78th Annual Workshop: Instrumentation for Forensics, Nanoscience, and Pharmaceutical Science
NSF & Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development
Purdue University September 7th-9th 2014

Bacterial Analysis by Touch Spray Mass Spectrometry

Aims:

Perform classification of an unknown bacterium by touch spray ionization using visual and statistical methods of data analysis.

Instructors:

Alan K. Jarmusch & Dr. Valentina Pirro

Instrumentation:

Thermo LTQ with TS·MS interface

Experimental overview:

1. Sample one bacterial colony from a culturing plate
2. Direct ionization from the sampling device and full scan MS analysis
3. Visually and stalistically differentiate an unknown bacterial sample

What you will learn:

1. Fundamentals of touch spray MS using swabs for sampling
2. Basic understanding of statistics used in classifier composition

Additional applications:

Direct analysis of liquids and solids applied in forensic and medical applications.