March 10, 2010.

Whether it's seeing how molecules exist in nature or watching how cells talk to each other, the observations Duquesne University scientists and students can now make in the school's new spectrometry lab represents a level of sophistication previously unmatched, said David W. Seybert, dean of the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.

"It's more than cool -- it changes the entire paradigm," said Skip Kingston, a professor of analytical chemistry at Duquesne in Uptown.

School officials plan to dedicate the Center of Excellence for Mass Spectrometry at 1 p.m. today in Mellon Hall. Two National Science Foundation grants totaling about $1 million and a partnership with Agilent Technologies, a scientific-instruments manufacturer based in Santa Clara, Calif., helped make it possible.

Project work done in the lab will include analyzing changes in lipid metabolism -- an element associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome -- and examining what happens when a cell is starving, said Mitch Johnson, a Duquesne chemistry professor.

"The equipment we have here and the new software we have to sift through data is all top quality," Johnson said.

The lab includes four spectrometers, Seybert said.

A spectrometer is able to take a "molecular fingerprint," Seybert said. It also can break molecules into smaller pieces to reveal qualities of an intact molecule, he said.

Agilent Technologies offered Duquesne some of the equipment in the new lab at reduced prices, said Bob Walker, a company sales manager in Lancaster.

The relationship between the company and the university enables Agilent executives and scientists to develop better equipment based on feedback from researchers, Walker said.

"Then we can provide leading-edge tools and technologies to customers so they can do more of what Duquesne is doing."