FAQs

• What type of mass spectrometry services do you offer? 

• • We offer a wide variety of services from experimental design consultation, method development, sample preparation to data analysis and data presentation services. We perform metabolomics, proteomics, and structural proteomics analysis on a wide variety of sample types. Please see our services page for more information.  

• What are the fees associated with the MS services you provide? 

• • Our current fees are listed here.  

• Do you offer MS services to users outside the ECU community? 

• • Yes! External users can contact our facilities director to discuss their project needs and pricing fees.  

• I think I need mass spectrometry for my project but am not sure what type of mass spectrometry I need or how to go about preparing samples for mass spectrometry analysis. What do I do? 

• • Contact us! One of our goals is to help you identify what type of mass spectrometry analysis is best suited for your research goals. We will meet with you, discuss your research goals, and help you decide on a plan of action.  

• I’m planning on collecting samples for mass spectrometry analysis. Can the MS Core facilities help me determine the best way to collect these samples? 

• • Yes! We suggest contacting us before you begin collecting samples. We can help advise on the best practices in mass spectrometry analysis to help make sure you can get the most out of your experiments.  

• I read a paper that used a mass spectrometry technique not listed in list of your services. Is this something you can do? 

• • We are always interested in the developing new technology in the core facilities. Often, techniques presented in the literature are modifications of protocols we are currently using in-house and are things we can do. Contact us to discuss potential new projects and we can discuss the capabilities of our instruments and potential method development projects.  

• Do you have any in-house protocols and recommendations for sample preparation? 

• • We do have several methods we use for proteomics and metabolomics sample preparation; however, these are not guaranteed to work for every sample. We can provide you with our in-house protocols upon request, however if you are new to preparing samples for mass spectrometry analysis, we suggest you take advantage of our sample preparation services.  

• Can I process my own samples for MS analysis? 

• • Of course! Throughout our services pages we have some helpful tips for processing your own samples. We also will train students, staff and faculty in how to process their own samples.  

• Are there things that should not go onto the mass spectrometer? 

• • Yes! Certain solvents and additives can not only significantly impact the quality of your data but are also detrimental to the instruments. Please see our sample submission form for some common solvents and additives that are not compatible with mass spectrometry analysis.  

• How do I submit a sample to the BSOM MS Core Facilities for analysis? 

• • A step-by-step guide and necessary forms are available here.  

• I’ve dropped off my samples, now what? 

• • We often have a wait time for some of the instruments and try to smaller sample runs in between long batch runs of samples. Contacting us ahead time to let us know you plan on submitting a large batch of samples will help us plan ahead and help reduce your wait time!  
  • When you submit your samples, we will give you an estimate of how long it will take before your samples will be placed on the MS for analysis. Depending on your place in the sample que, the complexity of the sample preparation, the amount of samples you have, and the type of MS analysis. MS analysis time varies once your samples are on the instrument.  
  • Data analysis time varies depending on the complexity of the analysis and the amount of analysis required by the  
  • You will be given an estimate of how long it will take before your samples will be analyzed and how long any data analysis will be. 
  • If you need preliminary data for a grant submission, it is best to contact us as early as possible to ensure we have enough time to run your samples and help analyze the data! 

• How do I access raw data files collected by the facilities? 

• • For internal users, raw data files can be accessed through OneDrive or directly transferred to users portable hard drives. Arrangements will be made to transfer raw data for any external users.   

• My results are not what I expected? Why? 

• • There are many reasons why your results may be unexpected. We will walk through any results you obtain and discuss what they mean, why they may be different than what you expected, and how to proceed – both from an experimental stand-point and from a hypothesis generating standpoint.  

• Can the MS Core facilities help with processing, analyzing, and interpreting my data? 

• • Yes, we offer data analysis services that covers a wide range of needs.  

• Can the MS Core facilities help with preparing figures for grant applications and publications? 

• • If we have helped collect preliminary data for your grant applications, we are more than happy to provide figures for your applications. As part of our data analysis services, we provide method details, figures, and protocols which we can help you parse down for you to use in your grant applications.  

• Can the MS Core facilities provide letters of support for my grant application? 

• • Yes! We are happy to provide support letters for grant applications! We generally like to discuss the project briefly with you beforehand to make sure we tailor the letter to your project, however, if you provide us with brief statement or aims that references the type of MS analysis you need, the type of grant application, and the title of the grant, we will be able to write you a letter for any type of grant application. We will also provide you with facilities and equipment documents for the applications. We ask that you give us ~ 2 weeks lead time to write the letter of support. 

• Can the MS Core Facilities help me prepare data management and sharing (DMS) plans compliant with NIH, NSF, and other funding agencies’ DMS policies? 
  • The MS Core Facilities strongly supports the new policies instituted by the NIH and other funding agencies  which encourage the validation of research results and provide access to high-value dataset. In addition to support letters, facilities, and equipment documents necessary for for grant applications, we will also provide you with appropriate method and data appropriate DMS plans and budgets for any potential mass spectrometry experiments in your proposal.  We also provide suggestions for data repositories to include in your DMS based on the type of experiments you are proposing; for example proteomics and structural proteomic data most often is submitted to the Proteomics Identifications Database (PRIDE) while metabolomics data sets are often submitted to the NIH Common Fund’s National Metabolomics Data Repository (Metabolomics Workbench). Based on the funding agencies data management and sharing policies, we will help you tailor your DMS plan so that it reflects the nature of the data you expect to produce, fits the agencies policies, and ensures reproducibility and interoperable use of data.  

• Can the MS Core Facilities help me comply with NIH or other funding agencies DMS policies by managing and sharing my mass spectrometry data sets and experimental metadata using publicly accessible data repositories? 
  • Considering many journals require the deposition of mass spectrometry data sets and accompanying experimental metadata to publicly accessible data repositories, our staff already has experience in not only identifying the right repository for your mass spectrometry data sets but also uploading and managing the experimental metadata.  

• How should I acknowledge the BSOM MS Core in publications for their help in data acquisition? 

• • As we outline in our terms of services, we ask that you acknowledge the MS core facilities in the following way:

“This project was supported by the Brody School of Medicine at ECU’s Mass Spectrometry Core which has received support from the Golden Leaf Foundation and from federal COVID-19 relief funds appropriated to ECU in North Carolina SL 2020-4. We thank Dr. T N. Zeczycki for technical support.” 

• I have a student who is interested in learning mass spectrometry techniques. Do you provide training opportunities for students? 

• • We love sharing our knowledge of MS techniques with students! While we do not train students directly on the instruments, we encourage them to work side-by-side with our staff to learn how the instruments work. We do provide training in data analysis and sample preparation. Please contact us for more information.