Project: Acquisition of a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) for research in the marine, earth and environmental sciences

Description from NSF award abstract:
This award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation program supports acquisition of an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and a laser ablation (LA) sample introduction system to be used for the elemental and isotopic analysis of a broad range of natural materials investigated in the marine, earth and environmental sciences. This investment by the NSF will support researchers working within various disciplines at Northeastern University (marine science, environmental science, global change, geology, chemistry, biology, osteology, public health, engineering), as well as at other regional institutions. Specific research projects that will be enhanced by acquisition of LA-ICP-MS at Northeastern include the reconstruction of past seawater temperature and acidity from coral cores, experiments on marine organisms that require chemical labelling of their shell or skeleton, research investigating metal incorporation in carbonate minerals, investigations of fish population structure and connectivity using chemical fingerprinting of the ear-bones ("otoliths") of fish, and numerous other projects investigating marine ecosystems, shell and skeletal production, materials synthesis, drug discovery, and environmental toxins. Instrument use by junior, mid-level, and senior faculty, and their postdoctoral associates, graduate and undergraduate students, and technical staff, will provide critical educational and instrument training opportunities for users with varying levels of expertise across a range of scientific disciplines. Acquisition of LA-ICP-MS will be particularly valuable for the career development of several young faculty who are developing novel research projects and are poised to take full advantage of the mass resolution, sensitivity, and substrate versatility afforded by LA-ICP-MS. Faculty and staff at Northeastern have established an excellent record of involving students at all levels of scientific research, and this emphasis on student involvement will be fully integrated with the management and operation of this instrumentation.

The LA-ICP-MS system to be acquired through this award combines key technological capabilities that will facilitate analytical research at Northeastern and beyond. These capabilities include (1) high precision and accuracy; (2) broad mass range (6 < atomic mass < 260, > 70 elements); (3) substrate versatility (liquids and solids), including in-situ measurement of solid substrates via laser ablation at < 5 micron spatial resolution; (4) ultra-low detection limits (ppq-to-ppm); and (5) rapid, simultaneous analysis of multiple isotopes (> 20) afforded by the system's high sensitivity, rapid adjustment of magnetic field strength, and minimal sample preparation requirements. The analytical versatility of LA-ICP-MS is required for the broad range of research projects of multiple early career, mid-level, and senior researchers at Northeastern. These projects include investigating temporal trends in carbonate mineralogy, developing a multielemental paleothermometer and B/Ca-based paleo-pH proxy to reconstruct recent oceanic change from coral skeletal geochemistry, isotopic labeling of carbonate shells and skeletons in ocean acidification experiments, investigating trace element partitioning in synthetic and biogenic carbonates, elemental fingerprinting of fish otoliths to investigate population structure and connectivity, and numerous other projects in the fields of marine ecology, biomineralization, bone pathology, materials synthesis, nano-engineering, drug discovery, and toxicology. These projects are at the forefront of their respective fields, yet their ultimate success, especially for the early career scientists, hinges on ready access to the proposed instrumentation. Although no single mass spectrometer is perfectly suited for all of the described research activities, LA-ICP-MS is the one instrument system that is most readily adaptable to each of these applications.