Increasing efficiency of ion detection in Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) can have a tremendous impact on its applications in proteomics and entire analytical field. At present, the sensitivity of FTMS instruments is limited by electrical noise of semiconductor circuits utilized to amplify signals from electrodes of Ion Cyclotron Resonance cells. By using superconductor devices based on quantization of magnetic flux instead of semiconductor circuits we will improve sensitivity of the ion detection in FTMS by a factor of 10 or more. To reach high dynamic range in our desktop FTMS system, we also plan to design and test a new Ion Cyclotron Resonance cell, which will allow us to attain high mass resolution and mass accuracy with fewer analyzed ions.
Fourier Transform (FT) Mass Spectrometers (MS) are broadly used in proteomic and metabolomic studies of complex biological samples. These mass spectrometers demonstrate record-high mass accuracy and mass resolution that are vital to achieve high reliability in comparative analyses of normal vs disease proteomes. We plan to develop a novel detection system that will improve sensitivity and dynamic range of the FTMS systems by a factor of 10 or more, which will allow much better characterization of disease-specific biomarkers in the FTMS-based analysis of biological fluids or tissues.
