AB SCIEX QTRAP 7500 LC MS/MS

This application is for funds to purchase the AB SCIEX QTRAP 7500 LC-MS/MS. This massspectrometer has important performance features that distinguish it from other instruments available oncampus and from other instruments available on the market and will enable us to perform high-endexperiments for small molecule quantitation. The QTRAP 7500 offers state-of-the-art technology forquantitation identification and structural analysis of small molecules. The main features we requireinclude an electrospray ionization source for small sample amounts obtained from dissected tissuesextracellular vesicles or tissue culture; the APCI (Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization) source asan alternative ionization source to optimize MS/MS spectra for certain molecules; an ultra-high pressureliquid chromatography (uHPLC) interface for tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) the ability to performin two operating modes (triple quadrupole and linear trap) and to switch quickly between them a fastscan rate the ability to perform quantitative measures of small molecules using selected reactionmonitoring (SRM) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and the ability to identify and quantifybioactive lipids. The QTRAP 7500 excels in each of these areas and is the instrument chosen. We will beable to solve challenging analytical problems and identify and quantify small molecules such as lipidshormones and environmental contaminants and their metabolites related to disease. Most of the users ofthe instrument are already collaborating in projects thus this will help solidify their scientific interactions. Twelve investigators with major research projects eleven with NIH RO1 support and one with NIOSHsupport and six investigators for five minor research projects require the sensitivity and high throughputability of the QTRAP 7500 mass spectrometer to answer important questions. We have developedpreliminary data for many of the projects. Of the major projects three involve analysis of environmentalcontaminants pesticides or opioids in small tissue samples (Vulpe Denslow and Bolser) eight involveanalysis of bioactive lipids (Baker Alli Vulpe Denslow Swale Vite Moore and Wise) and four requireanalysis of hormones (Baker Reznikov Yue and Jones). The minor users fall within these same generalmethods but also require analysis of PFAS in fish or of harmful algal bloom toxins in cells in tissueculture. Many of the projects but in particular the projects requiring lipidomics analyses will requiremultiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Both Electrospray (ESI) and Atmospheric Pressure ChemicalIonization (APCI) will be required for the projects. These projects will result in better understanding offundamental processes that lead to the potential treatment of diseases in humans.