Ion mobility (IM) is a perfect instrumental platform for slowing and separating peptide ions-this innovation has enabled efficient VUV photofragmentation (IM-oTOFMS/MS) to be demonstrated in phase I. VUV photofragmentation yields a near perfect technology for """"""""on demand"""""""" structural fragment ion analysis of complex peptide mixtures especially when combined with the proven capability of IM to distinguish phosphorylated vs. unphosphorylated peptides. In addition, recent internally funded research at lonwerks [34-37] has rather unexpectedly proved the efficacy of incorporating nanoparticulate MALDI matrices into the near surface of biotissues. Recently, lonwerks publications [34-40] and patents [41-44] have established a new approach to molecular microprobe imaging of biotissue surfaces. Thus, the simplification of complex laser microprobe molecular ion spectra from particulate treated biosurfaces is another application which will also benefit from the combination of ion mobility separation followed with on demand photofragmentation structural analysis. Phase II will develop unique IM-oTOFMS/MS hardware using patented multi-pixel position sensitive detectors in a specially designed oTOFMS. Enhanced mass and mobility resolution as well as photofragment MS of this instrument will be tested for applications in proteomics and tissue imaging. Commercialization depends on showing that only IMS-oTOFMS/MS can perform these applications.
