The Orbitrap XL Hybrid FT Mass Spectrometer System, purchased by SBUMC with a High-End Instrumentation Grant by the National Institutes of Health, accurately measures the mass of individual molecules helping researchers to discover and characterize proteins and novel diagnostic biomarkers for major diseases. Pictured are: Charles R. Iden, Ph.D., standing, Scientific Director of the Mass Spectrometer Facility and Proteomics Center; Researcher Emily Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, and Toni Koller, Ph.D., Technical Director, Proteomics Center.

Stony Brook University Medical Center received a 2008 High-End Instrumentation Grant from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the purchase of a mass spectrometer with extremely high resolving power. The instrument, which accurately measures the mass of individual molecules, will enable researchers to discover and characterize proteins and novel diagnostic biomarkers in major diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Called the Orbitrap XL Hybrid FT Mass Spectrometer System, the instrument cost more than $850,000 and will be shared by 13 SBUMC scientists for numerous biomedical research projects. This July the NIH awarded 20 high-end instrumentation grants worth a total of $33.3 million to only 18 institutions nationwide. Each grant is to support the purchase of sophisticated equipment costing more than $750,000.

“The faculty supported by this grant for high-end instrumentation have multi-year, NIH-support grants in excess over $10 million,” says Charles R. Iden, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the Mass Spectrometer Facility and Proteomics Center, which houses the Orbitrap XL. “The need for technical support for these research programs is enormous and one in which institutions cannot fund alone,” says Iden, noting that SBUMC has received several shared instrumentation grants from the NIH during the past several years, totaling more than $2 million for equipment purchases.

Dr. Iden says the Orbitrap XL adds to the sophisticated line of mass spectrometry equipment the Proteomics Center has acquired. As biomedical research moves further into defining molecular targets of disease and proteomic and genetic analyses, mass spectrometry methods enable researchers to define, analyze, and test minute chemicals in ways not previously done.

For example, the Orbitrap XL was purchased with an upgrade called the electron transfer dissociation (ETD) technology. ETD is a newly developed technique for fragmenting peptides in a mass spectrometer in order to discern the amino acid sequence from the mass spectrum. This process is especially helpful for peptides that contain basic amino acids or when trying to determine positions in proteins containing chemical modifications used for cell signaling, that is, for situations where other techniques have failed to yield consistent results.

The advanced spectrometry system will be used to advance many research projects by SBU biomedical investigators. These include characterizing the platelet proteome regarding blood disorders, the chemical biology of tuberculosis and fertilization, a proteomic analysis of peritoneal fluid specimens from ovarian cancer patients, blood plasma proteomics in pediatric multiple sclerosis, and in vivo protein biomarkers of exposure and effects of radiation.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., a Waltham, Mass., based worldwide producer of high-end laboratory equipment is the manufacturer of the Orbitrap XL. The Proteomics Center purchased the Orbitrap XL and other high-end spectrosopy equipment from the company.

Stony Brook University and the School of Medicine have made a substantial commitment in matching funds to continue to upgrade instrumentation to provide important new types of analyses for the research community at SBU and neighboring institutions. The Orbitrap XL will be operated by the SBU School of Medicine, and the Proteomics Center will develop a group of trained personnel and an administrative structure to make optimal use of the instrument. SBU biomedical investigators, along with collaborative researchers at other Long Island institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, will have access to the high-end instrument.

Established in 1971, the Stony Brook University School of Medicine includes 25 academic departments centered on education, training, and advancing scientific research. The primary mission of the School is to educate caring and skilled physicians well-prepared to enter graduate and specialty training programs. The school’s graduate and specialty training programs are designed to educate medical specialists and investigators in the biomedical and clinical sciences to be well-prepared to advance the frontiers of research, clinical practice and education.