Acquisition of a Coupled BioInert LC/Triple-Quad ICP-MS System for Critical Equipment Upgrades, Innovative Marine Biochemical Research, and Graduate Training

University Of Maryland Center For Environmental Sciences, Cambridge MD

Investigators

Abstract

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL), part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), was founded in 1925 and is the oldest state-supported marine laboratory on the US East Coast. CBL has internationally recognized strength in fisheries science and studies of marine, coastal, and wetland ecosystems. Its mission is to conduct basic and applied research with a truly global reach and some emphasis on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as graduate education conducted within the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) program of the University of Maryland. The research of the chemistry group at CBL ranges from environmental pollution to climate change, and from tropical coral reefs to the High Arctic, while relying firmly on advanced analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry (MS). Because increasing analytical capabilities at CBL is important to its continued success, a powerful MS instrument will be acquired with a second, linked device that separates organic compounds. Together, these instruments will allow innovative studies of specific, biologically important molecules. The new equipment will upgrade and replace two older instruments, significantly improving the sensitivity of measurements and the ability to analyze very challenging samples, such as seawater, wastewaters, and sediments. It will strongly support ongoing studies of important toxic metals (mercury, selenium, cadmium) but also open up entirely new fields of research. In addition, the new equipment will be used to train graduate and undergraduate students for a highly competitive job market and to stimulate educational outreach to local schools and the general public, in part through the CBL Visitor Center. A triple-quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-QQQ), coupled directly to a metal-free 'BioInert' liquid chromatograph (LC), will be purchased at CBL. This new equipment will impel a forward leap in analytical capability to advance and reinvigorate marine biochemical research for its geochemistry group, as well as for numerous affiliated faculty and students inside and outside UMCES, over the next 5-10 years. The acquisition will enhance interdisciplinary marine research, professional training, and public awareness of environmental bioscience. The unique coupled LC/ICP-QQQ instrument enables characterization and quantification of nanomolar amounts of biogenic compounds containing specific combinations of elements, for example sulfur-based ligands bound to Hg, or iodinated organochlorines. The ability to exclusively target such compounds will remove a major analytical hurdle in the research of many CBL faculty. The ICP-QQQ exceeds the mass resolution of more expensive sector-field ICP-MS, yet with greatly superior detection limits, and will complement ultrahigh-resolution organic MS, compound-specific stable isotope MS, photochemical, chromatographic, trace metal, biomolecular, and genetic techniques already available at CBL and three other UMCES research units. Fundamental and longstanding questions to be addressed include the roles of non-volatile organic sulfur compounds in the marine sulfur cycle, of sulfur-based ligands in microbial Hg methylation, and of metal-specific organic ligands in marine primary production. The Chesapeake Bay is eminently suited for this research due to the seasonal anoxia of its deep waters and the regular emergence of summertime dead zones, its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and its abundance of tidal wetlands. The new instrument will expose graduate students to state-of-the-art molecular/mass spectrometric and chromatographic techniques and will allow CBL faculty to explore novel directions in marine biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology, proteomics, climate science etc. More detailed descriptions of CBL, its scientists, research, and facilities can be found on the website http://www.umces.edu/cbl