From Biology to Medicine: Ambient Mass Spectrometry of Live Cells and Tissues

Akos Vertes

Department of Chemistry, W. M. Keck Institute for Proteomics Technology and Applications, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
E-mail: vertes@gwu.edu, Phone: (202) 994-2717

In the past two decades, we have witnessed the rapid expansion of mass spectrometry to fundamental problems in biochemistry and molecular biology. The new soft ionization sources, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization and electrospray ionization enabled the fast identification and structural analysis of large biomolecules. These developments spawned the emergence of entire scientific disciplines, such as proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics. The next challenge for biomedical mass spectrometry is to address the problems encountered in medicine in the trio of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. To directly affect medical decisions in these fields, mass spectrometry of live specimens is desirable preferably at atmospheric pressure. This talk describes the atmospheric pressure ion sources developed in my laboratory with examples of in vivo investigations of tissues and cells. Recent breakthroughs in the molecular imaging and metabolic profiling of live tissues are discussed with a view on future biomedical applications.

[Talk Slides]