MRI: Acquisition of an LC/MS/MS to Enhance Undergraduate Research and Teaching

College Of Wooster, Wooster OH

Investigators

Abstract

With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI), Melissa M. Schultz and colleagues Paul Edmiston and Mark Snider from the College of Wooster will acquire a liquid chromatograph/triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (LC/MS/MS). The instrument will be used to (1) quantitatively determine contaminants such as fluorochemicals and antidepressant pharmaceuticals in environmental, (2) examine the non-conserved amino acids and their role in molecular evolution, (3) measure rates of uncatalyzed reactions, specifically the hydrolysis of creatine to determine the catalytic proficiency of creatinase and other enzymes, (4) structurally elucidate synthesized light-emitting polymers, their synthetic precursors, and supramolecular complexes of monomeric model system, (5) address the role of DNA methylation in neurodegenerative diseases. The co-PIs will also use the instrumentation as a tool for education and outreach both within and beyond the College of Wooster. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain the molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic, and organometallic molecules. It is one of the fastest growing and most widely used analytical instrumentation techniques. Because of this, it is important for undergraduate students to be exposed to the technique. In addition, this research is expected to have a positive effect on the environment. To a first approximation a tandem mass spectrometer can be thought of as two mass spectrometers in series connected by a chamber that can break a chemical species into pieces.