A method for analysing a crude oil to determine the amount of organic acid compounds contained in the crude oil includes extracting the organic acid compounds from a sample of crude oil to form an extract and determining the amount of the extracted organic acids In addition, the method includes dissolving the extract in a polar solvent to form a solution of the extracted organic acid compounds Further, the method includes introducing a sample of the solution of the extracted organic acid to an apparatus including a reversed phase liquid chromatography (LC) column and a mass spectrometer (MS) arranged in series. The reversed phase LC column contains a hydrophobic sorbent and the mobile phase for the LC column includes a polar organic solvent. Still further, the method includes separating the organic acid compounds in the LC column of the LC-MS apparatus and continuously passing the separated organic acid compounds from the LC column to the MS of the LC-MS apparatus to ionize the organic acid compounds and to obtain a chromatogram with mass spectral data over time for the ionized organic acid compounds. Moreover, the method includes determining the area(s) under the peak(s) in an extracted ion chromatogram derived from the mass spectral data assigned to one or more organic acid compounds. The method also includes determining the amount of the organic acid compound(s) in the sample by comparing the area under the peak(s) assigned to the organic acid compound(s) with the area under a peak in an extracted ion chromatogram assigned to a specific amount of a standard organic acid compound. In addition, the method includes extrapolating from the amount of the organic acid compound(s) in the sample to provide the total amount of the organic acid compound(s) in the extract.

A flow cell assembly (16) for a fluid analyzer (14) that analyzes a sample (12) includes (i) a base (350) that includes a base window (350B); (ii) a cap (352) having a cap window (352B) that is spaced apart from the base window (350B); and (iii) a gasket (360) that is secured to and positioned between the base (350) and the cap (352), the gasket (360) having a gasket body (360A) that includes a gasket opening (360B). The gasket body (360A), the base (350) and the cap (352) cooperate to define a flow cell chamber (362). Moreover, an inlet passageway (366) extends into the flow cell chamber (362) to direct the sample (12) into the flow cell chamber (362); and an outlet passageway (368) extends into the flow cell chamber (362) to allow the sample (12) to exit the flow cell chamber (362).

Apparatus, methods and kits for detecting the contamination of a meat sample with another type of meat using parent-daughter ion transition monitoring that identifies peptides specific to a particular type of meat. The meat types detected can include pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck and/or horse and one or more combinations thereof.

Provided herein are method of analyzing genomic and metabolomic data from fungi to identify relationships between biosynthetic gene clusters and mass spectrometric features of metabolites.

A method for determining a quantity of an analyte in a liquid sample, comprises: adding a known quantity of an internal standard comprising an isotopically labeled version of the analyte to the sample; (b) providing a continuous stream of the sample having the internal standard to an inlet of a Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) system; and repeatedly performing the steps of: performing a data-independent analysis of the precursor ion species using a mass analyzer, whereby mass spectra of a plurality of fragment-ion species are acquired; calculating one or more degree-of-matching scores that relate to either a number of ions of the internal standard that overlap between results of the data-independent analysis and tabulated mass spectral data of the internal standard; and performing quantitative tandem mass spectrometric analyses of the internal standard and the analyte if each of the degree-of-matching scores meets a respective degree-of-matching condition.

The present invention relates to the field of protein characterization, and in particular to methods for identifying critical quality attributes of therapeutic proteins by implementing a workflow including using a competitive binding assay with insufficient capture molecule followed by LC-MS.

A method of mass spectrometry comprising the steps of: providing a library of background ion data including m/z data for multiple background ions in respect of different chromatographic conditions including a change of solvent composition from aqueous (1) to organic (3), chromatographically separating a sample containing analyte components, wherein the chromatographic separation is performed under a chromatographic condition in respect of which background ion data is provided in the library, analysing the sample to obtain sample data comprising m/z values for the sample components as a function of retention time (RT), and calculating one or more error values including ppm error as a function of retention time based on a comparison between background ions identified in the sample data and the library of background ion data. Outliers (4), corrupted measurements and inconsistent measurements at specific retention times are rejected.

The invention pertains to the use of a specific biomarker of elastin degradation (desmosine) that measures the extent and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition to potentially serving as a screening procedure for COPD, it provides a real-time measure of COPD drug efficacy and may therefore supersede the use of less sensitive tests such as pulmonary function studies and computed tomography. Equally important, the current invention constitutes a marked improvement for measuring desmosine in tissues and body fluids by greatly shortening the time for detection of this molecule in liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) assays that are the gold standard for such measurements. Unlike previous methods, the invention allows for the use of LC-MS-MS without modification, so the method can be applied to any laboratory that uses this equipment for other measurements. This would include forensic facilities that need to determine if undiagnosed COPD played a role in the loss of life.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for diagnosing solid cancers comprising lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, bile duct cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, brain tumors, kidney cancer, liver cancer, and cervical cancer. More specifically, the apparatus comprises: a concentration measurement unit for measuring the concentration of each of acyl-carnitine (AC), nudifloramide (2PY), and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) from a biological sample; a pre-processing unit for pre-processing the measured concentrations; and a diagnosis unit for determining the diagnosis information of cancer through linear discriminant analysis using the pre-processed concentrations.

The present invention generally pertains to methods of characterizing at least one protein of interest in a biological sample. In particular, the present invention pertains to the use of automated iterative tandem mass spectrometry (AIMS) to identify, quantify and characterize at least one protein of interest and/or biomarker from a biological sample such as plasma.