MASSTECH, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION: Significant increase in the efficiency and speed of MS-based tissue imaging

Description

DESCRIPTION: Significant increase in the efficiency and speed of MS-based tissue imaging (IMS) performed at atmospheric conditions using high-resolution mass spectrometer will have a profound impact on method applications to the entire analytical field ofcharacterization of biomarkers in tissues. At present, the efficiency of the MS-based tissue imaging is limited by low sensitivity. We propose to employ a separate post-ionization step to increase the ion yield from the material ablated by laser from thetissues. To demonstrate high-throughput IMS analysis based on the proposed post-ionization technique, we plan to modify the house-built compact UV laser system capable of generation high-intensity laser pulses at very high repetition rate. PUBLICHEALTH RELEVANCE PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of tissues is currently used for profiling of known or search for new biomarkers in cancer-related studies. We plan to develop a novel method that significantly improves sensitivity, dynamics range, and throughput of MS-based tissue imaging. This high-throughput method will operate at atmospheric conditions and can be also applied for a characterization of proteins in 2D gels.