proteomics suite from Bruker Daltronics, featuring four state-of-the-art mass spectrometers:

• ultraflex III TOF/TOF200 MALDI-TOF MS with 'Smartbeam
• micrOTOF-Q ESI-Q-qTOF MS
• HCTultra PTM Discovery System ESI-Ion Trap MS with Electron Transfer Dissociation
• Esquire 6000 ESI-Ion Trap

In addition, the proteineer fc LC-MALDI-spotting robot, the proteineer spII spot-picking robot, a dual-CPU MASCOT database and server, the Bruker Daltonics Proteinscape and Database for Proteomics Project Management allows for semi-automated sample preparation and analysis.

Four Dionex Ultimate 3000 Capillary LC Systems (two with additional nano LC capabilities) will be used for front-end separation for the micrOTOF-Q TOF MS and HCTultra PTM Discovery System Ion-Trap MS and also for LC-MALDI proteomics workflow. Together with an Applied Biosystems API QStar LC/MS/MS gives the new mass spectrometry facility the capacity to service not just the new CRC-BT and School of Molecular Sciences but also to perform contract work and collaborative projects.