The invention relates to biomarkers, and to novel biological markers for diagnosing cancer. In particular, the invention relates to the use of these compounds as diagnostic and prognostic markers in assays for detecting cancer, such as oesophagogastric cancer, and corresponding methods of detection. The invention also relates to methods of determining the efficacy of treating these diseases with a therapeutic agent. The assays are qualitative and/or quantitative, and are adaptable to large-scale screening and clinical trials.

The present invention relates to a method for quantitative measurement of catechol estrogen bound protein in blood sample. By detecting adduction levels of binding sites of the catechol estrogen on the protein in blood sample, the catechol estrogen bound protein in the blood sample can be detected quantitatively and a limit of quantitation can be decreased.

Methods of LC-MS analysis of oligonucleotides free of ion-pairing reagents are disclosed herein. Historically, ion-pairing reagents have been used for acceptable extraction and chromatography prior to mass spectral analysis. The disclosure herein presents methods free of ion-pairing reagents at each stage, from extraction through the LC-MS endpoint. Also disclosed herein are systems for performing these methods.

The invention relates to a method for the spectrometric characterization of microorganisms, comprising: providing a test microorganism; acquiring spectrometric measurement data from the test microorganism under potential exposure to variance that is not based on taxonomic classification; selecting a classifier which is trained to determine the identity of a microorganism on a second taxonomic level; and applying the classifier to the measurement data in order to determine the identity of the test microorganism on the second taxonomic level, wherein the classifier is variance-conditioned in such a way that it largely or completely masks out the effect of variance in the characterization of the test microorganism on the second taxonomic level.

The present invention relates to compounds which are suitable to be used in mass spectrometry as well as methods of mass spectrometric determination of analyte molecules using said compounds.

There is disclosed a method of identifying colon cancer-specific vesicle-associated proteins from a tissue sample of a subject. The method comprises isolating tissue-resident extracellular vesicles from the tissue sample; identifying vesicle-associated proteins associated with the isolated tissue-resident extracellular vesicles; quantifying the identified vesicle-associated proteins to identify one or more major vesicle-associated proteins; creating vesicle-associated protein profiles for the identified vesicle-associated proteins; and comparing the vesicle-associated protein profiles for the identified vesicle-associated proteins with pre-determined vesicle-associated protein profiles of the tumour tissue samples and/or non-tumour tissue samples.

Provided are methods for determining the amount of lacosamide in a sample using mass spectrometry. The methods generally involve ionizing lacosamide in a sample and detecting and quantifying the amount of the ion to determine the amount of lacosamide in the sample.

Coating materials such as MALDI matrix solutions are aerosolized and are used to coat analyte particles in an acoustic coater. Methods and devices for coating analyte particles in real time are disclosed. The coating improves the detection and quantification of the analyte particles using analytical instruments such as an aerosol time of flight mass spectrometer.

Synthesis of a sulfoxide-containing homobifunctional cysteine-reactive mass spectrometry-cleavable cross-linker for mapping intra-protein interactions in a protein and inter-protein interactions in a protein complex is provided. Methods for mapping intra-protein interactions in a protein and inter-protein interactions in a protein complex and cross-linking mass spectrometry for identifying one or more cross-linked peptides using the cross-linker are provided.

The invention provides a method for determining a systemic lupus erythematosus-associated disease state in a subject comprising the steps of (a) providing a sample to be tested; and (b) measuring the presence and/or amount in the test sample of one or more biomarker(s) selected from the group defined in Table A, wherein the presence and/or amount in the test sample of the one or more biomarker(s) selected from the group defined in Table A is indicative of a systemic lupus. The invention also provides an array and a kit suitable for use in the methods of the invention.