Mass Spectrometry (MassSpec) Facility
The MassSpec Facility supports scientists, mainly from life sciences and chemistry, in all research projects that require mass spectrometric measurements. We can assist you all the way from planning, sample preparation, data acquisition to data analysis and interpretation.
Our team of experts operates three state-of-the-art high-performance liquid chromatography-coupled high-resolution mass spectrometers to analyze your samples. A broad spectrum of methods is already implemented on these instruments. Furthermore, we provide access to several GC/MS, LC/MS, and other analytical chromatographic instruments.
For specific further facility details, please visit the MassSpec Facility web page: mas.pages.ist.ac.at
For specific further facility details, please visit the MassSpec Facility web page: mas.pages.ist.ac.at
On this site:
Services
The MassSpec Facility provides the following routine services:
Chemistry:
- Acquisition of high-resolution ESI mass spectra of non-volatile, soluble, organic compounds, metal-organic complexes, natural products, and peptides to confirm/determine the accurate molecular weight and verify the sum formula (mass accuracy < ±5 ppm).
- Acquisition of high-resolution CID spectra to support structure elucidation or peptide sequencing.
- GC/MS analysis of volatile compounds (low-resolution EI mass spectra).
- User training for our bookable systems.
- Support in data processing and analysis.
Life Sciences:
- Acquisition of high-resolution LC-MS data of intact proteins and charge state deconvolution.
- Targeted metabolomics (i.e., relative or absolute quantitative measurement of selected metabolites in complex samples).
- Proteomics (including help with the sample preparation, data acquisition, and basic data analysis):
- Shotgun proteomics (DDA or DIA) of complex samples, such as homogenized total tissues or cell pellets.
- Protein ID from gel bands and pull-downs (e.g., co-immunoprecipitation).
- Phosphoproteomics.
- User training for our bookable systems.
- Support in data processing and analysis.
Besides providing these established routine services, we are happy to get involved in collaborative projects and implement new workflows (depending on resource availability). For instance, we are currently developing in-house methods for histone PTM analysis.
To use our service, the following steps should be taken:
- Contact us at mass.spec@ista.ac.at
- All hands-on users need to participate in the compulsory safety training (“Safety Briefing for Newcomers” offered by the LSF) and the basic user training (see below) before they are granted access to the labs and equipment of the Facility.
- External customers need to establish a cooperation contract with ISTA before services from the MassSpec Facility can be used.
Equipment
High-resolution systems run exclusively by SSU staff:
- timsTOF HT with nanoElute 2 (Bruker)
- A high-performance nanoflow liquid chromatography system coupled to a nano-electrospray ionization-quadrupol-time-of-flight (nESI-Qq-TOF) mass spectrometer additionally equipped with a dual-trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) analyzer. This system is dedicated for proteomics experiments.
- Q-Exactive HF with Vanquish Horizon UHPLC (Thermo Fisher)
- An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) system coupled to an electrospray ionization (ESI)-quadrupole-ultra-high-field orbitrap mass spectrometer.
- Xevo G3 QTOF with ACQUITY Premier UPLC (Waters)
- An UHPLC system coupled to an ESI-Qq-TOF mass spectrometer.
Systems available for booking and service measurements:
- 7890/5975 GC-MS (Agilent)
- A GC system with low-resolution single quadrupole mass detector mainly used to measure volatile metabolites from biological samples. It facilitates headspace sampling (SPME and ITEX) and the standard electron ionization (EI) source can be changed to a chemical ionization (CI) source.
- 8860/5977B GC-MS (Agilent)
- A GC system with EI source and low-resolution single quadrupole mass detector mainly utilized for monitoring chemical synthesis.
- ACQUITY UPLC H-Class with SQD2 (Waters)
- A reversed-phase UHPLC system with UV detector and a low-resolution single quadrupole mass detector.
- ACQUITY Advanced Polymer Chromatography (APC) system (Waters)
- A normal-phase UHPLC system with UV detector. It is used for all kind of normal-phase and chiral separations, not only for polymers.
- UltiMate 3000 UHPLC Systems (Thermo Fisher)
- Another reversed-phase UHPLC system equipped with a UV detector and a fractions collector.
Teaching and Outreach
The MassSpec Facility is involved in different teaching and outreach events:
- Introduction to the use of the GC/MS systems (mandatory for users, on demand)
- Introduction to the use of the ACQUITY UHPLC systems (mandatory for users, on demand)
- Introduction to the use of the UltiMate 3000 UHPLC system (mandatory for users, on demand)
- Facility and equipment demonstrations (on demand)
Staff
Contact
Institute of Science and Technology Austria
c/o Mass Spectrometry Facility
Am Campus 1, A-3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
Office: Sunstone Building, ground floor
Scientific Head of Mass Spectrometry Facility:
tba
Contact for facility questions: mass.spec@ista.ac.at
Contact Manager:
