Array of Micromachined UltraSonic Electrosprays Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry

描述(由申请人提供)： 我们建议开发一种新型的微机械超声电喷雾源，它消除了传统ESI技术的大部分(如果不是全部)限制，从而为参与生物医学、功能蛋白质组学和生物标记物发现的科学家提供独特的MS界面，用于高通量、超灵敏和多路分析具有生物学意义的蛋白质混合物。被称为AMUSE(微机械超声电喷雾阵列)离子源的技术具有在多种溶剂的低电压下工作的潜力，能够最小化所需的样品大小并提高样品利用率，并且本质上适合于以阵列格式进行多路复用的并行、高通量操作。此外，由于使用简单的工艺批量微制造超声波电喷射源，因此可以使其成为廉价的一次性电源。我们将设计和制造用于生物相关蛋白质混合物的质谱分析的微机械超声电喷雾源阵列的原型(S)。我们将测试和优化这两种ESI设备概念的性能，并明确量化它们的潜在优势。我们将评估配备了所建议的微机械超声电喷雾源的飞行时间质谱仪的分析性能，并将其与现有的商业纳米螺旋离子源进行比较。开发一种改进的电喷雾蛋白质质谱源，将能够识别各种人类死亡的新生物标记物，包括各种类型的癌症。此外，质谱学在药物开发中是常规使用的，因此电喷雾质谱仪的进步将直接有助于改善公众健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop a novel micromachined ultrasonic electrospray source which eliminates most, if not all, limitations of the conventional ESI technology, thereby providing scientists involved in biomedicine, functional proteomics and biomarker discovery with a unique MS interface for high throughput, ultrasensitive, and multiplexed analysis of proteins mixtures of biological significance. The proposed technology called AMUSE (Array of Micromachined UltraSonic Electrospray) ion source has potential for operation at low voltages with wide range of solvents, capable of minimizing the required sample size and improving sample utilization, and is inherently suitable for parallel, high throughput operation with multiplexing in the array format. Further, the ultrasonic electrospray source can be made inexpensive to be disposable since it is batch microfabricated using a simple process. We will design and fabricate the prototype(s) of the micromachined ultrasonic electrospray source array for use in mass spectrometric analysis of protein mixtures of biological relevance. We will test and optimize the performance of both ESI device concepts and to clearly quantify their potential advantages. We will evaluate the analytical performance of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer outfitted with the proposed micromachined ultrasonic electrospray source and compare it with existing commercial nanospray ion sources. Development of an improved electrospray source for protein mass spectrometry, as proposed here, would enable identification of new biomarkers of various human deceases, including various types of cancers. In addition, mass spectrometry is routinely used in drug development, and therefore the advancement of electrospray mass spectrometry will contribute directly to improvement in public health.