Hybrid-Mass-Spectrometer

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438654181

The Ice Dust Sequencing Laboratory (IDSL) is a central facility of the Origins Cluster. It is used for collaboration in the field of early molecular evolution. The aim is to provide complex methodologies for the analysis and synthesis of prebiotic molecules centrally and to make them available to the participating groups together with a technical staff (TA) position of the cluster. Different disciplines meet in this central lab facility: physics, chemistry, geosciences and biochemistry. The aim is to enable PhD students and postdocs from the Cluster and the CRC Emergence of Life to carry out measurements independently under the guidance of the TA. As shown in the Appendices 101, the eight participating groups describe the projects with which they can use the mass spectrometer. Due to the large number of projects, a good utilization of the mass spectrometer is garanteed. For the direct analysis of complex reaction mixtures in aqueous and polar reaction media, a highly efficient separation performance in combination with high-resolution mass spectrometer is required to clearly identify reaction products and intermediates. HPLC (already acquired via the Cluster and the CRC Emergence of Life) in combination with the applied Orbitrap mass spectrometer is central here. We will be able to combine the mass spectrometer with electrospray (Trapp group) and gas chromatography (Eisenreich group) in the future. This allows us to reliably elucidate complex reaction mixtures from Origins of Life experiments. In particular, we will be able to use the mass spectrometer to clarify unknown side products in complex reaction mixtures.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Hybrid-Massenspektrometer
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Leader: Professor Dr. Dieter Braun