Establishment of a MALDI/ESI-MS facility for cooperative research use at Campus Krems (LC-ESI/MALDI-MS)

Programme

Cooperation Structures, R&D Infrastructure Funding Call 2023

Project coordination

Danube University Krems

Project partners

• Danube Private University - DPU
• Karl-Landsteiner Universität - KL

Abstract

Initial situation, problems, and motivation: The existing mass spectrometry facilities, employed for current research projects, have reached their capacity limits, leading to extended waiting periods of up to a year. This situation is compounded by the high service costs, particularly when developing new measurement protocols for specific research inquiries. In response to the growing demand for a flexible and efficient tool capable of analyzing diverse analytes across various samples, we plan to establish a central mass spectrometry facility at Campus Krems. This infrastructure will be installed by the University for Continuous Education (UWK) within their perimeters in cooperation with and accessible to the partner research institutions (Danube Private University - DPU; Karl-Landsteiner University - KL) through collaborative agreements and will be designed to engage prospective partners for national and international research collaborations.
Goals and innovation content: The high-quality analytical and imaging infrastructure located at the research institutions in Krems shall be complemented by a MALDI/ESI-MS imaging system, coupled also with liquid chromatography. This enables the analysis of a wide array of sample types, ranging from liquids to solids. The adaptability of this device proves crucial in areas such as ecosystem research, clinical research, diagnostics, as well as material science and driving innovative discoveries and collaborations with (inter-)national partners for publications in high-ranking journals.
In terms of the planned joint use of the infrastructure, UWK, KL, and DPU are partners combining their expertise in aquatic ecosystems, ecophysiology, biomedicine, regenerative medicine, and oncology.
Intended results or findings: The highly interdisciplinary fields of ecosystem research, health sciences and nutrition require a collaborative approach, which will result in a high degree of scientific novelty and innovation. This includes new insights on the interdependence between climate changes, food quality and human health, pathophysiological processes during inflammation, structure of biomaterials and their biocompatibility, and new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in cancer and inflammatory diseases. The resulting merger of unique expertise at the campus reinforces Krems and Lower Austria as an innovative and competitive research location and enables the acquisition of high-tech research projects. This will consequently act as magnet for excellent researchers and create novel opportunities for long-term collaboration with partners at national and international level.

Read more about the project.