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Mass Spectrometry
Research
The Mass Spectrometry Resource has a number of direct research links to various departmental and interdepartmental programs. The Resource serves as a core laboratory for the following National Institutes of Health-supported programs: The Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center in the Section of Clinical Genetics and Metabolism; the Section of Neonatology at the Perinatal Research Facility, located on the Fitzsimons campus; and selected studies from the Pediatric Clinical
Translational Research Center. The Center also serves as a resource for students and
faculty from the Boulder and Denver campuses of the University of Colorado.
The faculty at the Perinatal Research Center has developed a model of fetal growth retardation using the pregnant sheep. This reproducible model system has been used to study the transport of essential nutrients from the mother to the fetus. Stable isotope and mass spectrometry techniques have become a key component for these studies. The Resource Center is able to follow the transport and metabolism of important nutrients (amino acids, sugars, fats, etc). This work has been used by investigators in the Section of Neonatology to measure interuterine growth retardation during pregnancy, through the work of Dr. Frederick Battaglia, and to determine the effectiveness of new feeding approaches for very low birth weight infants, through the work of Dr. Patti Thureen. These are examples of "translational" research.
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