MRI Track 1: Acquisition of Ultra-High Pressure Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer for High Throughput Experimentation

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded by the Major Research Instrumentation Program and the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program. Professor Donald Watson from the University of Delaware (UD) along with Professors Mary Watson and Mark Blenner and Dr. Jessica Sampson, on behalf of 20 research groups from seven departments, is acquiring a high throughput enabled ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS) system equipped with a diode array detector, evaporative light scattering detector, and fluorescence detector. UPLC-MS enables both the rapid separation and identification by exact mass of small molecules by reverse phase chromatography, essential for analysis and quantification of the complex mixtures present in samples generated in high throughput synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry experiments. This instrumentation enables high throughput research across the university and the nation and enables a diverse population of students of all levels to receive training in high throughput experimentation for synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology. This award is aimed at enhancing and enabling high throughput synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology research and education. The instrument, an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS), enables rapid separations of small molecules with detection by UV-Vis, mass spectrometry, fluorescence, and evaporative light scattering. It enables the collection of large, high-quality datasets for the synthesis of small molecules, which are essential in the development of machine learning models for chemistry and the optimization, development, and evaluation of new synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology methods. This instrument will enable research of 20 highly funded and productive research labs from 7 departments at UD, including Biological Sciences, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Earth Sciences, Materials Science & Engineering, Plant & Soil Sciences, and Physics & Astronomy, as well as for partner academic labs and collaborators at R1, R2, and PUI institutions both regionally and across the nation. It will be used to support a wide variety of exciting research projects, including the development of synthetic biology methods aimed at the production of monoterpenes, indole alkaloids, flavonoids, and fatty alcohols; the total synthesis of anti-cancer natural products; new biorthogonal ligation reactions for chemical biology discoveries; non-canonical amino acid biosynthesis; boron-based materials synthesis; polyolefin degradation; biomass valorization; and new methods for the chemical synthesis of valuable small molecules. This instrument will also support efforts to rapidly generate high-quality data that can be used for machine learning projects. It will also enable the creation of a new undergraduate laboratory experience, allowing college students to collect data sets that can then be used to teach them machine learning principles and strategies. Overall, this instrument will have a tremendous impact the synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry research at the University of Delaware and beyond. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.