PIRE: A U.S. - Dutch Mass Spectrometry Consortium for Advanced Modeling and Biological Structure and Imaging Applications

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

Rodgers 0730072 This award provides support for a proposal submitted to the 2007 OISE Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) competition. It involves a collaboration on the US side between Wayne State University, the University of Florida, Florida State University/National High Field Magnetic Laboratory, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Utah, the University of Georgia, the University of Colorado Health Science Center, Boston University School of Medicine, and Case Western University with the Dutch Foundation for the Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) -- the FOM institute for Plasma Physics "Rijnhuizen," and the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF). The formal entity for the collaboration will be the US-Dutch Mass Spectrometry Consortium. Intellectual Merit. The US participants of the consortium represent a diverse group of mass spectrometrists whose research interests span a broad range of applications and mass spectrometry approaches and techniques. The Dutch research facilities include instrumentation that is not available in the US and cyberinfrastructure that permits remote operation of the instrumentation with minimal on-site supervision. This is a unique collaboration in that it centers around the Dutch facility, FELIX, a free electron laser for infrared experiments. There are ten US participants, and each will collaborate with a foreign user at the Dutch instrument in his or her area of interest. The US researchers' projects will lead to improved abilities to differentiate structures of exact compositional isomers of carbohydrates, probe and correlate tautomeric structures and functional behavior of biological heterocycles, characterize solvent vs. intrinsic properties that stabilize salt-bridge/switterionic structure of amino acids and related biological molecules, probe organic and metal cation-pi interactions in biological molecules and their effects on structure and stability, probe and correlate protein conformation and charge state, lend insight into the mechanism of electron capture dissociation and fragmentation patterns thereby facilitating advances I proteomics applications for protein structure determination, advance mass spectrometric imaging techniques allowing correlation of anatomical and functional maps of biological tissues, and advance FT-ICR MS analyses of large biological systems. Broader Impacts. The inherently interdisciplinary and multicultural nature of the proposed work will promote training of scientists ideally equipped to address the challenges facing the chemical and biological sciences. The 140 participating graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral associates will gain expertise in state-of-the-art mass spectrometry hardware and techniques, experience in practical issues in biology, ion chemistry, and fragmentation mechanisms, exposure to theoretical approaches to structure determination and modeling of ion-ion interactions, and allow them to benefit from advances in cybernation. The collaborative nature of the proposed work will expose participants to a broader range of perspectives both at a scientific and cultural level. The proposed US/Netherlands REU will support six undergraduate students each year at the Dutch facilities. This REU will include minority students from Wayne State University, which has the largest African-American population of any non-historically black university, and from the other participating institutions. US participants will participate in seminar and training programs at the FOM institutes, gaining exposure to current developments in Dutch research as well as throughout Europe.