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About Us

The Mass Spectrometry Facility (MSF) in the Department of Chemistry provides staff services and walk-up access to a variety of mass spectrometry instruments suitable for the analysis of small molecules, peptides/proteins and nucleic acids. The MSF provides services principally to faculty research groups in Chemistry (60%) and other UC departments/schools (35%), but can also accept samples from outside academic/non-profit and commerical clients (5%).

The MSF operates 21 instruments that are equipped with liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC) or matrix assisted laser desorption (MALDI) input sources coupled to quadrupole or time-of-flight (TOF) MS systems. All instruments have extensive sets of pre-programmed methods availble that are suitable for the majority of samples typically encountered; method customization can also be accommodated.

facilityInstruments include: 

  • Waters G2-XS QTOF
  • Waters Synapt G2 (x2)
  • Waters QTOF-2
  • Waters Q-TOF Premier
  • Waters LCT Premier (x2)
  • Waters LCT Classic (x2)
  • Waters Quattro Premier
  • Water TQ Absolute
  • Waters GCT Premier
  • Agilent 610 LC-MS TOF
  • Shimadzu IT-TOF
  • Thermo LTQ-XL Orbitrap
  • Thermo TriPlus Ultra GC-MS (liquid/headspace, SPME)
  • Thermo GC-MS/FID
  • Agilent GC-MS/FID w/ TD (volatiles)
  • Agilent GC-FID/TCD (gases)
  • AB Sciex 5800 MALDI-TOF
  • Bruker ultrafleXtreme (imaging mass spectrometry)
  • Metrohm 940 Vario IC Pro (ion chromatography)
  • various Agilent/Waters/Beckman HPLC systems.

MSF staff provide regular weekly user/instrument training sessions, project consultation, assistance with method development, advanced MS services and data analyses. Qualified trained users may access the facility and instruments 24/7 and are encouraged to run their own samples. Consequently, users can often obtain results wihtin minutes. Core staff services include: accurate mass molecular formula validation, exact mass measurements of intact peptide/protein/oligonucleotides, peptide sequencing, post-translational modifications (PTMs), targeted and untargeted metabolomics including triplequad quantitation, and imaging mass spectrometry applications.

For more information on services and training, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Facility Director)