Dr Dan Tennant, Dr Christian Ludwig and Professor Gareth Lavery, all of the Institute of Metabolism and System Research (IMSR), have been awarded a 19ALERT mid-range equipment grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to provide new tools for analysis of stable isotope incorporation into metabolites.
The one-year grant, worth £182,500, has been conferred to the group of researchers for instrumentation to be deployed collaboratively on a multi-project and multi-use basis. The funds will support the purchase of a new liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for the Metabolic Tracer Analysis Core in the IMSR.
This new purchase of advanced technology will facilitate collaboration and widen access to the new equipment within industry, public sector and other research organisations across the UK.
BBSRC highlight the importance of developing tools, technologies and approaches that enable researchers to push the boundaries of discovery and stimulate innovation. These new technologies ‘are revolutionising biology, providing unprecedented opportunities to advance understanding of the complex, dynamic processes that govern life and to apply that knowledge for the benefit of society and the economy’.
It hoped that funds for the purchase of a new analytical platform will get higher resolution information on a greater number of metabolites when performing metabolic analysis. In particular, it will allow the ability to better trace the use of nutrients in the wider metabolic network of cells and tissues using stable isotope-enriched nutrients.