Biological and Medical Applications of IMS

1 INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL COMMENTS ON BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL APPLICATIONS 

IMS can serve as a stand-alone instrument in medical and biological applications for which only limited information from a small number of compounds is required. Ion mobility separation can be used to preseparate or filter interfering compounds prior to MS analysis or serve as a means of distinguishing between isomers based on structural differences. As mentioned, mobility data can also be used to determine the stereoscopic conformation of macromolecules and can thus serve as a means for assessing their biologic activity. 

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Electrospray ion sources initiated the current revolution in biological and medical uses of MS, yet the chanistry of these sources is complex, and the number of useful ions derived from a sample can be few amid a complex mixture of interfering ions. When placed between the ESI source and the mass spectrometer, EAIMS and DMS instruments can isolate ions of importance, significantly simplifying mass spectra and improving signal-to-noise ratios in quantitative measurements." - This was initiated with EAIMS instruments and is now complimented with ultraFAlMS and DMS. A direct and near-immediate use of IMS in medical research has arisen with the development of cUnical applications of IMS, as described in Section 1.3. 

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