What is MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry?
MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) links the universal detection capability of mass spectrometry with the positional information of molecular histology, generating mass spectra correlated to known locations within the tissue. MALDI-IMS can reveal the distribution of hundreds of ion signals ranging in size up to 20,000 Daltons. This information can be used to determine tumor margins, drug distribution throughout a tissue or organism, and proteomic profiles under different experimental or therapeutic conditions. Protein profiles are obtained directly from frozen tissue sections. The Labcyte Portrait® 630 spotter deposits MALDI matrix, enzymes and other reagents in a user-defined pattern directly onto the tissue (Figure 1). The Portrait 630 user interface allows complete flexibility for the user to control reagent deposition parameters to optimize tissue penetration, reaction conditions, crystal formation, and positional resolution for different tissue types and applications. Figure 1.
