Core Facilities & Services
Mass Spectrometry Core Facility
Background
The IRB Barcelona Mass Spectrometry Core Facility has been created to give a scientific-technical support to researchers within IRB Barcelona and their collaborators. The interdisciplinary nature of Mass Spectrometry and the many new technologies that are now available have provoked a great expansion of its role in biotechnology and biomedical research.
According to John B. Fenn’s (originator of electrospray ionisation for biomolecules and 2002 Nobel Laurate in Chemistry) definition “Mass Spectrometry” (MS) is the art of measuring atoms and molecules to determine their molecular weight. Such mass or weight information is sometimes sufficient, frequently necessary and always useful in determining the identity of species. To practice this art one puts charge on the molecules of interest, i.e, the analyte, then measures how the trajectories of the resulting ions respond in vacuum to various combinations of electric and magnetic fields. Clearly, the sine qua non of such a method is the conversion of neutral analyte molecules into ions. For small and simple species the ionisation is readily carried by gas-phase encounters between the neutral molecules and electrons, photons, or other ions. In recent years, the efforts of many investigators have led to new techniques for producing ions of species too large and complex to be vaporised without decomposition.
IRB Barcelona’s Mass Spectrometry Core Facility is a unit equipped with high accuracy and high resolution mass spectrometers with new incorporated MS techniques such as ion mobility spectrometry coupled to high performance tandem MS, Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance MS, ECD (electron capture dissociation) and IRMPD (infrared multiphoton dissociation). The Facility can cope with questions about the identification and characterisation of a broad range of biological species from small molecules to large biomolecules (e.g. intact proteins), as well as conformation, structural biology and non-covalent interactions of such biomolecules and complexes. The unit is also prepared to get further insight into the study of protein biomarkers which can indicate the presence and progression of a variety of diseases or response to drugs.
The Mass Spectrometry Core Facility plans to closely collaborate with the IRB Barcelona scientific community, to combine the wide potential of the new MS techniques within life science with the structural and biological ongoing research at IRB Barcelona in order to provide highly synergistic added value.
For more information, please contact the facility research specialist at marta.vilaseca
irbbarcelona.org
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