Imaging mass spectrometry fundamentals

Rubakhin, S. S., Jurchen, J. C., Monroe, E. B., and Sweedler, J. V. (2005). Imaging mass spectrometry fundamentals and applications to drug discovery. Drug Discov. Today 10 823-837. 

The results obtained with this first generation focal plane M.S.-EOID system as well as studies by Beynon and others at Purdue University (15) demonstrated the technical feasibility of such a system. Furthermore, these studies led the way to solutions for the variety of fundamental problems, which were encountered during the development and helped point out the directions towards future changes necessary on the road towards a commercially practical design for use of the concept in routine applications of mass-spectrometry. It became obvious that the vidicon based camera system wets not the best approach. Some of the reasons for this are (1) Loss of sensitivity due to light losses in the dissector and the transfer optics (2) cost of the image dissector (3) lower dynamic range and sensitivity, slower read-out rate, etc., of the vidicon compared to alternate devices. 

Indeed, mass spectrometry is the method of choice for an amazing range of applications, from structure determination of proteins to forensic toxicology, from fundamental studies of reaction kinetics to imaging tissues. And that breadth of use and dominance of mass spectrometry is well represented in the chapters assembled here. 

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