Design and performance of a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer

Abstract

A matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been built with the capabilities to perform structural analyzes. The first time-of-flight mass spectrometer includes a timing ion gate to select the ions to be analyzed. After the selection process, the ions are activated using an electrically floating collision cell. The fragments produced in the collision cell are analyzed in the second time-of-flight stage. A two-step mass calibration procedure is introduced that allows one to obtain accurate mass values. The characteristics of this calibration procedure make possible to automate it. The experimental results of the tandem mass spectrometer and calibration procedure using different standard peptides are presented.

Applications of MALDI-MS/MS-Based Proteomics in Biomedical Research

“…Although most tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomic studies in biomedical research use ESI as an ionization source [ 60 ], MALDI-ToF/ToF tandem mass spectrometry remains a relatively simple and fast alternative to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of amino and organic acids [ 6 ], proteins and peptides [ 61 ], protein–protein interactions (PPIs), and post-translational modifications (PTMs). A variety of peptides and proteins become biomarkers for clinical applications due to useful features, such as user-friendly sample preparation [ 62 ], preservation of non-covalent interactions, and high sensitivity, high-throughput screening procedures/fast data acquisition [ 63 ].…”