MASS SPECTROMETRY SHARED RESOURCE
Pawel Osmulski, Ph.D.
The mission of the Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource is to provide a centralized resource to the members of the San Antonio Cancer Institute with comprehensive, state-of-the-art, and cost-efficient mass spectrometry support for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of proteins and other biomedically relevant macromolecules.
The Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource has existed as an institutional resource facility since 1979 and has been directed from its inception by Dr. Susan Weintraub. In December 2001, the Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource Satellite Facility (Institute of Biotechnology) was established as a satellite wing of the institutional Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource in order to meet the programmatic needs of institutional faculty housed at the Institute of Biotechnology, which is located 22 miles from the UTHSCSA main campus. Service by the Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource Satellite Facility was initiated in August 2002, and is directed by Dr. Thomas G. Boyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine.
Core services have thus far been utilized for a variety of research applications, including proteomics and drug discovery, and quality control projects. The great majority of these have involved analyses of protein networks linked to normal biological programs, including transcription regulation, DNA repair, and regulated protein degradation. The suitability of mass spectrometry as a technological means to expedite a growing demand for such analyses represents the basis for establishing an on site facility, and such projects continue to be supported enthusiastically by the Mass Spectrometry Core Satellite Facility.
FUNDING
This resource is funded by the San Antonio Cancer Institute (P30 CA54174) Tyler J. Curiel, Principal Investigator. All users of this core must cite the support of the San Antonio Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA54174)in all publications and presentations involving work performed by this Shared Resource.
EQUIPMENT
The Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource Satellite Facility encompasses a 200 sq. ft. laboratory and includes the following instrumentation:
Applied Biosystems Voyager DE-PRO Biospectrometry workstation, consisting of a high performance integrated MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, a SymBiot I Sample Workstation, and a PS-1 sample handling and data analysis system.
Thermoquest integrated LC/MS system consisting of a Surveyor HPLC coupled in line with a Finnigan LCQ DUO ion trap mass spectrometer with MS/MS capability.
SERVICES
Presently, we offer users MALDI-TOF services for (1) molecular mass determination of proteins, small molecules, and nucleic acids, and (2) protein identification via peptide mass fingerprinting. These services rely on the use of an Applied Biosystems Voyager DE PRO MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer.
We are presently establishing capabilities to offer ESI-MS services to complement our MALDI-TOF services. It is anticipated that ESI-MS services will represent an increasingly important component of the Mass Spectrometry Core by providing a complement to, and an extension of, our current MALDI-TOF services. Specifically, ESI-MS will permit us to extend our proteomics-based services to include unambiguous protein identification through amino acid sequence analysis and identification of protein post-translational modifications.
