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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University researchers hope to develop a powerful new tool to look deeply into some of the earth's tiniest particles with the support of a $1-million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles.

The funds will help in the development of an "electron capture tandem mass spectrometer," which will aid scientists studying how proteins function in disease processes.

Researchers today depend heavily on mass spectrometry to study the structure and function of proteins coded in the human genome. For the last several years, OSU investigators have been developing new technical innovations that seek to increase the information that proteomics researchers can obtain using mass spectrometric techniques. A mass spectrometer is an instrument that measures the masses of individual molecules - in a loose sense, weighing them - and is used to probe the structural and chemical properties of molecules or to identify and quantify compounds present in physical and biological matter.

With this grant from the Keck Foundation, OSU will establish the W.M. Keck Laboratory for the Development of Proteomics Mass Spectrometry. The funds will be used to build a novel chamber in which electrons precisely dissect a peptide into fragments that are unique to that peptide; the goal is to obtain data by mass spectrometry that will enable researches to better understand how proteins act in disease processes.

The project has implications for several ongoing studies at OSU, including investigations of how environmental carcinogens can activate nuclear receptors to initiate cancer and the role of a small protein called superoxide dismutase in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

The project is under the direction of the OSU Mass Spectrometry Facility Instrumentation Development Team composed of Joseph S. Beckman, director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center, Ava Helen Pauling Chair at the OSU Linus Pauling Institute and professor of biochemistry and biophysics; laboratory co-directors, Douglas F. Barofsky, professor of chemistry, and Max L. Deinzer, professor of chemistry; and research assistants Yury Vasil'ev and Valery Voinov.

"Dr. Doug Barofsky and an international team of researchers and graduate students will attempt to solve one of the crucial technical problems limiting the ability of mass spectrometry to gain information about how proteins function to sustain and protect human life - vital information that can lead to profound advances in medicine," Beckman said.

While OSU has been the recipient of several Keck Foundation grants in the past, this is the university's first award in the medical research arena.

"This two-year project has enormous potential for launching a new generation of mass spectrometric tools-tools that can used to elevate knowledge about biomolecular processes and advance medical research," said John M. Cassady, vice president for research. "This award is a testament to the outstanding record that OSU's mass spectrometry researchers have achieved in introducing innovative analytical methods and new forms of mass spectrometry, which have subsequently been adopted by researchers across the nation."

Based in Los Angeles, the W.M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science, and engineering. The foundation also maintains a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of civic and community services with a special emphasis on children. For more information, visit www.wmkeck.org