Towards Unrivaled Separation Technology in Support of Post-Genomic Research in Health and Nutrition - SRF mandate

The present proposal aims at the design and development of novel technologies and workflows providing revolutionary and unmatched possibilities for liquid-chromatographic mass spectrometric (LC-MS) analysis with respect to kinetic performance and detection limits.
Radically novel column-fabrication technology based on polymer monolithic nanostructures will be established and benchmarked aiming at increasing the separation performance with a factor of 10. To advance performance limits by two (and possibly even three) orders of magnitude the column technology will be incorporated in two- and three-dimensional LC workflows. For sample transfer between columns unique microfluidic modulator chips will be developed. In addition, three- dimensional spatial separations will be realized as a novel chromatography concept by making analytes migrate to different positions in precision-engineered three-dimensional structures.
The technology will be applied for the detection and validation of biomarkers that will contribute to our understanding of disease pathways, to enable early diagnosis, to the development of novel therapy regimes, and finally to the replacement of energy-intensive chemical processes by greatly improved sustainable biotechnological processes.