Acquisition of Metabolic Profiling Instrumentation at Purdue

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This award is for acquisition of instrumentation to outfit a new Metabolic Profiling Facility (MPF) at Purdue. In metabolomics, gas or liquid phase chromatographic separation technologies (GC and LC) are coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS and LC/MS) for the identification and quantification of metabolites, and for the evaluation of metabolic fluxes in vivo using stable isotope labeling. The MPF will provide important new capabilities to many research programs on the Purdue campus that currently focus on these questions, and will help to support these research programs in the future. This instrumentation will enable Purdue students and post docs to develop methods for sample preparation and analysis specific to their research goals. A fundamental philosophy behind the MPF will be that students will best learn how to apply and integrate MS into their own research by obtaining hands on experience. Thus, graduate and undergraduate students will be given supervised access to the MPF instruments. This experience will solidify the understanding of MS that students have gained in the many MS-oriented courses available on the Purdue campus.