A UAB Mass Spec
Interest Group
"THE FLYING IONS"

LogoWelcome

Welcome to the Biomedical FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This laboratory was the original vision of Drs. Tim Townes (Chairman of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics), Stephen Barnes, and Peter Prevelige to apply high resolution mass spectrometry to the analysis of complex biological problems.

How do we operate?

The Biomedical FT-ICR MS Lab operates as a shared resource between three research groups here at UAB. The laboratory of Dr. Matthew Renfrow (Director) in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics serves as the lead group for the laboratory. The other two groups are headed by Dr. Stephen Barnes (Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology) and Dr. Peter Prevelige (Professor, Department of Microbiology) who together wrote the original NIH NCRR shared instrumentation grant that provided funds for the two high resolution mass spectrometers in the lab (7 Tesla LTQ FT's). Several additional research laboratories at UAB and other institutions make use of the laboratory through one of these three groups.

Our Support

In addition to the shared instrumentation grant, the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as the Dean's office and the Provost's office provided initial support for the creation of the lab. Dr. Renfrow was recruited into the department of Biochemistry & Molecular genetics from the laboratory of Dr. Alan Marshall (co-inventor of FT-ICR MS) with help from supporters of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since August of 2007, we have been self sufficient for annual operating costs through NIH funded research which is supported by the Biomedical FT-ICR MS Lab.

We are very appreciative of the continued support we have received from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Department of Microbiology for the research in the laboratory.

Our Goal

Our goal is to provide a unique research platform for the analysis of basic biomedical problems. The projects supported by the lab represent many areas of biomedical research. They all share the common theme of taking advantage of high resolution mass spectrometry and the versatility of these instruments to uniquely analyze and characterize biological systems. Below are links to current projects.

Current Projects in the Lab

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