Bruker timsTOF fleX MALDI-2 LC MS System

Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY A group of 23 NIH-funded investigators from Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is requesting funds to acquire a timsTOF fleX MALDI-2 imaging mass spectrometry (IMS). The IMS platform will be a new platform to BCM and will substantially enhance the current and pending research projects of the involved investigators as well as other faculty in the Texas Medical Center. The requested timsTOF fleX MALDI-2, which can exploit Trapped Ion Mobility and MALDI-2 ionization make this mass spectrometer the best suited instrument for the proposed studies. Two primary applications of the timsTOF fleX MALDI-2 platform are envisioned: 1. the mapping of lipids and other endogenous metabolites to reveal their tissue spatial distributions in health and disease, and 2. the mapping of xenobiotics to study the spatial distribution of drugs and drug metabolites in pharmacokinetic studies (e.g., monitoring the process of xenobiotic absorption of intestine). Samples of interest include model organisms such as, Drosophila melanogaster, mouse and rat, as well as organoids. The platform will be used to map endogenous metabolites in the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, spleen, bone marrow, ovaries, and testes of wild type and mutant mice; and to develop new probes to improve ionization of certain molecules. The research programs that will benefit from the IMS platform are highly diverse and funded by 55 NIH grants, 2 DoD grants, 3 NASA grants, and 2 HHMI grants. Currently, the 16 major users and 7 minor users has expressed interest in the IMS platform. The individual instruments that comprise the IMS platform will be located in and managed by the NMR and Drug Metabolism Core under the auspices of the Institutional Advanced Technology Cores at BCM. Currently, the only available access to IMS in Dr. Livia Schiavinato Eberlin’s laboratory used for her own research and clinical related studies (e.g., IMS pen), which has reached its capacity. The IMS platform not only empowers the individual research programs at BCM, but it also facilitates access to this new technology that is critically needed by investigators at institutions within the Texas Medical Center and in the greater Houston area and fosters collaborative research and provided an important regional resource.