The present invention provides photo-cleavable anionic surfactants, particularly 4-hexylphenylazosulfonate (Azo) and sodium 4-hexylphenylazosulfonate derivatives, which can be rapidly degraded upon UV irradiation, for top-down and bottom-up proteomics. These surfactants can effectively solubilize proteins and peptide fragments with performance comparable to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and are compatible with mass spectrometry analysis of the solubilized proteins and peptide fragments. Top-down proteomic studies using the present photo-cleavable anionic surfactants has allowed the detection of 100-fold more unique proteoforms as compared to controls and has enabled the solubilization of membrane proteins for comprehensive characterization of protein post-translational modifications. In addition, the present photo-cleavable anionic surfactants are also suitable for dissolving polypeptides in bottom-up proteomic experiments including extracellular matrix proteomics, and are suitable as a substitute for SDS in gel electrophoresis.

A method for the identification and localization of small molecule species in a histologic thin tissue section comprises the steps of: a) acquiring a mass/mobility image of the tissue section and generating a mass/mobility map of the small molecule species of interest for each pixel of the image; b) providing a second sample of the same tissue and extracting the small molecules of interest, separating them, and acquiring mass and ion mobility spectra from the separated small molecules; c) identifying the small molecules of interest using corresponding reference databases; and d) assigning identified small molecules to entries in the mass/mobility maps of the first tissue section by comparison of ion masses and mobilities of the identified species to those of the second thin tissue section.

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.

The invention relates to a method for determining a biomarker on single cell level by counting a first portion of a cell sample, subjecting said first portion to conditions whereby the biomarker is fragmented, adding to a known number n(k) of labelled biomarker fragments, measuring a first and a second parameter of said first portion, wherein said first parameter corresponds to the amount of said biomarker fragment and said second parameter corresponds to the amount of said labelled biomarker fragment yielding a biomarker fragment value, v(u), and a labelled biomarker fragment value v(k), respectively, and relating v(u) and v(k) with n(k) and c(1), thereby determining an average number of biomarker molecules per cell, m(u), of said first portion. Subsequently, a second portion of the cell sample is contacted with a label specific for the biomarker, a value of the label is determined for the second portion, yielding a single cell measurement value s(u) for the cells of the second portion, a mean measurement value m(s) is determined, and a number of biomarker molecules, n(u) is computed from s(u), m(s) and m(u) for each cell.

The present invention relates to a method for determining the distinctive nutritional requirements of a patient with specific nutritional needs and providing a composition meeting the distinctive nutritional requirements of said patient.

Methods and system for protein characterization using online chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry are provided.

Systems and methods for automated sample preparation and processing of protein corona are described herein, as well as its application in the discovery of advanced diagnostic tools as well as therapeutic agents.

Provided are methods to characterize the VP1, VP2 and VPS capsid proteins in an adeno-associated virus (AAV) particle using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, and/or ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectroscopy. The methods generally include the steps of (a) subjecting an AAV particle to liquid chromatography to denature and then separate the VP1, VP2 and VPS capsid proteins, and (b) subjecting the separated VP1, VP2 and VPS capsid proteins produced in step (a) to UV and mass spectrometry to determine the ratio and masses of the VP1, VP2 and VPS capsid proteins in the AAV particle. In another aspect, the disclosure provides an AAV composition comprising a post-translation modification. The disclosure also provides methods for characterizing the purity of AAV compositions using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.

A method for predicting efficacy of treatment of a lung cancer patient using an immune checkpoint inhibitor includes isolating exosomes from a biological sample derived from the lung cancer patient, and determining an expression level of a protein present in the exosomes by a mass spectrometry method, in which the protein is one or more proteins selected from the group of proteins shown in Table 1-1 to Table 1-6.

Methods to rapidly and accurately detect, characterize, measure, and quantify site-specific antibody drug conjugates, that may be present in pre-clinical animal biological samples, or human biological samples, including plasma/serum and tissue samples.