Arkansas State University in Jonesboro has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to support research by utilizing a highly advanced research instrument.
The grant is a Major Research Instrumentation award. It will support the purchase of an UltraHigh Performance Liquid Chromatograph-Tandem Quadrupole (UHPLC-TQ) with a Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI) system.
Jennifer Bouldin, dean of the Beck College of Sciences and Mathematics, said in a press release that her team was thrilled when notified, as the award enables the purchase of the $719,800 instrument to advance research initiatives on campus.
“We’d been trying for several years to be awarded this grant, as the instrument is the linchpin for several research projects for many faculty, staff and students,” Bouldin said in the press release. “In particular, A-State currently lacks anything like the DESI, and having that will provide a plethora of educational and research opportunities to many at A-State.”
The research team, credited with securing the award, features principal investigator Bouldin, and co-principal investigators: Orithea Regn, Sarah Webb, Fabricio Medina-Bolivar and Hashim Ali.
The NSF research grant will cover the instrument and associated costs, which includes a dedicated computer for the instrument and supporting aspects such as a training session, a nitrogen generator, which is the gas that operates the tool, a dedicated power supply and a three-year-warranty.
The instrument will be located in the A-State Ecotoxicology Research Facility, where it will support research on a variety of topics. Over the grant period, researchers from A-State and neighboring institutions will conduct projects addressing human health, chemical exposures in plants and animals, and area freshwater quality.
“Not only can we now conduct our proposed research, but we can also share the knowledge and experience we gain from working with this instrument with everyone,” Bouldin said in the release.
This tool’s advanced detection capabilities are expected to have significant impacts across various research areas.
It is capable of detecting very low concentrations of contaminants, harmful toxins and biological compounds, including cancer. The instrument also has the ability to map out where targets are within a sample, essentially creating a heat map.
The release also stated that the instrument positions A-State as a leader in research innovation.
“A-State is expanding its research profile every year, and the backbone of a research institution is the facilities and instrumentation that allow the research to happen,” Travis Marsico, vice provost for research, innovation and discovery, said in the release
The university plans to use the instrument in community outreach programs. The research team plans to collaborate with local K-12 schools to provide science experiences. Additionally, partnerships with A-State undergraduate education majors and summer research opportunities for local students are anticipated.
A certificate program will be established to train participants in the use of the tool. The Ecotoxicology Research Facility will make this technology available to campus partners, regional industries and collaborators at the national and international levels.
The team will also set up a website for the instrument to showcase data sets and photos of the instrument’s results.
“The instrument will allow for multiple points of entry into instrumentation and will also provide participants with a greater appreciation for our natural world and the science that makes it all work,” Bouldin said in the release. “We want our outreach to encourage curiosity in science, making something that might seem scary or too difficult to understand into something that students want to know more about.”
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