Biological mass spectrometry
The Biological Mass Spectrometry Core Facility is a state-of-the-art resource for the identification, characterisation and quantification of proteins and metabolites.
Six dedicated facility staff provide service support for the most popular applications as well as developing and establishing new methodologies using the equipment.
Equipment and informatics
Analytical equipment
Proteomics:
- Thermo Exploris 480
- Thermo QExactive HF
- Thermo Orbitrap Elite
Metabolomics:
- Sciex 6600 TripleTOF
- Agilent Intuvo 9000/5977 GC-MS
Ligand binding assays:
- MSD QuickPlex 120
Specialist commercial software
Proteomics:
- Thermo Proteome Discoverer
- Non-Linear Dynamics Progenesis QI for Proteomics
- Matrix Science Mascot
- Proteome Software Scaffold/Q+
- Sciex ProteinPilot
Metabolomics:
- Non-Linear Dynamics QI
- Sciex MultiQuant
- Agilent MassHunter/ Fiehn GC/MS Metabolomics RTL Library
Ancillary equipment and resources
- Covaris LE220+ and S220 Ultrasonication systems
- KingfisherFlex magnetic bead robot
- Micro scale separation systems based upon chromatography (Thermo U3000 system), 1D and 2D PAGE (Novex Zoom systems), isoelectric focusing (Agilent Off-Gel system) and preparative SDS PAGE (Expedeon GelFree system)
- Millipore Direct Detect protein quantification system
- Equipment for solid phase extraction by centrifugation or positive pressure
- Dedicated Cat II sample preparation area
Services
The facility provides a comprehensive support for the application of mass spectrometry, and associated technologies, to biological and biomedical research.
It supports all researchers, from those new to the field to established experts, to get the best from the facility’s resources providing access to trusted methodologies, sample preparation spaces and equipment and the best commercial and open-source software available.
The facility staff have extensive experience and are there to help guide and support researchers using the facility.
Application areas
Typical application areas supported include:
- Proteomics
- Protein interaction analysis (BioID/APEX)
- Extracellular matrix characterisation
- Phosphoproteomics
- Secretomics
- Protein characterisation
- Protein validation
- High sensitivity biomarker screening
- Metabolomics
- Semi-targeted metabolite screening
- Targeted quantification of drugs and metabolites
Contact
Dr David Knight, Mass Spectrometry
Email: david.knight@manchester.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 1561