MALDI, Other Surface Sampling Methods [DESI] Continue to Make Inroads in Clinical, Quantitative Proteomics

"...Beyond the advances in MALDI technology, Stolowitz also noted growing interest in non-MALDI surface sampling techniques, such as the desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, technique developed by Purdue University researcher Graham Cooks and offered commercially by Prosolia, or the liquid extraction surface analysis, or LESA, technique developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in collaboration with biotech firm Advion.

Like MALDI, these techniques allow researchers to take sample directly from a spotted surface, allowing them to skip time-consuming liquid chromatography steps and improve throughput. Unlike MALDI, though, these techniques can be interfaced with electrospray ionization-based systems like triple quad and QTOF machines, which typically still offer higher sensitivity than MALDI instruments...."


"We were talking to them [Agilent] about surface sampling, and there is some interest there in exploring that, particularly [given that] they have this 6550 QTOF," [Stolowitz] he said. "So I'm trying to talk them into collaborating on putting either a DESI or a [LESA] front end [on it] and looking at what its potential would be as an imaging [mass spec] instrument and also as a surface sampling instrument."

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