Researchers are invited to attend presentations by Bruker experts and learn about modern, state-of-the-art approaches to molecular imaging, proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics. The presentations will be at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in the Pederson Conference Room (ADMN 428). In-person attendance is encouraged, but those who need to attend virtually should register to receive a link by email.   

If you are interested in high-performance MS in general, or MS applications in any of these fields, then you may find these presentations useful. Bruker also provides instruments for targeted analysis or requiring lower performance. If you have an interest in any of Bruker's mass spectrometry technologies, with high- or low-end instruments, this is also an opportunity to meet with Bruker and discuss these needs.

The Bruker ultrahigh resolution 9.4T Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometer (FTMS) in the Arkansas Statewide Mass Spectrometry facility, established on the U of A campus almost 25 years ago, has been retired. The instrument has been the flagship instrument for the core facility, and researchers across campus, the state and nation have benefited from the FTMS. With the recent retirement of the FTMS, replacement instruments that provide the high performance and specificity of an FTMS-based system, but without reliance on superconducting magnets and liquid helium, are being considered, specifically instruments that can be used for a variety of research areas across campus. 

Bruker experts will be on campus to describe their newer and non-helium reliant alternative instruments and workflows, as well as the current state of the art in mass spectrometry applications to various fields. The presenters will discuss the advantages of molecular typing and subtyping for molecular imaging, the use of high-performance MS in proteomics and applications involving metabolomics and lipidomics. These techniques can be applied across a wide variety of fields such as:

• agriculture and food science,
• chemistry and physics,
• biological sciences,
• engineering,
• biomedical/medical and health sciences,
• semiconductors,
• membranes and filters,
• archeology and
• material science.

The MS imaging technique is commonly used by pathologists to image tissue sections to seek the margins of tumors based on molecular signatures that differentiate normal and diseased tissues and cannot be determined using optical techniques. In fact, it is now possible to differentiate tissues based on location of target molecules as well as differences in shape and size. This can be critical if the disease is based on chemical conformation rather than composition. This same technique could probe cervices in ancient artifacts, particles on membranes or filters and even semiconductor surfaces by mapping chemical composition across surfaces where both the identity of the analyte and its position within a sample are important. 

You can view this event on the U of A Calendar here.