Capabilities

The Mass Spectrometry Facility is able to assist with a wide variety of projects as well as novel method development. Our capabilities include:

• Identification of purified peptides and proteins using peptide fingerprinting and sequencing
• Identification of protein bands from Coomassie or silver stained gel
• Accurate mass identification of proteins/peptide targets
  • Mass Spectrometry offers both high precision and high accuracy. These two very important characteristics are necessary for reliable identification of biological molecules such as proteins and peptides as well as small molecules. Exact mass can be accurately determined with the Thermofisher Lumos Fusion to a 0.5ppm (5 x 10-7) range, eliminating false hits from databases or mis-matched molecular formula matching. The Mass Spectrometry Core MALDIs offer a 200ppm range of accuracy for quickly determining biological molecules or small molecules of interest typically without many hours of method development.
• Protein/peptide quantification
  • The targeted analysis of peptides is one of the most popular types of analysis with mass spectrometry. Specific precursor and fragment ions are monitored over a period of time, enabling the definitive detection of targeted compounds. Mass spectrometer instruments are capable of detecting very low concentrations (for peptides in the femtomole concentration levels) in mixtures. Quantitative data analysis methods may also be employed to ascertain concentrations within the linear range of the standard calibration curve.
• Data analysis using the facility workstation
  • The workstation utilizes software such as  Proteome Discoverer and additional software packages (Python, R) as needed for specialized analyses. Output includes Excel lists of proteins identified. Protein quantification (label-free or TMT) can also be generated for more advanced proteome-wide experiments.
• Small molecule accurate mass identification
• Identification of targeted small molecules in a variety of matrices
• Quantitation of targeted small molecules in a variety of matrices
• Small molecule ID by spectral match (GC-MS only)
• Method development and method validation
  • Mass spectrometry is a sensitive and selective technique. However, oftentimes in many applications the analyte of interest must be separated from a large number of other compounds contained in a specimen. Typically mass spectrometry alone is unable to meet this need as it can only differentiate compounds by their mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) which is insufficient in most practical applications of the technique. Complex sample matrices require additional separation techniques and sample extraction procedures prior to introduction into the mass spectrometer.