Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful scientific method that enables unbiased as well as targeted investigations of a broad variety of biomolecules, such as metabolites, lipids, peptides, proteins, and glycans, in single experiments, respectively.
Mass spectrometry technology has a wide range of applications within biology, pharmacology, drug development and medicine, food and feed production, personal care and product formulations, biotech, microbiology, and environmental and material sciences.
Mass spectrometers are expensive and their operation requires highly skilled and specialized personnel. PLATO is a nationally coordinated effort to further advance this powerful technology in Denmark for the benefit of academia, industry and the health sector.
PLATO establishes a modern, advanced and internationally leading mass spectrometry platform for quantitative molecular profiling and bioimaging of organisms, tissues and cells by mass spectrometry. PLATO is the first coordinated national initiative to boost the rapidly growing field of biomolecular mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) research in Denmark to the benefit of academic, health sector and industrial researchers across many disciplines.
Context and national importance
PLATO is a formalized and open national biomolecular mass spectrometry infrastructure that includes all major Danish academic proteomics / mass spectrometry laboratories located at University of Southern Denmark (SDU), University of Copenhagen (KU), Aarhus University (AU), Aalborg University (AaU), Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Odense University Hospital (OUH).
PLATO will be established in a five year time period, 2024-2029, to the benefit of more than 400 mass spectrometry and life science researchers in academia, health sector and industry in Denmark, and their national and international collaborators.
Partners
The following partner institutions take part in the PLATO infrastructure: