MRI: Acquisition of a Normal Phase Single Quadrupole High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (HPLC-MS) for Innovative Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Research

The acquisition of a high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS) will support environmental research and educational activities led by Professor Melissa Berke and colleagues Adrian Rocha and Jason McLachlan at the University of Notre Dame. The HPLC-MS will be configured for state-of-the-art microbial membrane lipid analysis, optimized for the best reproducibility and resolution, innovations that have significantly changed the fields of paleoclimatology and paleoecology.

HPLC-MS has propelled the growth of rapid, sensitive, and more economical detection of compounds that are harder to measure using earlier methods and instrumentation. The acquisition of this instrument strengthens the research infrastructure at the university and within the Midwest and in addition promotes multi-disciplinary collaborations. The instrument will help broaden participation by involving undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds who can use this analytical tool and resulting proxies in environmental change research. The new instrument will be available for use by other researchers at Notre Dame and beyond.

The award supports the acquisition a new high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS) for measurement of microbial membrane lipids, glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) at the University of Notre Dame. The Single Quad HPLC-MS will run in normal phase with solvent eluents, have an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source, a thermostatted column compartment that can fit multiple columns in tandem, a fraction collector for preparative mode, and an autosampler.

Improvements in HPLC-MS have propelled the growth of rapid, sensitive, and more economical detection of higher molecular weight and polar compounds. Further, recent advances in microbial ecology and organic geochemistry have expanded our understanding of microbial lipid synthesis and spatial distribution, particularly with respect to membrane lipids of Bacteria and Archaea, known as GDGTs, some of the most ubiquitous lipids on Earth.

Together, these innovations in analytical chemistry and understanding of microbial processes have led to proxy development using GDGT distributions and abundances to revolutionize research pertaining to changing environmental conditions, critical to understanding paleoclimatology.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.