Danforth Center: Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Core Facility

CF-17 The Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Facility at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (http://www.danforthcenter.org/pmsf/) is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies for the detailed study of a wide range of biomolecules. The facility provides both full- and self-service capabilities to both internal and external clients at competitive rates. The facility offers fast, high quality specialized analytical services including: protein extractions, liquid chromatographic separations; high resolution 1D/2D gel electrophoresis; gel image analysis and protein expression analysis; high-throughput protein spot excision; in-solution and in-gel protein digestion; high-throughput protein identification; accurate protein molecular weight analysis; protein covalent/non-covalent complex analysis; biomolecule interactions (surface plasmon resonance); small molecule separation/structure determination; protein post-translational modification analysis. Major instrumentation includes: LTQ Orbitrap Velos LC-MS/MS system (Thermo Scientific), QSTAR XL Q-TOF MS/MS system, 4000QTRAP LC-MS/MS system, Voyager-DE STR MALDI-TOF MS (Applied Biosystems), two 6520 Q-TOF LC-MS/MS systems, 5975C GC-MS (Agilent), TriVersa NanoMate (Advion), 1200 HPLC, HPLC Chip Cube (Agilent), nanoflow HPLCs (LC Packings/Eksigent), System Gold HPLC (Beckman Coulter), Shimadzu HPLC system (Shimadzu), Ultra Performance LC (UPLC) (Waters Inc.), Biacore2000 (Biacore Inc.), 3100 OFFGEL fractionators (Agilent), 1D and high resolution 2D gel electrophoresis systems (BioRad and Amersham Biosciences), Typhoon 9410 (Amersham Biosciences), GelPix (Genetix Inc.), and MultiProbe II (Perkin-Elmer Inc.). Protein intact mass, identification and characterization are a few of the many applications that the facility performs. For proteomics applications, the two Q-TOFs, the LTQ Orbitrap Velos and MALDI-TOF instruments are well-suited for analyzing both small peptides and large proteins. The LTQ Orbitrap Velos can be set up with the TriVersa to automate direct infusion of samples to perform exact mass measurements for molecular formula determination or facilitate targeted analysis of modifications. On-line with nano-LC separations, the LTQ Orbitrap Velos and the 6520 Q-TOF are used for LC-based quantitative proteomics. The 4000QTRAP system serves as a powerful instrument for metabolomic profiling.