Sample Guidelines
Service Request Form
Samples for QTof ESI MS
- Mass Spec incompatible reagents: Reagents contain non-volatile electrolytes, which cause suppression of ESI signal and extensive adduct formation. Any incompatible reagents have to be removed prior to running the sample. NEVER wash MS bottles with DETERGENT. Never use dishwasher to wash MS bottles, rinse bottles with water and methanol, instead.
- Detergents (e.g. SDS, Triton, Tween)HEPES (or other non-volatile buffer) Non-volatile salts Non-volatile solvents (e.g. dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO))Tris-HCLPhosphate buffersPolyethylene glycol (PEG)
- Polymers
- Important reminders to avoid keratin contamination for protein studies
- Any sample preparation step prior to trypsin digestion should be done in a laminar flow hood. Wear nitrile (not latex) gloves and a lab coat.
- ESI compatible solvents are water, methanol, acetonitrile, propanol, ethanol, toluene, dichloromethane, and nitromethane
- Samples for ESI MS should be prepared using ultra-pure water (MilliQ 18MΩ cm, or LC-MS grade bottled water)
- Protein solutions must be buffer exchanged to ESI-friendly solvent systems prior to mass analysis.
Project Guidelines
New Projects
Please arrange for a consultation with the core staff. The first step is to discuss the nature of the project by e-mail. The 2nd step is to have a meeting with the investigator and key associates. This meeting will define feasibility, period for the analyses, number of analyses expected, approach, sensitivity requirements, special issues, and labor for instrument setup, data acquisition and data processing. Also, some discussions on sample treatment in a manner compatible with the mass spectrometry measurements (e.g. detection limit or removal of detergents) will be involved. This meeting will define any development work that needs to be performed. Effort in terms of time of personnel to develop methods will be estimated.
On-going Projects
Contact the core staff to arrange for receiving additional samples. The core staff will be able to estimate the schedule for completing the analyses. The Facility person will also estimate the cost and ask details about sample preparations.
Acknowledgement Guideline
If you used the Mass Spec Core to generate data for your publications, posters, grant proposals, or presentations, please use the below examples for your acknowledgement section.
You may use the following examples for acknowledgment section at the end of manuscript;
The authors acknowledge the Mass Spec Core at The University of Texas at Dallas for their support during this course of research.We thank the Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at University of Texas at Dallas for the services to support this research. You may use the following example in the Material and Method section.
_________ was prepared/performed by the Mass Spec Core at The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX).Please feel free to contact us if you need more detailed information about the services you used for the Material and Method.
If you need more information on acknowledging the core or co-authorship of core members, please utilize the Recommended Guidelines for Authorship on Manuscript published by the Association of Biomedical Resource Facilities (ABRF).
We would love to keep track of our contributions to the science community. Please email us when your work is published or a grant is awarded using the data we helped to generate.