Facilities

The Lipidomics/Metabolomics/Proteomics unit is equipped with the following instruments: 

1) UHPLC-Q Exactive™ mass spectrometer with ESI source (Thermo Scientific), is suited to untargeted or targeted screening with high-confidence confirmation but is equally capable of a broad range of qualitative and quantitative applications. Resolution of 140,000 at m/z 200 and <1ppm of mass accuracy. Mass range 50-6000 m/z. Used for: [/av_textblock] [/av_one_half] [av_one_half min_height='' vertical_alignment='' space='' custom_margin='' margin='0px' padding='0px' border='' border_color='' radius='0px' background_color='' src='' background_position='top left' background_repeat='no-repeat' animation='' mobile_breaking='' mobile_display=''] [av_image src='https://www.irpcds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Omics.jpg' attachment='10220' attachment_size='full' align='center' styling='' hover='' link='' target='' caption='' font_size='' appearance='' overlay_opacity='0.4' overlay_color='#000000' overlay_text_color='#ffffff' animation='no-animation' admin_preview_bg=''][/av_image] [/av_one_half] [av_one_full first min_height='' vertical_alignment='' space='' custom_margin='' margin='0px' padding='0px' border='' border_color='' radius='0px' background_color='' src='' background_position='top left' background_repeat='no-repeat' animation='' mobile_breaking='' mobile_display=''] [av_textblock size='' font_color='' color='' av-medium-font-size='' av-small-font-size='' av-mini-font-size='' admin_preview_bg='']

• Large scale lipid and metabolomic profiling of complex samples
• Qualitative proteomics application
• Quantitative determination of hydrophobic vitamins (A, E, D3, K1)

2) 5973 inert GC-MS (Agilent), GC coupled to a single quadrupole, both electronic impact and chemical ionisation mode. Quantitative analysis of small organic molecules. Mass range: 1.6-800 Da. Used for the quantitative analysis of:

• Fatty acid
• Organic acid
• Aminoacid

3) GC coupled to two high-resolution magnetic sectors (IRMS, Thermo Scientific) with electronic impact ionization source. IRMS instrument is used to measure precisely small differences in the abundances of isotopes such as 13C/12C, 2H/1H and 18O/16O, even at the same time, of organic molecules (fatty acid, organic acid and amino acid). Used for study of:

• Kinetics
• Drug delivery
• Provenance
• Adulteration

4) GC with FID detector for quantitative determination of small known molecules. Used to quantitate:

• Fatty Acid
• Organic Acid
• Amino Acid

5) Triple-quadrupole API4000 (AbSciex), with ESI and APCI sources. Quantitative analysis of known compounds. The compounds that can be analyzed are medium / high polarity molecules and sizes between 100-1500 Da. Instrumental sensitivity at ppb levels. Currently the tool is used for:

• tryptophan and metabolites dosage in samples of biological fluids and tissue;
• dosage of intermediates of lipid metabolism and cholesterol in cell and plasma samples;
• pharmacokinetics / biodistributions in animal models (plasma and tissues);
• protein dosage in LC-MRM

Ideally, the instrument can be used to dose any compound that possesses the characteristics described above.

6) qTOF XEVO-G2-XS (Waters), with ESI source. Instrument suitable for qualitative analysis (identification of unknown compounds) and quantity of known compounds. The compounds that can be analyzed are medium / high polarity molecules and sizes between 100-1500 Da. It is possible to analyze intact proteins of medium / small size and digested proteins. Instrumental sensitivity to ppb / ppt levels (dependent compound). Currently the tool is used for:

• Identification of the proteins that make up the extracellular matrix
• profiling of lipids in plasma and cells
• study of molecular complexes in samples of natural origin

It can be used for high productivity proteomics (high sensitivity and acquisition speed) and metabolomics, with appropriate modifications in the hardware and software.

For more information please contact:  dr. Manuela Simonato m.simonato@irpcds.org