Molecular imaging with mass spectrometry: instrumental and methodological advances for biological applications
type: CreativeWork
description: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is an analytical technique providing a unique combination of capabilities: label-free, non-targeted, and highly multiplex detection and imaging of chemical species ranging in mass from single protons to large proteins exceeding 100 kDa, identifiable by mass and confirmed (when possible) by structural information obtained through tandem MS experiments. These capabilities make MSI a powerful tool for biological investigations especially in cases where analytes of interest are not known a priori, and where one wishes to comprehensively survey the spatiochemical composition of a specimen in order to generate more refined hypotheses that will guide subsequent targeted work. In the past several decades MSI has been extensively developed for and applied to macroscopic or “tissue-level” biomolecular imaging studies, and parallel effort has focused on improving MSI capability in the microscopic or “cell-scale” regime in a number of ways. The latter work faces many additional challenges, however, such as designing instrumentation with suitable spatial resolution as well as achieving sufficient sampling efficiency (through instrumentation and experimental protocols) to detect the minute amounts of a compound which are present in micro-scale volumes. This thesis presents a body of work with two main goals: 1) improving cell-scale MSI capabilities through development of new instrumentation and compatible methodologies, and 2) developing methods for combining MSI with other imaging techniques in order to enhance the information gleaned from an experiment. A main step towards the first goal here is development of a hybrid mass spectrometer of novel design which combines two complementary MSI probes – a laser and a polyatomic ion beam – on a system with other advantageous features such as high mass resolution and tandem MS capability. The system is characterized, applied to visualize chemical distributions on single cultured neurons, and combined wit…
abstract: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is an analytical technique providing a unique combination of capabilities: label-free, non-targeted, and highly multiplex detection and imaging of chemical species ranging in mass from single protons to large proteins exceeding 100 kDa, identifiable by mass and confirmed (when possible) by structural information obtained through tandem MS experiments. These capabilities make MSI a powerful tool for biological investigations especially in cases where analytes of interest are not known a priori, and where one wishes to comprehensively survey the spatiochemical composition of a specimen in order to generate more refined hypotheses that will guide subsequent targeted work. In the past several decades MSI has been extensively developed for and applied to macroscopic or “tissue-level” biomolecular imaging studies, and parallel effort has focused on improving MSI capability in the microscopic or “cell-scale” regime in a number of ways. The latter work faces many additional challenges, however, such as designing instrumentation with suitable spatial resolution as well as achieving sufficient sampling efficiency (through instrumentation and experimental protocols) to detect the minute amounts of a compound which are present in micro-scale volumes. This thesis presents a body of work with two main goals: 1) improving cell-scale MSI capabilities through development of new instrumentation and compatible methodologies, and 2) developing methods for combining MSI with other imaging techniques in order to enhance the information gleaned from an experiment. A main step towards the first goal here is development of a hybrid mass spectrometer of novel design which combines two complementary MSI probes – a laser and a polyatomic ion beam – on a system with other advantageous features such as high mass resolution and tandem MS capability. The system is characterized, applied to visualize chemical distributions on single cultured neurons, and combined wit…
author: Lanni, Eric
language: en
keywords: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI), mass spectrometry (MS), Molecular imaging, Chemical imaging, Bacterial biofilm, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Quinolone, Rhamnolipid
date published: 2014-09-16T17:25:35Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:41Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50714