The Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility provide faculty, students, and researchers with cutting-edge technologies in mass spectrometry and proteomics, high quality service, and innovative solutions that will significantly contribute to campus-wide life sciences research, and training and education programs. Proteomics and mass spectrometry are rapidly advancing fields that require considerable technical expertise and techologically advance equipment. The facility is open to all Cornell investigators on a fee-for-service basis. User fees will be adjusted periodically to keep costs competitive.
The facility provides consultation, support, and technology iin proteomics research with the following aims:
- Identify and characterize proteins and peptides and their modifications.
- Implement current proteomic methods and develop new analytical methods.
- Design experiments related to proteomics and integrate proteomics techniques into research projects, and interpret proteomics data.
Equipment: The core facility currently has four mass spectrometers: a MALDI-TOF/TOF 4700 Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), an electrospray ionization (ESI)-based hybrid triple quadrupole/linear ion trap 4000 Q Trap (Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex), a hybrid quadrupole, ion mobility, orthogonal acceleration time of flight (Q-TOF) SYNAPT HDMS (Waters) and a 3D ion trap Esquire-LC (Bruker). All instruments have high sensitivity (low fmol for peptides) with high resolution and mass accuracy for bothe TOF instruments. The three high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems include an MDLC system (UltiMatePlus/Switchos/Famos HPLC system from LC Packings/Dionex), a nanoACQUITY UPLC system from Waters and an Agilent 1100 HPLC system from Agilent Inc. All three are interfaced with the ESI mass spectrometers for on-line LC/MS/MS sequencing of peptides or off-line LC/MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. The facility also has one 2D gel electrophoresis system (GE Healthcare), a gel spot picker robot (ProPic, Genomic Solution), a gel extraction/liquid handling robot (ProPrep, Genomic Solution), a gel imageScanner (GE Healthcare), and a Typhoon 9410 image system (GE Healthcare) for quantitative fluorescence analysis.
Services: Using mass spectrometry, the core facility is targeted to analyze peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, lipids, carbohydrates and small molecules from samples in solution or separated by chromatography or electrophoresis. In addition to conventional electrophoresis and chromatography fractionation, the facility offers differential analysis of protein samples by gel-based Differential Imaging Gel Electrophoresis (DIGETM, GE Healthcare) analysis, LC-based Isobaric Tag Relative Absolute Protein Quantitation (iTRAQTM, Applied Biosystems).
Instructions on accessing Analyst Software via Microsoft Remote Desktop
For a complete list, see the Equipment and Services page.
The facility staff will assist you in determining the best approach to analyze your sample and you may submit samples for analysis by the staff. However, you may analyze your own samples on the Esquire ion trap, which is available for client use. After training, you may reserve the instrument and will be charged an hourly rate. In the future, other instruments will become available for client use. We encourage clients to take proteomics and mass spectrometry courses currently offered at Cornell, as well as workshops and seminars on sample preparation and data analysis in proteomics field.
The Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility is located in 143 Biotechnology Building. The facility is now able to assist investigators in their mass spectrometry-based proteomic projects. For questions on the facility services and how to apply mass spectrometry technologies to your research, please contact us.