A method of analysis using mass and/or ion mobility spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed comprising: using a first device to generate aerosol, smoke or vapour from one or more regions of a first target of biological material; and mass and/or ion mobility analysing and/or ion mobility analysing said aerosol, smoke, or vapour, or ions derived therefrom so as to obtain first spectrometric data. The method may use an ambient ionisation method.

A method of analysis using mass spectrometry and/or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed. The method comprises: using a first device to generate smoke, aerosol or vapour from a target comprising or consisting of a microbial population; mass analysing and/or ion mobility analysing said smoke, aerosol or vapour, or ions derived therefrom, in order to obtain spectrometric data; and analysing said spectrometric data in order to analyse said microbial population.

A method of mass spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed comprising: providing an analyte; supplying a matrix compound to said analyte such that said analyte dissolves in said matrix; forming first droplets of the dissolved analyte; and colliding said first droplets with a collision surface. The use of matrix improves the analyte ion signal.

An object of the invention is to provide a mass spectrometry apparatus capable of obtaining a highly accurate quantitative result and being low-cost. A small section measurement instruction unit 101 instructs a detector 9 to perform measurement on a plurality of small sections 5 in a channel 4, the signals detected by the detector 9 are stored in a data storage unit 102, the signals are integrated by a small section signal amount integration unit 103, and variance of the integrated signals is calculated by a signal variance calculation unit 104. A signal variance evaluation unit 105 evaluates the signal variance of signals of each small section 5 in the same channel 4. When the signal variance is evaluated to be stable, an operation control unit 106 controls operations of the ion source 6 to continue measurement without warning. When the signal variance is evaluated to be unstable, the warning is performed during the measurement or after the measurement.

An apparatus is disclosed including a tool comprising a first device for generating aerosol from a target, the first device being deployed through an opening in a tubing of the tool, wherein the tubing is provided with aspiration ports or fenestrations such that the generated aerosol is aspirated into the tubing via the aspiration ports or fenestrations. The aspirated aerosol is then transferred to a mass spectrometer for subsequent mass analysis.

A method is disclosed comprising obtaining or acquiring chemical or other non-mass spectrometric data from one or more regions of a target (2) using a chemical sensor (20). The chemical or other non-mass spectrometric data may be used to determine one or more regions of interest of the target (2). An ambient ionisation ion source 1 may then be used to generate aerosol, smoke or vapour (5) from one or more regions of the target (2).

An apparatus for performing ambient ionisation mass and/or ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a substantially cylindrical, tubular, rod-shaped, coil-shaped, helical or spiral-shaped collision assembly; and a first device arranged and adapted to direct analyte, smoke, fumes, liquid, gas, surgical smoke, aerosol or vapour onto said collision assembly.

Disclosed are techniques for mass spectrometry. In one example, an an isotopologue of a target analyte is added to a sample. The the sample and isotopologue are analyzed as it elutes from a chromatography system to form precursor ions. The precursor ions are mass analysed using a data independent acquisition (DIA) methodology comprising performing mass analysis scans in the MS1 domain and performing mass analysis scans in the MS2 domain. Upon identifying that the isotopologue is eluting from the chromatography system, a plurality of target scans are performed, each having a target isolation window including a mass to charge ratio representative of the target analyte over the duration of a chromatographic peak of the isotopologue for at least one of identification and quantitation of the target analyte. The target scans are configured to provide additional quantitation data for the target analyte.

An interface and a sample analysis method using the same are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, an interface is between a liquid chromatography (LC), an ionization device, and a mass spectrometer (MS), wherein a sample containing a target eluted from the liquid chromatography is ionized by the ionization device and the sample is introduced into the mass spectrometer, wherein the interface includes a droplet sprayer, an evaporator having a heatable block, and an introduction tube, wherein the heatable block has one or more openings, the droplet sprayer for coverting the sample into sample droplets and for spraying the sample droplets, the evaporator for evaporating a solvent in the sample droplets to generate a gaseous target by passing the droplets through the one or more openings, the introduction tube for receiving the gaseous target and for introducing an ionized gaseous target into the mass spectrometer.

A method is disclosed comprising obtaining physical or other non-mass spectrometric data from one or more regions of a target using a probe. The physical or other non-mass spectrometric data may be used to determine one or more regions of interest of the target. An ambient ionisation ion source may then used to generate an aerosol, smoke or vapour from one or more regions of the target.