Direct Tissues Based Protein Analysis – Molecular Histology

New developments in MALDI MS instrumentation, laser technology and sample preparation techniques have turned research-style MALDI imaging of proteins and peptides into a routine technique. The MALDI Molecular Imager analyzes the molecular composition of tissue sections with a spatial resolution of 20 - 50 μm. From each point of the tissue, mass spectra of the molecular composition are generated by the MALDI process in a mass spectrometer.

Sample preparation
Cryostat sections are first evenly covered with matrix. This step is crucial for high spectrum quality in combination with high lateral resolution. The patented ImagePrep performs this operation in a simple, intuitive manner and  and yields high quality results.

Mass imaging to depict protein expression
Analysis of the complex data set can be performed by dedicated selection and false color depiction of single masses. Peak heights correlate with color brightness/intensity. The resulting protein map enables the analysis of direct tissue protein expression without any labeling technique.

Molecular histology
A microscopic/scanned histological H&E stained image is obtained from the very same section for precise and clear image alignment. High lateral resolution comparisons of both, MALDI Imaging data and H&E images, truly enables molecular histology.

Class imaging for detection of biomarker candidates
Powerful statistics are available: Principal component analysis for unsupervised feature extraction, hierarchical clustering for intuitive semi-supervised tissue classification, supervised tissue comparison to find relevant biomarkers and supervised classification algorithms to classify new tissue samples.

For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.