METRIC Expands into the new NC Plant Sciences Building

Along with the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (PSI), we aim to solve some of the world’s grandest challenges affecting agriculture and society today, such as climate change and doubling agricultural production by 2050 to sustain the world’s rapidly growing population.

New cutting-edge instruments will open research possibilities for plant scientists. Volatiles can now be analyzed with our new GC-FTMS system. Whether you are studying plant-to-plant communication or the aromas produced during fermentation, our sophisticated and multifaceted platforms are very adaptable to solving a broad range of research problems. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), a technique developed at NC State by David Muddiman’s research group, can be used to find out where a molecule is located and where it is concentrated the most. Researchers can now pick a leaf and study it directly without grinding and extracting.

The PSB facility enables METRIC to continue expanding technologies, but in the context of the plant sciences. Plant sciences excel at the genetic level, but the underpinnings at the protein and metabolite level are underexplored. This new facility allows us to explore these underpinnings together through cutting edge FTMS technology, across many scientific disciplines, by bringing these new research capabilities into agricultural research.

METRIC would like to thank CALS, COS, ORI, the Provost’s Office and the Office of Finance and Administration for providing resources to get METRIC established and moving forward. Please contact us by visiting the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s partnership page.