The National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program and the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program have granted Boise State University $710,000 in funding to acquire a high-resolution accurate-mass ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system. The new system will vastly improve the research infrastructure at the university, supporting investigators to find solutions to their research questions and increasing their productivity. The high-resolution, accurate-mass data generated by this equipment will be used to address challenges for the comprehensive characterization of complex proteomes (the complete set of proteins for a sample) and metabolomes (the complete set of small-molecule chemicals of a sample) for a large number of current and future research projects at Boise State. In addition, this new equipment will provide training to graduate, undergraduate and high school students in modern mass spectrometry techniques as future scientists.
The grant’s principal invesitgator is Xinzhu Pu of the Department of Biological Sciences and the Biomolecular Research Center. The co-principal investigators are:
- Julie Oxford (Biological Sciences/Biomolecular Research Center)
- Jennifer Forbey (Biological Sciences)
- Ken Cornell (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
- Owen McDougal (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
This instrument will be housed in the Biomolecular Research Center and will be readily available to all researchers at Boise State and other institutions in Idaho.