Maldi Ms: A Practical Guide to Instrumentation, Methods and Applications

The introduction of the matrix–assisted laser desorption ionization technique (MALDI) changed mass spectrometry (MS) into a powerful tool for biomedical analysis that is now widely employed in academic as well as industrial laboratories. In 2002 the Nobel Prize was awarded for the development of the MALDI MS technology and for the impact it has on identifying and revealing the structures of biological macromolecules. This unique book gives an in–depth description of the many different applications of MALDI MS, along with a detailed discussion of the technology itself. It will be a much–needed practical and educational asset for individuals, academic institutions and companies in the field of bioanalytics.

1) The MALDI Process and Method 2) MALDI Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation 3) MALDI MS in Protein Chemistry and Proteomics 4) Microprobing and Imaging MALDI for Biomarker Detection 5) MALDI–MS of Nucleic Acids and Practical Implementations in Genomics and Genetics 6) MALDI MS of Glycans 7) MALDI–MS of Lipids 8) MALDI MS for Polymer Characterization 9) Small Molecule Desorption/Ionization Mass Analysis 10) Bioinformatics

Franz Hillenkamp is Professor Emeritus at the University of Münster, Germany. He holds a MS degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, USA, and a PhD from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Before he was appointed Professor of Biophysics and Medical Physics at Münster in 1986, he held a professorship at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. During the 1980s, he developed the now world famous MALDI technique that was later on shown to be highly useful for the analysis of biomolecules. For his ground–breaking work on mass spectrometry methods, Professor Hillenkamp has received numerous awards, among them the Thompson Medal of the Mass Spectrometry Society, the Fresenius Medal of the German Chemical Society, and the Bergman Medal of the Swedish Chemical Society. Jasna Peter–Katalinic is Professor at the University of Rijeka, Croatia, and former Associate Professor of Biophysics at the University of Münster, Germany. She was born and educated in Zagreb, Croatia, and obtained her PhD in chemistry at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. After the postdoc time at the Texas A+M University, USA, she obtained the habilitation in physiological chemistry from the University of Bonn, Germany. She pioneered the introduction of modern mass spectrometric methods to structural glycobiology/glycomics, as described in more than 250 publications. Her current interests are in the Human Glycoproteome Initiative and Nanobioanalytics. She was the first recipient of the Life Science Award from the German Society of Mass Spectrometry in 2002.