Led by NC State Professor David Muddiman, the Molecular Education, Technology, and Research Innovation Center (METRIC) provides state-of-the-art innovative technologies to address a diverse range of scientific questions while making state-of-the-art, scientific infrastructure and instrumentation such as mass spectrometry, magnetic resonance and X-ray crystallography available to all departments and faculty at NC State. METRIC hosted a symposium in FY 2019-20 focused on Mass Spectrometry in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Agilent Technology. A second symposium on Protein Production for Macromolecular Structure Determination has been postponed due to COVID-19. METRIC’s current pilot grants awarded are as follows:
- Jacqueline Cole (COE), Identifying Molecular Biomarkers of Ischemic Stroke within Bone, Proposal Submitted as an R01 to the National Institutes of Health, Pending;
- Arion Kennedy (CALS), Investigating Metabolism for Fructose in Polarized Macrophages using 13C NMR Spectroscopy Stable Isotope Tracers;
- Michael Hyman (CALS)), Proteomic and Exometabolomic Analysis of Hydrocarbon Oxidation by Mycobacterium Vaccae;
- Pietro Ranieri (COE), Investigation of Solvated NO and OH for Plasma Medical and Agricultural Applications;
- Deyu Xie (CALS), Structural Elucidation of Novel Anthocyanins from Engineered Red Artemisia Annua Cells.
Dr. Muddiman served as a mentor for 2019-20 Kenan Fellow Megan Alvord of Broughton High School (Wake County Public Schools) on her project titled Using METRIC to Improve STEM Education. Dr. Muddiman also reported that METRIC facilities underwent a $1.3M renovation that was completed in January 2020. In addition, METRIC received $1.6 million to purchase 5 new instruments to support faculty, post-doc and students at NC State University. Also, Dr. Michael Gamcsik, (COE) PI on the 2019 METRIC project Mapping Functional Heterogeneity in Tissue was awarded a follow up $220K grant from the National Institutes of Health.