High-performance mass spectrometer for the analysis of clinical samples and model organisms

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 495255974

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics has become a key technology for molecular and medical research. To analyze complex biological samples, a mass spectrometer (MS) with high sensitivity and high mass accuracy is absolutely essential. Another important requirement is the very fast sequencing speed, which was mainly achieved by the combination of the quadrupole, higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) and a high resolution-high frequency detector. By using this high-resolution MS, complex proteomes and their modification from human body fluids and model organisms can be analyzed in depth. The acquisition of a quadrupole hybrid mass spectrometer (MS) will therefore be an important asset for the scientific projects of the medical and natural science research groups at the Cologne Campus. Furthermore, due to the high number of samples, it is important to couple a fast and efficient LC system with the mass spectrometer. The additional offline LC system offers a decisive advantage here, as the loading times of the samples and gradients are very short and the number of samples per day is significantly increased compared to classical nano-LC-MS systems. The newly developed ion mobility system Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) represents a separation of peptides from possible impurities and will further increase the sensitivity and accuracy of the instrument. As the demand for quantitative proteomics at the Cologne Campus has massively increased due to the recruitment of new research groups, a new state-of-the-art MS instrument is essential to maintain the high quality of MS analyses and to increase the capacity of the CECAD/CMMC proteomics facility.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Hochleistungs-Massenspektrometer für die Analyse von klinischen Proben und Modellorganismen
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Leader: Professor Dr. Marcus Krüger