Isotope mass spectrometer (GC MS-IRMS-ASE)

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424844595

The working groups soil science, organic geochemistry and food technology jointly apply for a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer-Isotope Mass Spectrometer-Accelerated Solvent Extraction-Coupling. The instrument will be used in the following scientific fields: (i) for the determination and quantification of herbal and microbial metabolites in plant material, in soil and in sediments, as well as for the determination of isotope ratios of the measured metabolites; (ii) to combine position-specific stable isotope labelling of organic substances (13C, 15N, D, 18O) with component-specific isotope analysis of microbial biomarkers (PLFA, amino sugar), in order to analyze and quantify specific metabolic pathways of individual microbial groups in soils and in sediments, as well as to quantify element turnover in specific microhabitats; (iii) the instrument will enable to study the co-oxidation of lipids and proteins in complex systems under characteristic storage conditions for food and the determination of isotope ratios of the formed oxidation products; (iv) and finally the instrument will contribute to the determination of the recent cyanobacterial input in soil and in sediments by tracing their diagenetic conversion products.Component specific stable isotope analysis of metabolites in complex media (soils, plants, sediments, food) represents an interface between soil-, geo- and biosciences and requires an interdisciplinary approach and cooperation between the individual faculties and institutes of the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel. A shared analytics platform is a prerequisite for such an interinstitutional cooperation. The proposed isotope mass spectrometer is a central part of such an analytics platform.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Isotopenmassenspektrometer (GC MS-IRMS-ASE)
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Sandra Spielvogel