# Lipid Mass Spectrometry

> **NIH NIH P01** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $303,400

## Abstract

Core 2 – Lipid Mass Spectrometry provides multiple essential services to every investigator involved
with this Program Project Grant. These services include lipid analysis measurements as well as novel and
unique lipid measurements that provide unparalleled and comprehensive data providing insight into lipid
metabolism. The Core is directed by Dr. Jeff McDonald, who has led the lipid mass spectrometry efforts at UT
Southwestern for 17 years.
 Services include mass spectrometry-based quantification of individual lipid species including sterols,
oxysterols, sphingolipids, steroids, bile acids, and fatty acids. Qualitative or semi-quantitative analysis of all lipid
classes can be measured providing relative comparisons between sample groups and fatty acid compositions
for cholesteryl esters, glycerolipids, and other lipid classes.
 Unique lipid mass spectrometry measurements center around use of ultra-high resolution mass
spectrometry to distinctly measure deuterium incorporation into lipids instead of mathematically deconvoluting
2H signals which overlap with the naturally occurring 13C isotope mass envelope. Using this method results in a
signal-to-noise ratio that was at best 1 or 2 using traditional mass spectrometry (unit resolution) techniques to a
signal-to-noise of 1000 or greater. This requires very advanced mass spectrometers, two of which are currently
in our facility. Coupled with advanced chromatography methods that resolve lipids and lipid classes, the
synthesis and flow of lipids through a designated biosynthetic or catabolic pathway in cultured cells and living
animals is now feasible.
 The complex and expensive equipment needed to provide these services include multiple mass
spectrometers, a liquid handling robot for sample preparation, 96-well SPE and nitrogen blow-down manifolds
for sample processing.
 The lipid mass spectrometry measurements provided by Core 2 will play a major role in every specific
aim in this Program Project and in every publication that arises from the completed research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10332595
- **Project number:** 1P01HL160487-01
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeff G McDonald
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $303,400
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10332595

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10332595, Lipid Mass Spectrometry (1P01HL160487-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10332595. Licensed CC0.

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