Identification of Microorganisms by Mass Spectrometry (Wilkins/Identification of Microorganisms by Mass Spectrometry) || Mass Spectrometry: Identification and Biodetection, Lessons Learned and Future Developments

✍ Scribed by Wilkins, Charles L.; Lay, Jackson O.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Year: 2006
• Weight: 90 KB
• Category: Article
• ISBN: 0471748641
• DOI: 10.1002/0471748641.ch2

✦ Synopsis

In the 1990 book Analytical Microbiology: Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry 1 ways in which mass spectrometry had been or might be successfully used in microbiology were discussed. The areas of research delineated included (1) identification of bacteria at the species, or strain, level, after prior culture (2) biodetection without culture, and (3) characterization of isolated macromolecules. All have relevance to the diagnosis of human infection, as relates to natural disease as well as occurring after a biological attack. Indeed, the events of 2001 and 2002 in which the US postal service was attacked with anthrax, and through it the nation, we have all been all too well educated about the need for biological countermeasures and homeland security.

In the preface to the 1990 book a technological revolution was predicted that would dramatically change the diagnostics field. Although this revolution 23