Developments in mass spectrometric techniques and their applications to key questions in biology and medicine.

• Main Author: Ng, Jacqueline Siew Ling.
• Other Authors: Mark Stephen Featherstone
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Biophysics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/49384
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper presents significant developments in mass spectrometric techniques and their relevant uses in biology and medicine today. Among the mass spectrometric elements discussed are ionisation techniques such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI), electrospray ionisation (ESI), direct analysis in real-time (DART), and rapid evaporative ionisation (REI); and Fourier transformation ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) as a mass analyser. The interesting innovations of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), tandem MS and imaging MS (IMS) are also explained. Peptide sequencing, biomarker discovery, protein active site elucidation and electrosurgery facilitation are among the noteworthy applications examined in this paper. This review ends with the investigation of the potential usage of tandem MS and Hydrogen/Deuterium exchange MS (HDXMS) in the research of medicinal mushrooms for cancer treatment.