Training and Course

In the past few years, there has been a rapid development in new MS technologies and their application to a wide range of disciplines, including chemistry, biochemistry, biology, clinical chemistry, food safety, environmental, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sciences to name just a few.

The MS facility offers several education programmes to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral fellows at the University of Waterloo.

It is the mandate of the University of Waterloo Mass Spectrometry Facility (UWMSF) to provide expertise and training to potential users, as well as other interested parties. To satisfy this mission we provide four major avenues to help you understand current best practices and the application of mass spectrometry:

  • Mass Spectrometry Tutorials that briefly describe MS concepts and methods mentioned on this website.
  • For those users who need to perform MS project work in support of their research, we offer comprehensive hardware, software, method development workflows, and data interpretation training programmes. This training is currently available for:
    • Waters Synapt G2Si HDMS QTof with Acquity UPLC
    • Thermo Q-Exactive hybrid Q-Orbitrap with Dionex 3000 UPLC
    • Thermo LTQ-XL and Vanquish Core UPLC
    • Thermo LTQ linear ion trap
    • Bruker MALDI-Tof
    • Agilent and Thermo GC/MS

Currently there are more than sixty graduate students and post-doctoral fellows trained in this fashion. Please contact us for scheduling and cost.

  • A pre-requisite for training is that the MS Tutorials should be read, and we can then elaborate those topics that are relevant.
  • CHEM 494 projects. We offer the opportunity to participate in a fourth-year CHEM 494 project employing mass spectrometry.
  • A fourth-year undergraduate course (CHEM 420 - Special Topics in Analytical Chemistry: Mass Spectrometry) is taught by the facility manager. This course provides a thorough understanding of all aspects of mass spectrometry. For more information, visit the CHEM 420 course description page. This course is not being offered this year.

For those individuals or groups who want a sneak peek into the world of mass spectrometry, Facility tours can be arranged.